Home > Cardinals Fan Guide > New Busch Stadium Construction
[Updated 2/10/08]
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Construction for the Cardinals' new home is well under way! Due to open in 2006, the next "Busch Stadium" is being
constructed on a site adjacent to and overlapping the existing Stadium.
Who designed the new Busch Stadium?
The new Busch Stadium was designed by HOK Sport, an award-winning architecture firm that focuses on sport and event venue design. HOK has designed countless professional and collegiate sports stadiums throughout the world. Within Major League Baseball, they lay claim to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Comerica Park in Detroit, Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and SBC Park in San Francisco, among many others. In all, they are responsible for building or improving 14 of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums, including the new Busch Stadium.
When was ground broken on the new stadium?
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Busch Stadium took place January 17, 2004, and was part of the annual Winter Warm Up festivities that season. In all, construction will have taken just under 27 months from groundbreaking until the 2006 home opener April 10. The stadium is projected to be finished around the 2006 all-star break (July 10-12), for a total construction time of just under 30 months. As of our last update, the construction is more than two weeks ahead of schedule
What will the dimensions of the new stadium be?
Conflicting reports. An interview with Mark Lamping in February of 2004 said “The field dimensions will be 336 feet down the left-field line, 390 in the left-field power alley, 400 in center field, 390 in the right-field power alley and 335 to the right-field foul pole.” However, in a recent Cardinals Mailbag article, Matthew Leach said that the alleys would be 375 feet.
What will the capacity of the new stadium be?
Upon completion, overall seating capacity will be 46,00. For the first half of the 2006 season, the Cardinals are currently estimating a capacity of 38,000. The seats that will be the last ones finished will be those which are located in left field and the left field corner.
The old Busch Stadium held over 50,000. Why are they making the new stadium smaller?
Even with the record-breaking attendance numbers the Cardinals had in 2005, the average attendance was 43,647. That means that for an average game, there were about 9,000 empty seats. In the new park, that would be only about 2,400 empty seats. The more full a stadium looks, the better. As Cardinals’ President Mark Lamping has said “You don’t build the church for Easter Sunday.” In other words, they could build a 55,000 seat stadium and sell out every Cubs game, but they’d have a lot of empty seats for a lot of other games. Of course, during the first few seasons, a ticket will be a rare commodity. But this is going to be the Cardinals’ home for a long time, not just 2006.
How are the fewer seats going to be better than the old Busch Stadium? For one thing, the baseball-only design will allow more seats to be “premium” seats. In the old Busch, approximately half of the seats were on the terrace level. With the new baseball-specific design, the majority of the seats will be lower than terrace level and between the foul poles. This will not only give a better perspective on watching the game, but also a great view of downtown St. Louis’ skyline. The old Busch Stadium had 10,277 field level seats and 2,235 bleachers. The new stadium will have 16,586 field level seats and 3,682 bleachers. The bleachers have also been improved, as they will now have backs on them, rather than just a bench. In addition, every seat in the stadium will have a cup holder. Furthermore, the levels in the new stadium will overlap more than they did in the circular multipurpose design of the old stadium. As a result, the seats will be closer to the action than ever before, especially on the new terrace levels.
How will the peripheral experience of being at a Cardinals game change?
The newer stadiums throughout the league have been designed to be more fan-friendly than before. The new Busch Stadium looks to be no exception. Concourse width in the old Busch Stadium ranged from 11 feet at the narrowest to 30 feet at the widest, depending on where you were in the stadium. In the new stadium, the concourses will range from 30 feet at the narrowest to 97 feet at the widest. In addition, there will be 10 more restrooms than before, six more elevators (the old stadium had only two), and seven escalators. The old park, which had a ratio of one concession register for every 190 fans, and the ratio in the new park will be 1:166. This means less time in line for the bathroom, less time in line for concessions, less time fighting through crowds and more time watching the game.
The old park had ramps that went all the way around. With the open design, how will people get from one level to another?
The new Busch Stadium will still have two large switchback ramps, one located on the east side of the stadium (right field), and the other located on the west side (third base). These ramps will be at a smaller incline, and will also have flat surfaces every 30 feet. This is because the old ramps were not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. In addition, there are numerous staircases, and the aforementioned elevators and escalators.
Where will the statue of Stan the Man be placed?
The statue of Stan Musial is going to be placed at the intersection of Eighth and Spruce Streets. It will be placed under the “bridge” that adorns this entrance. This is designed to serve as the main entrance to the stadium, and it will again be a great meeting place to “See you at Stan” before and after games.
Where will the retired numbers be placed?
The old retired numbers were installed along with the manual scoreboard when the current ownership took over. It was done as a classy way to reduce the number of total seats, since Busch had such a huge capacity. Since the new stadium is being design solely for baseball, they won’t have so much space to fill. They will, however, still have the retired numbers represented. They will be listed, in numerical order, on the bricks just below the main scoreboard.
In some of the new ballparks, there are a lot more food options. Is this going to be the same at Busch, or will it just be normal ballpark fare?
The people at SportService, who ran the concessions in Busch Stadium, will continue to do so in the new stadium. They have not yet finalized all of
their choices as to what they will offer, but they did tip their hand in an article in Sauce
Magazine from August of 2005. Here are some of the highlights:
- Approximately 15 concession stands on level one.
- El Birdo Cantina/El Birdo’s Gourmet Nachos (level one): Featuring tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, chili, and churros.
- The Backstop Bar (level one): Frozen and mixed drinks, soft drinks, AB brews.
- The Gashouse Grill/The Plaza Grill (level three): Featyring ballgame dogs, brats, Double Header Burgers and Fire Ball Burgers with jalapeños and nacho cheese.
- Red Bird Club (level three): Featuring a wood-burning pizza oven and carving station for gourmet sandwiches.
- Left Field Pavilion (level three): Featuring classic dogs, burgers, pretzels, peanuts, and more.
- Dizzy's Diner (level four): Featuring patty melts, buffalo chicken sandwiches, dressed-out fries, sundaes and homemade milkshakes.
- The Riverview Corner (level four): Featuring pork and beef sandwiches, brisket and baby back ribs -- fresh smoked!
- Broadway BBQ (level unknown)
- Triple Play (level unknown)
Other cool tidbits
What other cool and unique treats will there be for fans at the new ballpark? Here's a quick sneak peak:
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Sources & Credits
Thank you to BIRDSonBAT who assisted in compiling this page.
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