People are actually hypothesizing that the Jays will build a new stadium!? Management has made it clear that renovations will be the only option. The location of the current stadium cannot be beat and a new 43-45,000 seat stadium with a retractable roof would cost $1 billion or more.
Rogers is a pretty cheap owner having only spent approx. $50 million - $70 million on improvements to Rogers Centre in the nearly 20 years they have owned the team. This after being gifted the stadium for essentially nothing. They are contemplating a reno either in the $200 - $250 million range or something in the range of $400 - $500 million. The latter would be more ideal but with Rogers I am not holding my breathe so I expect the cheaper option.
According to the interviews I have read with Shapiro (Rogers' mouthpiece), they are looking at offering a greater variety of experiences to fans that more closely represents the newer (ie Target Field, SunTrust Park) or recently renovated (ie. Progressive Field) ballparks out there. The recently added Flightdeck in centrefield is an example of this alternative experience. I have heard there is actually an option on the table to flip the field 90 degrees to the right to have the outfield facing the CN tower...although I'm sure that option would be part of the expensive $400 - $500 million reno option so I'm not holding my breathe.
One reason to be concerned with the quality of future renos or Shapiro's comments in this article:
https://ballparkdigest.com/2018/03/22/blue-jays-continue-push-for-rogers-centre-renovation/
We have both an infrastructure need and a business-model need to renovate the stadium. We have presented proposals for that. They have been embraced by Rogers executives and by (CEO) Joe Natale and (CFO) Tony Staffieri, and everyone down. It’s just a matter of determining funding sources and timing. That’s not within our control, so we continue to operate the business and understand it’s a huge amount of money and we are the only major-league baseball team that is asked to completely privately finance a renovation of this scale.
I think our fans need to understand that. Every other of our 29 competitors receives some public funding for renovations of this scale, or bigger or smaller, even new stadiums. This burden falls completely on our ownership, so in light of that, it’s a big undertaking and one that needs to be thought about carefully in light of all the priorities out there.
Comments like this seem to indicate the renos will not be as impressive as they could be or should be because the government will not provide any funding, as they shouldn't. It seems like a pre-emptive way of gently letting the fans down. Of course, Shapiro is either lying or misinformed when stating all 29 other teams received some funding for renos as the funding for $500+ million reno for Wrigley Field was 100% private. Similarly, the Dodgers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on renovations to Dodger Stadium the past few years and plan on spending more prior to the upcoming all-star game in 2020. All private.
Those are just two recent examples I found. Both large market teams with the well-heeled fanbase and corporate support to pull of 100% private financing...just like the Blue Jays. No excuses for Rogers to not follow a similar funding path.
