Progressive Field Reimagined
Reimagined or Ruined?
The Upgrades
The Cleveland Guardians have begun renovations to their 30-year-old ballpark beginning this offseason. “Progressive Field Reimagined” is estimated to cost over $200 million, with the team covering $67.5 million and any project overages. The remainder will be funded from a combination of city, county and state governments. For that price tag, Clevelanders will get:
A new building on East 9th Street
The right field upper deck replaced with a group gathering space
The left field upper deck replaced with a beer garden
A renovated terrace club with more beer gardens and private seating
A new dugout club adding premium seats and suites behind home plate
Upgraded home and away clubhouses
A renovated front office building (with added fifth floor!)
The information page adds that these improvements will improve and extend the life of the ballpark.
The Park
Progressive Field (originally named Jacobs Field) opened in 1994 at a price tag of $175 million, of which then-owner Richard Jacobs ponied up $91 million and the remainder was covered by a “sin tax” on alcohol and cigarette sales in Cuyahoga County. That means, adjusting for inflation, the original price tag was $346 million for a state-of-the-art baseball stadium that remains one of the more iconic fields in the sport. These renovations, which will cost 58% of the original, inflation-adjusted price tag, add nothing of value to the casual fan, yet the average Cleveland resident is helping foot a third of the bill.
Jacobs Field began with a capacity of 43,405, and set a record with 455 consecutive sellout crowds between 1995 and 2001. In 2007, the park’s naming rights were sold to Progressive Insurance for $3.6mil/yr. In 2014, the park was renovated and capacity was reduced to 35,041, which is roughly what it will remain at after these newest renovations.
I’ve been twice, once in 2006 and again in 2017. In 2006, we paid $7.00 for Upper Outfield Reserve seats in section 516, row T, way up in the right field upper deck. The team was 42-53 at the time and attendance was 29,695 on a Friday night. In 2017, the team was 59-48 and coming off a World Series runner-up season. Attendance was 34,466 on a Friday night against the Yankees (which certainly would’ve been higher at the old capacity).
My opinion? Total waste of money. I personally hate how lame these “gathering spaces” and beer garden terraces are. Is there any added value to Guardians fans? Were fans who already have to spend $12.50 for a can of Miller Lite clamoring for the chance to spend $35 on a double-shot of tequila in a plastic cup that they had to wait 15 minutes in line for a hurried bartender to pour? Why are there even bartenders at a baseball game? If it can’t be poured, grilled or scooped in under 60 seconds, it doesn’t belong at a ballpark.
Now let’s break down some of the big selling points:
The Right Field Terrace
Hosting large groups takes priority over the nosebleed cheap seats. This is where we sat on the baseball trip, in about a half-full section watching a game between the Twins and Indians. Everyone was at least moderately interested in the game. I guarantee any large group that books this location will barely realize there even is a game going on beneath them.
The Left Field Terrace
A Beer Hall, social seating and panoramic views of the ballpark and downtown. First of all, no one needs a “panoramic” view of the ballpark. You just need to be able to see the field and the scoreboard. I can’t think of a time when I’ve been to Chase Field and been upset that my seat doesn’t have a view of the pool. Look at these picnic tables and televisions. Who would spend $50 or more to get into the ballpark and then watch the game on TV? You could say it’s better for families but… it’s a beer pavilion, so families are going to stick to the kid-friendly zones anyway. And why would people sit at tables when they can watch the game and eat at their seat? Why are actual seats being removed for these things?
View Box Bars
They removed about 8 rows of seats to throw in a bar. So each of these things replaces around 150-200 seats so that fans can now… drink and eat while “connecting with the energy of the game”. Putting aside that gross corporate marketing lingo, isn’t that what the seats are for? And when is the energy of the game heaviest? The last three innings. When do alcohol sales stop? The 7th inning. Did this get focus-grouped into existence? If there’s 6 of these, you’ve swapped out 1,000 possible seats for an outdoor sports bar.
Grab & Go Concessions
These are popping up everywhere now in an effort to reduce labor costs. Now a concession stand with 2-3 employees is a self-checkout kiosk with one supervisor employee. Are they “frictionless”? They’re really not any faster than the old-school versions. When it’s crowded, there’s still only a couple registers and someone is always holding up the line trying to get the chip reader to work. They also remove cash from the transaction, which is annoying. In a couple years you’ll just be able to have Siri order your hot dog and a drone will airdrop one into your lap.
Upgraded Clubhouse and Admin Offices
These are good with me. I hope those new offices are employee-friendly and not just “we added a ping-pong table” to the breakroom type of deal. The clubhouse upgrades are probably overdue, too. How can they attract top free agents with outdated locker rooms? Oh they don’t sign free agents, you say? Well, they once spent $60 million for 3 years of 34-year-old DH Edwin Encarnacion. That’s their record free agent splurge. But come spend more money at our games so we can… sign the big names like Mike Zunino and Josh Bell.
Dugout Club
And now for the worst part of these renovations. The Dugout Club. Look at that picture and then the description. Behind home plate for 300+ fans, featuring their own dedicated seating away from the commonfolk and elevated food and beverage offerings. Like lobster, caviar and Kobe beef? This rendering looks like a high-end hotel bar hosting software salespeople at a business conference, not a Major League Baseball game with tickets to the best seats in the house. I can understand the team wanting to take advantage of adding seats to that spot, here’s what it looks like now:
So you add 300 of the most prime seats in the stadium, and your big selling point is something that looks like the breakfast bar at the Courtyard by Marriott?
You put 300 seats behind home plate at a Major League Baseball stadium and this is what you show in the renderings?
I know these tickets will be sold out from now until the end of time, and that every home game, 300+ of the most privileged Guardians faithful will come through the secret elite entrance to this club. But why? If this is for companies to entertain clients, which is clearly the vibe they’re showing, what’s wrong with a box on the suite level?
This looks so bad. The front row of regular seats is now some 90 to 100 feet from home plate and elevated a few feet. Those are the fans you want on TV for the top of the 9th, standing and cheering on the final three outs. You can bet by the 7th inning, most of these Dugout Club patrons will have hopped in their Uber Lux and headed back to their gated communities after a long night of networking, fine dining and taking one quick picture behind the plate for Instagram.
Conclusion
I can understand some of these renovations. The “frictionless” grab & go stands are here to stay. Clubhouse and admin office modernization makes sense for a stadium that was built when AOL was the only way people could get online. But the rest of this adds nothing to the game experience for 99% of fans. Fans don’t want to hang out on terraces and drink cocktails at a baseball game. They want to sit in a seat with 40,000 of their friends and cheer on their team.
With game times routinely coming in at two-and-a-half hours and quicker now, these gathering spots are even less appealing. If you go to the View Box Bar and order a drink, by the time you get back to your seat you’ve probably missed at least an inning. But at least you were still connected to the “energy of the game”. Just trust fans to bring cash and order their beer from a beer vendor.
Teams, stop adding these “social gathering” spaces at the expense of cheap, affordable seats. Let fans in for $7.00 instead of group events. Put the focus on watching the game and not taking in “panoramic ballpark and skyline views”. Work on improving the product on the field and less about what regional culinary attractions you’ve come up with this week.