The Jays game tonight was unreal. The SkyDome looks incredible with the new crowd sections & bleachers. The Park Social area is really meant for familes with young children, that's why it looks a bit tacky. I love the shape of the roof and think a Northern facing see through retrofit would be perfect.
Woulda been off the wall and not a hr in the first place with the old wall. 2 feet on a cf wall doesn’t add to much more offence. It’s already the hardest part to hit a hr
The next year renovation will actually be a big difference as well with the seats down the left and right field lines. They will point back toward home plate like most other ballparks
The announcer said something during tonight's game about them lowering the field in the next phase. Something about how they lowered the walls but will be counteracting that with the lowering. I can't find any info on it though.
Next years renovation is going to be major as well. They’re reconfiguring the entire infield bowl and all seating will now be facing home plate instead of the outfield in lots of places. This has been stated by management continuously since the announced the first stage of Reno’s. $300 million dollars is the budget and there’s no way they blew most of it on just the outfield.
Yes I heard that as well. They are going to remove the moveable part in level 100 and redo it. Like you said the seats will face home plate and I believe some of the seats will be closer to the field, I think. Would be so cool if they redo the roof in the new way they are doing done.
@@seen48 What a foolish move getting rid of the moveable seats. This now ruins it for any other events they might have here. For concerts, this will be a disaster. They really did not give this a ton of thought. They are forgoing the venue for almost any other event, just to cater to the Jays.
@@brothaman007 The seats can’t move anyway anymore because the new turf from 2 years ago is glued to the concrete underneath, also, the outfield renovations took out most of the rails the seats moved on. concerts have used the baseball setup of seats here for years at this point
@@brothaman007 On the contrary, they gave this a ton of thought and decided to cater to the single most important and frequent set of events. Also, for concerts, they have always used the same baseball seating configuration instead of the football configuration, so literally nothing is ruined. And by the way, the seats were never moveable. Entire sections of the lower bowl was movable for a football configuration.
@@brothaman007 At this point, the Rogers Center Skydome is now only permanently a Baseball Centric facility that can also host concerts. If Toronto ever got a NFL expansion club, it will be in a new NFL centric building elsewhere in the city or nearby suburbs.
Great video, just a fact check as a jays fan tho, they did the scoreboard and also added new lighting last year. Great in-depth video, love to see it man
I hope they never get rid of the SkyDome. They can paint the concrete exterior a textured earth tone. Perhaps they can add a ring of windows between the top of the stadium and the dome roof some how - similar to BC Place stadium’s post renovation roof from a few years back. The SkyDome has been a part of Toronto’s iconic skyline for so long that you don’t go changing it if you can renovate and improve the old girl.
Though I haven't been to other ballparks, Rogers Centre's outfield wall and "District" looks like one of the best if not the best in all of baseball now. Great job by whoever designed it, taking it from one of the most bland to the coolest. Will be interesting to see the renovations to come elsewhere in the seating areas....
I read that article and another, Fisher traded off players for no reason other than keeping his payroll down to League requirements and no more. Las Vegas WILL NOT make any deal to pay for the A's stadium with John J. Fisher as the owner, at best they might, maybe give him some free land, but they saw Loria's evil deal with Miami and then after hiring big names he sold them off. As long as the owners can fire and hire any commissioner they want this nonsense will go on. Fisher is making a profit or he would not have traded off good players for bags of bats and balls. "Manfred says" like he is a paragon of virtue and tells the truth. If I was a sponsor or TV company I'd put requirements on my TV money, like the team actually wins and it is obvious that is what they want to do. No more 'win a World Series then sell off the players' nonsense. The Angels lose a lot, but it isn't because they didn't spend enough. MLB needs to have its antitrust exemptions and protections taken away, then see how long they let Fisher run the As into the ground. MLB can force Fisher to sell and they don't. Why?
I like that teams have a retractable roof even thought it's closed 95% of the time (ala Phoenix) because it allows them to still have natural grass. It stays open except when there's a game to allow the grass to grow...
As someone that has visited Toronto a few times and been to 2x games in the Jays Back to Back Championship years in the early 1990's, looks like they made the right decision to stay at their now nearly 35 year home. With almost 1/2 Billion Dollars in basically a near total rebuild. PS The Rogers Skydome is in IMO one of the best downtown locations of all current 30 MLB clubs. A couple of blocks from both a major Toronto subway line, also the largest regional/national train and long distance Bus station in Canada called "Toronto Union Station." Plus a major Highway/Freeway that goes directly to both Niagara Falls and Buffalo for access to the US.
