Worcester Ballpark & Redev

cubalibre said:
I don’t think we’ve seen these yet:

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BALLPARK RENDERINGS | Polar Park Seating

www.polarparkseating.com www.polarparkseating.com
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The facade reminds me a lot of the facades that youd see on old schools or low rise offices of the 50's with that opaque blue/green glass paneling.

This was the best pic I could find
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The accelerated speed of the video clips are ridiculous, best slow the speed down via settings. Anyway, it does show impressive progress with the ballpark and some internal shots of the concourse, building, etc. Their web site has lots of recent photos.

 
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www.wbjournal.com

WooSox stadium costs rise to $157M, becomes most expensive minor league stadium

The cost of building Polar Park, the new home of the minor league Worcester Red Sox, has risen to $157 million, Worcester officials said Friday afternoon, reflecting cost increases stemming largely from the coronavirus pandemic.
www.wbjournal.com www.wbjournal.com

TL;DR

- Ballpark is now the most expensive minor league construction ever; other outliers in other cities had much more seating
- WooSox org covering cost overruns of $17.3 million but apparently the city is requesting the loan for WooSox
- Overruns are contributed to pandemic
- Some adjustments to the proposed contract between city and WooSox in terms of lease and ticket surcharge
 
cubalibre said:
www.wbjournal.com

WooSox stadium costs rise to $157M, becomes most expensive minor league stadium

The cost of building Polar Park, the new home of the minor league Worcester Red Sox, has risen to $157 million, Worcester officials said Friday afternoon, reflecting cost increases stemming largely from the coronavirus pandemic.
www.wbjournal.com www.wbjournal.com

TL;DR

- Ballpark is now the most expensive minor league construction ever; other outliers in other cities had much more seating
- WooSox org covering cost overruns of $17.3 million but apparently the city is requesting the loan for WooSox
- Overruns are contributed to pandemic
- Some adjustments to the proposed contract between city and WooSox in terms of lease and ticket surcharge
Click to expand...

So let me get this straight...build a new ballpark with a smaller capacity? I get the luxury seats and event space is better/exist than Pawtucket, but come on at least build a facility that has a bigger capacity than McCoy Stadium! 12k or more makes more sense as we here in 2021 and tickets will be the hottest ticket in town.
 
Seanflynn78 said:
12k or more makes more sense as we here in 2021 and tickets will be the hottest ticket in town.
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The average attendance of minor league baseball is just north of 4000. The national attendance trend is slowly declining. See graph. I suspect that Worcester will buck the trend because of the novelty of having a new team and ballpark (pandemic not withstanding) for a year or two but eventually will settle around 5K per game. The Pawsox had the 3rd lowest attendance in minor league baseball.

reference: https://www.baseballamerica.com/sto...-increase-in-2019-reversing-last-year-s-drop/
 

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citydweller said:
The Pawsox had the 3rd lowest attendance in minor league baseball.
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No, you are reading the chart wrong. They are near the bottom of the list in that article, but that is a ranking based on average attendance change over prior year. They performed poorly on that metric, dropping by 728 fans per game. But keep in mind, that's subsequent to learning that the team was giving the finger to Pawtucket. If the list were ranked by average attendance, even in the off year profiled, they would be near the top of the middle third on that list. I predict they will easily move in to the top third grouping when Polar Park opens.
 
HenryAlan said:
No, you are reading the chart wrong. They are near the bottom of the list in that article, but that is a ranking based on average attendance change over prior year. They performed poorly on that metric, dropping by 728 fans per game. But keep in mind, that's subsequent to learning that the team was giving the finger to Pawtucket. If the list were ranked by average attendance, even in the off year profiled, they would be near the top of the middle third on that list. I predict they will easily move in to the top third grouping when Polar Park opens.
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yeah ... I stand corrected. But the point I was trying to make is that average attendance is will below 10K (Pawsox at ~5K) so building a stadium to hold 12K or more makes little sense. As mentioned, I would expect Worcester to do quite well the first couple of seasons with potential sellouts but would bet attendance will drop well below the seating capacity when the novelty fades.
 
They’ve walled off most up-close views of the interior field. Second and third pics show the foundation of the 5 story building near the field that’s on hold. Last view is from across Madison Street where new development has been delayed by about a year.


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Just a quick aside: the traffic peanut installed in Kelley Sq is a royal clusterf*ck. It took a fine game of 'cross yourself and go' and turned it into an urban version of the Concord Rotary. It's gonna be vehicular bedlam when baseball and hockey games host on the same night. That said, this once-sad-and-dodgy neighborhood is looking better by the day!
 
HarvardP said:
Just a quick aside: the traffic peanut installed in Kelley Sq is a royal clusterf*ck. It took a fine game of 'cross yourself and go' and turned it into an urban version of the Concord Rotary. It's gonna be vehicular bedlam when baseball and hockey games host on the same night. That said, this once-sad-and-dodgy neighborhood is looking better by the day!
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so what's worse, the old cluster-f or the new one?
 
its super industrial looking in a "built in the 1960's warehouse" sort of way, but so is the area where they put it. interesting contextualizing and nostalgia for a period and building type people don't usually think about, I'd have to go see it to make up my mind on if it works or not.
 
Interesting overhead shot I stumbled on: https://goo.gl/maps/FDzv5E9dy4MkoZPp6

This is one of those rare situations where I think there may actually be a benefit for the immediate area from the ballpark. It's such a no man's land over there, and hopefully the Canal District creeps west to meet it. Once COVID clears I'm sure I'll be taking my son over there for games, even though I'm not at all a baseball guy.
 
found5dollar said:
its super industrial looking in a "built in the 1960's warehouse" sort of way, but so is the area where they put it. interesting contextualizing and nostalgia for a period and building type people don't usually think about, I'd have to go see it to make up my mind on if it works or not.
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My reaction too. I look at it and think "oo! a ballpark built out of shipping containers! ...neat"
 
I guess some people actually like corrugated buildings. The sides look like a long temporary FEMA shelter.

To me it looks like a ripoff at $157 million and the most expensive minor league park in history.
 
shmessy said:
I guess some people actually like corrugated buildings. The sides look like a long temporary FEMA shelter.

To me it looks like a ripoff at $157 million and the most expensive minor league park in history.
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I agree. I mean the ballpark looks "nice", but I had expected more than "nice".

Still, I'm glad it's been built and I hope it helps Worcester with its economic development
 
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