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Ballpark Changes in the Majors
Make sure you check BASEBALLPARKS.COM's home page often for all of the latest ballpark developments! For our synopsis of the 2009 changes, click here.
New park and change for 2010
THE ORIOLES completion: 2010 (with remainder of renovations completed by 2011)
The Orioles' spring-training lease in Ft. Lauderdale expired after the 2004 preseason, so since discussions with other Florida cities didn't bear (citrus) fruit, the Orioles kept their focus on staying in sunny Ft. Lauderdale ... but with drastically improved facilities, including a new ballpark. The O's were seeking between $7 and $15 million from the State of Florida, annual payments from the city of Ft. Lauderdale to pay for upkeep and debt retirement, then chipping in their own money to make the plan a reality. The team was willing to sign a 15-year lease to continue its springtime stay in Ft. Lauderdale. That was until the Federal Aviation Administration got involved. Huh? Well, it turns out that the the Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport is directly next door to the Orioles' spring complex, and that complex is technically on FAA land. And the FAA wants to increase the "rent" on the land from somewhere around $100,000 a year to $1.3 million. Yes, a 1300% increase. The Orioles negotiated with Vero Beach about moving into the Dodgertown complex vacated by the Dodgers, but the O's were so demanding that the local government there rescinded its offer for the team to move there. The O's then turned its focus to Sarasota, which lost the Reds after 2009. The Orioles wanted a brand-new park, which Sarasota was willing to build to lure the Red Sox, but the city wasn't willing to do that for the O's, and instead offered a renovated Ed Smith Stadium (the one being vacated by the Reds). After flirting with Fort Myers on the possibility of moving into the park and complex about to be vacated by the Red Sox, the O's ended up accepting an offer from Sarasota. They moved into a partially renovated Ed Smith Stadium in 2010, with major renovations being completed by 2011.
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THE TWINS completion: 2010
It seemed to take forever (11 years, actually), but on May 20, 2006, the Twins learned that they would finally be getting the new ballpark that they'd been pleading for. On that date, the Minnesota Legislature approved a measure authorizing a 0.15% sales tax in Hennepin County that generated the revenue to construct a new ballpark.
The stadium has 39,504 seats but not the retractable roof that the team had requested. It was constructed on the western edge of downtown Minneapolis and provides a view of the city's skyline. The total price-tag including the highway and railroad track relocation is said to be $545 million. $195 million of that came from the team, including the initial $45 million that got the construction started. Following a college game and two exhibitions, the official opening day is April 12, 2010.
Interestingly, the team had been targeted for "contraction." In fact, the only thing that stood in the way of both the Twins and Expos being wiped off the baseball map prior to the 2002 season was the court in Minnesota that ruled that the Twins couldn't break their lease at the Metrodome (which, ironically, was in its last year). As the drumbeat continued for a new stadium, the team began working with HOK on a stadium design that wasn't site-specific, so that it could be built in either Minneapolis or St. Paul. It was amusing that when HOK unveiled the renderings of what the new retractable-roof facility would look like, one drawing showed the skyline of Minneapolis in the background, while another depicted downtown St. Paul. With the retractable roof off the table, the design was completely redone, with HOK introducing their new vision for the open-air park -- in a miniature eight-acre space -- on April 12, 2007. On April 26, the Twins and Hennepin County finalized a 30-year lease on the new stadium.
And the site for the park was a major story in itself. The stadium bill actually specified an exact location for the park, even though that site was privately owned. This was a problem, because the owners of the land refused to sell for anything close to what the county was authorized in the bill to pay. The impasse lasted for months until the Twins agreed to fund an additional amount to cover a higher purchase price. This allowed the county to force the owners of the land to sell through eminent domain. Preparation of the site was then possible while the courts were working on an appropriate price for the land -- all made possible because the team agreed to provide money to increase the purchase price over what the original bill specified.
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That site, interestingly, is small -- so small that HOK observed that it was the tightest space in which they'd ever attempted to design a big-league baseball park. Its location is also interesting, in that there is excellent rail and highway access as well as ample parking, since the Target Center basketball arena is just across Interstate 394 from the ballpark site. Perhaps not so fortuitous from an olfactory sense is the fact that on the opposite side of this site is the county's trash-incinerating plant.
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Minnesotan Bill Verkuilen provided the construction photos above as the stadium was taking shape. The shot on the left is of the interior of the park, zeroing in on the infield. The reddish sign in the very center of the photo is where home plate now is located. Just to the left is the concrete outline of the first-base dugout. The photo on the right above is of the exterior of the park behind first base. Thanks to Bill for the great photos!
You can read our exhasustive review of Target Field here.