Most niche RUclips channel but exactly what I enjoy watching. Love the commentary keep up the good work. You should do a video on obstructed seating views in sports that would be a good vid
SkyDome was never in danger or in need of 'saving'. Keep in mind that it was originally built to house MLB baseball and CFL football. The lower bowl was on wheels and could be repositioned. Main issue was when Rogers bought it, they didn't know what to do with it for the longest time. Toronto never needed a new stadium, it needed SkyDome to have a renovation. Once the Argonauts moved out, it was the perfect opportunity to make it a baseball-only venue and improve it.
The lower bowl renovation next off season is going to be major. They are completely tearing out the lower bowl and redesigning it from the ground up. The seats will move much closer to the field and I’m sure there will be more unique social spaces integrated since they have so much room to work with. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they renamed the stadium to Rogers Field or Rogers Park although I think they should go back to calling it SkyDome or even Rogers SkyDome.
I believe you will find the second stage of the renovations are much more involved than you are suggesting. I read they are going to rip out the entire lower bowl and reconfigure the seating.
I had not been to a Jays game since 2019, so I was really impressed with the renovations. New seats in the 500's, new lighting, scoreboard, bare concrete given a coat of paint and all the standing open areas really give it a new lease on life. I agree about the hotel cladding now looks very drab against the rest of the outfield area, should be very obvious that it needs to be refreshed to anyone looking that way
I'm not sure where your getting your info from. Phase 2 of the reno at Rogers Centre is probably even more major than phase 1. They're ripping out the entire lower bowl.
Park Social makes more sense when you account for the fact it's a family area. Grilled cheese sandwiches and all. I was just there, it's nice. The part that is kinda ugly is the area around the batter's eye.
Was at the game, checked out the bleachers. They are insanely close to the visitors BP, I think they will remove the first row of bleachers to seperate the fans and BP more.
I agree with constructing a fully see-through roof. Whoever makes the decision to keep the roof open or closed always seems to lean towards closed even if the weather isn't forecast to cause delays of any kind. Too cold? Close the roof. Too windy? Close the roof. Too hot? Close the roof. Ideal weather? OK, open the roof. Baseball is sport meant to be played outdoors, or at least be able to experience the natural daylight or moonlight throughout the playing surface while watching or playing the game. Since this team keeps it closed far too often, a totally see-through fixed roof would be the best of both worlds. Outdoor sunshine plus protection from weather stoppages. Not sure how much it would cost or who would pick up the tab since you can't have advertising on the roof, but it would be far better than what goes on now.
The stadium does indeed look amazing after these changes. It's MLBs modern version of the Tokyo Dome. It's super unique to MLB and time is starting to swing back in its favor with these investments. Will be interesting to see what the next phases of the reno will look like.
I’ll be in Toronto and Cinncy this May for the first time. It will be the 25th and 26th of the current stadiums I will have gone to. And I must say, Globe Life is the 3rd worst stadium currently. Just wanted to put that out there 😂
EJ read my above comments on the great location in Downtown Toronto that the Jays newly rebuild stadium for both mass transit and also a major highway that connects to Buffalo, NY as well.
I'm OK with the retractable roof as long as they lighten up on the number of games where they keep it closed. I go back to the Exhibition Stadium days as a teenager and I liked that stadium better than SkyDome since it was open-air only. Travelled to Toronto with friends for a Double-Header vs. Red Sox. Only played 5 innings total before games were cancelled due to rain. Disappointed, but better than being indoors during an afternoon game with the roof closed and no threat to game cancellation.
Skydome has become a vintage park in a weird way….it’s already in a prime location and it has that 80s/90s intimidating feel. Most baseball stadiums now don’t have that….Jays should keep the stadium and let it become a classic park in its own right.
