Post by Irish McIrishy on Aug 9, 2014 23:01:51 GMT -5
In 2008, the Indians decided to give Jacbos Field its first ever stadium renovation. However, the Indians weren't fully aware of all the work that would be involved in the project and it ended up taking two offseasons to fully complete.
"After playing here for over 15 seasons, it's about time we did some upgrades on our stadium," stated GM Dan Rowe in his recent press conference. "We expected this project to be done in one offseason. However, the company I hired did not have as many men working as we actually needed to get it all done within one offseason. Had we had more manpower before, this renovation would have already been fully completed. So, this offseason, we got the same company crew together again, plus another company for extra manpower just to make sure we got this done this very offseason. We owed our fans for the delay in the renovations and I sincerely hope that the new features and additions will be appreciated and liked by our fans."
The Indians are coming off back-to-back AL Central division titles and reached the 2008 World Series, where they unfortunately lost to the Florida Marlins. And although they did not get back to the Fall Classic in 2009, it was still another big season for the Indians. There is every reason to believe that the Indians will continue their recent success for the next few years, and although the team's core is mostly over the age of 30, the arrivals of rookies Andrew McCutchen and Bobby Parnell should spark some more energy into the team going forward.
As for Jacobs Field, the following stadium dimensions were already done last season as part of the first half of the renovation, which consisted of the main level of seating:
LF Line - 320 ft
LF - 340 ft
Left-Center - 360 ft
CF - 400 ft
Right-Center - 360 ft
RF - 340 ft
RF Line - 320 ft
Fence Height - 8 ft all around
"We wanted to give fans a more modern feel of baseball today in comparison to what baseball was like in 1994, when Jacobs Field first opened," Rowe explained. "I don't wanna bore everyone with every single detailed change that happened during the renovations, but there are quite a few fun things for our fans to look forward to.
"First off, I love beer and if there's anything that adult baseball fans like to have when they are at a game, it's an ice cold beer. To reward our fans for all the beer they buy from us, we are not only giving free beer helmets to everyone in the front row of the first level, but there will now be a new Beer Garden between the outfield concession stands on the first level. Fans will be able to choose every kind of beer they could ever imagine. If they want a certain beer, they can find it at Jacobs Field. They can also come back and any buy more beers there as long as it's before the 7th inning. I'd let fans buy beer throughout the game, but we'd then get in trouble with the BBSBL commissioners due to national regulations. We obviously need to make sure no one is drinking and driving and that everyone gets home safely.
"And then once the fans get all the food and beer they want, they'll be able to go to their seats that will now include built-in cushions. These new seats will be seen throughout the entire stadium and should be helpful for fans of all ages. We've gotten feedback from social media about fans with back and joint problems, among other pains, as well as other fans whose elderly parents and relatives have pains of their own. We'd like to be more accommodating for all our fans to make sure they are perfectly comfortable in every way while watching a game here.
"But just because we want to give our fans a more modern experience doesn't necessarily mean that we forgot about our past either. The 1989 film Major League obviously was not about the real Indians, but it still became a very popular film for the city of Cleveland in particular. So after seeing all these teams having these different mascot races in the middle of their home games, I thought what better way to do a Cleveland version of this than with the most popular characters from Major League?
"So during the middle of each sixth inning going forward, there will now be a Major League mascot race that will include costumes for popular characters Jake Taylor, Willie Mays Hayes, Pedro Cerrano, Roger Dorn, and of course, the one and only Ricky Vaughn. In fact, we wanted to do the race from the bullpen to the mound or even home plate in honor of Vaughn, but of course, that would get in the way of our players warming up, so it has to be done in foul territory. But it will be a real race from home plate and around the entire field including the outfield warning track. The mascots will start on the first base side and run all the way around the field back to home plate.
"As part of the fun, fans can text their vote predictions for the race each game and those that correctly predict the winner will get a coupon for a free 12 oz beer at a future game in the same season. I feel this is a great way for the whole family to enjoy their time here and to give back to our loyal fans with the text votes and free beer coupons.
"I'm really excited for all the changes we have in store for our fans for the 2010 season and beyond! The goal is for Jacobs Field to become one of, if not the most popular ballpark in all of baseball," Rowe said as he concluded his press conference.
Rowe also mentioned that the stadium dimension changes cost a total of $10,000,000 and that the level 1 stadium renovation will cost an additional $50,000,000. All of this money will be used from the Indians' stadium account, which was untapped for years but finally put to good use. With one of the highest payrolls in BBSBL for the past few years, the Indians needed to do something to increase their revenue and it looks like their stadium renovations could do just the trick for them.
But of course, now that all the renovations have been fully completed since GM Rowe's press conference occurred, the focus is rightfully back to on-field baseball as the Indians look to defend their AL central title once again and try to get back to the World Series. Is this the year the Tribe finally win a championship for the first time since 1948? The Indians and their fans sure as hell hope it is!