Some of what the ginger is saying isn't accurate, Skydome was designed in 1984 the main design goals was to be multiple purpose which was the norm at the time and to have as much seats and field open to sky when open with no shadows or obstructions, every other retractable roof is meant to provide as much shade to all the seats and allow.enough sunlight and air for the grass to grow and it doesn't have a hockey arena feel inside, the worst shadow is between 4-6 pm where a shadow will cover the warning track between the power allies and that is it, Rogers doesn't own the hotel attached to the building, Rogers sucks but they did a decent job upgrading the concrete field of the building, the lower level is going to be torn out and completely redesigned
Oh yes, the stadium looks awesome. I feel like a lot of Stadiums could go with Renovations over completely new stadiums. Hard Rock Stadium is another example of how much a renovation can change a stadium.
that's because the owner and Toronto is like RICH rich. Many cities in the States wouldn't be able to afford this much money to renovate this ballpark. Not to mention the Blue Jays consistently have a sold out ballpark while many other ball parks are filled with half to nearly empty, which is why Blue Jays were able to rack in a lot of money from filling seats and are able to afford to renovate.
We are not out of the multi-purpose stadium era yet. The Phoenix Suns home stadium is actually a multi-purpose stadium. They share the stadium with the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football league, and they have been doing so for the last 30 years.
No, MLB will NOT build a dome with a clear roof. They already tried that (somewhat) with the Astrodome and it didn't work. It's okay in Football, because receivers don't need to look high up in the sky to see the ball. Outfielders must do that, so it's easy to lose the ball in the glare. Ironically, the ideal roof is in Montreal, where they painted it blue on the inside. I don't understand why every other stadium didn't do that.
Funny that domed stadiums are incorporating glass into the roofs and overall design when the world's 1st dome, the Astro Dome, painted over their glass roof due to sun glare. I like the new designs though
If Rogers wanted a new stadium they would have just knocked the entire SkyDome down (preserving the Hotel which they don't own) and build a new one from scratch at the same site.
As an owner of season tickets behind home plate in the green td in the action seats, I’m worried I will lose my seats with the phase 2 renovation as they are planning on adding “boxes” down there for companies to own instead of just normal people.
I hope the Howard Terminal idea seems to make MUCH MORE SENSE than the A’s moving to Las Vegas, it just makes more sense for the A’s to build a new stadium in the Oakland area
At this point, it either these 2 long time options for the A's. Either a new Howard Terminal ballpark in Downtown Oakland near both the Bridge and Subway to San Francisco. or 2)A new ballpark in Vegas. No matter what happens within 5 years tops, Vegas is getting a MLB club guaranteed. Ditto soon after for Vegas getting a NBA team as well.
Just a heads up 2026 has already been announce. The 2026 All Star Game will be in Philadelphia due to the 250th Birthday of the United States of America. If Toronto is going to hold a All Star game its going to be either before 2026 or after 2026
I know this is old but this isn't the first video where you talk about the Roger's center and give wrong info. The phase 2 reno is massive reno. They are gutting the entire lower bowl.
It would be nice if Montreal got a team. I grew up an Expos fan even though I'm not from Montreal. Sounds like MLB does not want to go back even though there's a deep-pocketed man (Stephen Bronfman) would would own the team and plans for a new ballpark should they be granted a team. Are there any other cities that once had a MLB team which left the city yet don't have one today like the Expos...? MLB wouldn't even let the Expos share a regular season schedule with the Rays (which the Rays were on board with) as a way to show MLB that there's still a large fan base in Montreal that would support a MLB team even if that "home" team is actually based in another city.
If the A's average 8500 or so this year, they would be better off pulling a Chargers and playing at the small stadium for a few years than staying in Oakland
The entire 100 level (lower bowl) is going to be complely redone. It's not an easy task. All the cement which is under all the seats and aisles will be complelty demolished and redone.
Weren't they talking about making that "outfield" portion of the roof to be transparent? Alright, he just answered it. I wish he'd stop bringing up "Mount Davis"!
Great informative video. NGL though I had to watch it with CC on. The monotone delivery was hard to listen to. Def sounds like you’re reading from a script.
The A’s NEED to stay in the Oakland area in California and build a new stadium in order to stay in the immediate Oakland area, the A’s WILL NOT go to Las Vegas
The Roger's Centre is still dated and the renovations only gave a reason they need a newer ballpark. Ballparks are getting rid of seats and more open concourses and party areas similar to newer NFL stadiums that look like big shopping centers. The renovations fall in line if the team is winning, if they're losing, stadium doesn't mean anything to the fans.
Jordan I think the Jays Owners Rogers (They Canada's version of say NBC/Comcast)did look around all over the Toronto area. And (correct me guys if I am wrong)most neighborhoods in or near Toronto that was considered for a new Jays ballpark opposed it. The Rogers Center best feature not mentioned is that is in heart of Downtown Toronto near a major citywide subway line and a regional train hub as well. Plus a major highway that can take customers as far as Buffalo for US fans driving up for the games as well.
@@americangiant1003 this would only work if they have a temporary stadium and break the ballpark down and rebuild it. But that means there's no point in having a renovation then
@@terrycullen3302 the only options are exhibition grounds or the East Portlands area, because you need a massive transportation hub to feed the fans into the area. Or they could build a temporary stadium, knock down the skydome and rebuild a proper baseball stadium.
This might be the only way I will ever enjoy a Blue Jays game since I can't stand watching home games on TV. Sportsnet likes to bombard viewers with excessive advertisements on the batters eye and along the foul lines. In past years I have seen batters eye advertisements overpower a fly ball into the outfield. Instead of focusing on the gameplay, I was drawn to ads for Home Hardware, Honda, Dairy Queen, and of course...ROGERS!! Now it's online betting sites that are appearing in its place. Do other teams do things like that on TV broadcasts with superimposed advertisements on the batters eye or along the foul lines?!?
Can’t put a baseball team in Vegas, that seems like a stretch. But you never know. I think Montreal or Nashville should be on the list imo. Is Vegas hotter than Arizona, Florida or California in the summer? They all don’t have closed domes. I just don’t think the market would support it with Hockey and Football there now. NBA would be next. Shorter season, lots of betting.
Vegas is very similar to Arizona, very dry heat. It would have to be a closed dome stadium. Chase Field in Arizona can also be fully closed by the way.
The bleacher renovations are an improvement, but the original all purpose design is still too cavernous.Yuck! They ought to ad a final phase: gut all the tiers except the bleachers, reconfigure the field, by moving homeplate behind 3rd base coaches box. 2nd base in same area, reduce seating to a smaller 40,000 make it an intimate retro look & feel like the other MLB venues (post Camden yards). Center field bleachers would become left field. The outside looks bland. They should ad a brick facade outside exterior.
So the problem with the roof is snow. In the winter the roof has to potentially support 10's of thousands of pounds of snow. Not sure the clear stuff will withstand the weight over time.
It was saved? It wasn't a really an issue. The ballpark has been baseball only for 4 years. And because it was a CFL field, the football only layout wasn't all bad either. The 100 level sections moved and rotated. It was for a dual purpose park actually pretty decent. What they need is to get a translucent look for that roof and maybe natural grass. When the roof is open, it is a pretty decent park and when joint is packed, it is a rocking park to watch a game. The Jays at home in a good year is a hot ticket by the midsummer.
Been to the first 2 games so far and renos are a disaster. Seats are about an inch narrower than before. Harder and too dark as made look less bright. Horrible look the dark blue. The park section is a joke. Clutter and cheap. The rooftop bar is jam packed. Whoever designed the reno should be fired. End of story. Brutal would be kind.
People that think this is a good thing, have either never been to a baseball game in a real park, or have no clue what it is like at the Rogers Center. 1) The WORST lower bowl in all of the MLB. Take a look at ALL of the seating charts in the MLB, you will notice one major difference with the Roger's Center compared to all other stadiums. Take a look where home plate is in respect to the outside wall of the stadium behind home plate. Its by FAR and its not even close, the furthest away from the plate. This means the seats behind the plate go back a mile. If you are sitting in the last 10 rows anywhere on the lower bowl between first base and third base, you might as well be in another area code. You are nowhere near the game. 2) The 500s. If you are not between the first base and third base, you are in part of the stadium that is furthest from the field. 3) Funny they think that changing the direction of the seats is going to do anything. This will now ruin any chance this stadium will be useful for anything other than the Jays. The amount of epic stadium concerts that have been there, are now going to be ruined as a result of this changing. These changes now have really ruined the Dome for concerts. While baseball is the main tenant, they really pigeon holed themselves with these changes. This was not well thought out at all. I predict within a decade Shapiro is gone, and Rogers sells the Jays.
Rogers will not be selling the Jays. Rogers Communications owns both the Jays and the Rogers Centre and wants the programming that 162 games a year provides on their 24/7 all-sports TV station Rogers Sportsnet and their 24/7 all-sports radio station The Fan 590, both based in Toronto. Since Rogers owns the ballpark and is paying the entire bill for the renovations, they are the ones making the decisions re. the reconfiguration of the place.
EVERYTHING is for sale. In the past 40 years, the most valuable franchises in every sport have had sales. 1) The Leafs in 1999 to the current owners. 2) The Lakers last year had 27% sold for a few billion. 3) Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989 4) (the yankees did not sell, but the Red Sox and Dodgers have both been sold in the past 25 years and for billions) The Jays are worth less than all of those franchises that I mentioned. If you do not think Rogers would take mega money for the Jays, you are a fool.
@@brothaman007 Possible, but any potential purchaser would have to pay what Rogers itself values the Jays at with all the benefits to the company mentioned above and how they mesh with the other assets the compony owns, plus a healthy profit over and above this amount. The question then becomes, who would be willing to pay that much to acquire the Jays....?
@@michaelmarkowski204 Rogers value of the Jays can also negatively affect the value of other assets. Let's just say they end up stinking and fans get tired of it. They have a winning record now, but they have not won a single playoff game since Shatkins took over. Attendance has not spiked with the aging of these young players. The team itself is not helping the value of the franchise. Its not like any buyer is getting a franchise that is an annual contender. And take a look at what someone just paid Michael Jordan for a team that is terrible. Look what someone paid for the garbage Sacramento Kings and invested in a new arena. Hell, someone just paid almost a billion dollars to own one of the worse franchises in the NHL ...... ever. You can act like the Jays are some super money making cash cow. Reality is, they are not. And this stadium, still bottom 5 to 10 in the league, and in 10 years, these renovations will wear thin, and come with another multi 9 figure price tag.
@@brothaman007 One other thing. According to ESPN's website, so far in 2023, the Jays are 8th out of 30 teams in average attendance per home game at 35,480 while sitting in 4th place in the AL East. Also, how is Rogers going to replace 162 games a year of programming on both TV and Radio if they don't own the team and thus may be outbid by TSN or another network....? I bet Rogers will own the Jays and play in the Rogers Centre much longer than the 10 years you predicted.
The Jays game tonight was unreal. The SkyDome looks incredible with the new crowd sections & bleachers. The Park Social area is really meant for familes with young children, that's why it looks a bit tacky. I love the shape of the roof and think a Northern facing see through retrofit would be perfect.
They could cover the hotel section in a glass paneling but it isn't a huge issue, they renovated those rooms a few years ago and they are really nice.
Sky dome? I thought it's Rogers Center
Phase 2 will be just as epic.
@@handheldnintendofan Call it what you want, true Jays fans will always know it as the SkyDome.
@@adellis24 But I don't believe Rogers owns the hotel.
Of course the first game with the new renovations, we see a home run robbery against the lower wall in center field
Woulda been off the wall and not a hr in the first place with the old wall. 2 feet on a cf wall doesn’t add to much more offence. It’s already the hardest part to hit a hr
@@danielgonneville1432 the robbery was WAY more awesome to see than a wall bounce though... ; )
The next year renovation will actually be a big difference as well with the seats down the left and right field lines. They will point back toward home plate like most other ballparks
The announcer said something during tonight's game about them lowering the field in the next phase.
Something about how they lowered the walls but will be counteracting that with the lowering.
I can't find any info on it though.
Next years renovation is going to be major as well. They’re reconfiguring the entire infield bowl and all seating will now be facing home plate instead of the outfield in lots of places. This has been stated by management continuously since the announced the first stage of Reno’s. $300 million dollars is the budget and there’s no way they blew most of it on just the outfield.
Yes I heard that as well. They are going to remove the moveable part in level 100 and redo it. Like you said the seats will face home plate and I believe some of the seats will be closer to the field, I think. Would be so cool if they redo the roof in the new way they are doing done.
@@seen48 What a foolish move getting rid of the moveable seats.
This now ruins it for any other events they might have here. For concerts, this will be a disaster. They really did not give this a ton of thought. They are forgoing the venue for almost any other event, just to cater to the Jays.
@@brothaman007 The seats can’t move anyway anymore because the new turf from 2 years ago is glued to the concrete underneath, also, the outfield renovations took out most of the rails the seats moved on. concerts have used the baseball setup of seats here for years at this point
@@brothaman007 On the contrary, they gave this a ton of thought and decided to cater to the single most important and frequent set of events. Also, for concerts, they have always used the same baseball seating configuration instead of the football configuration, so literally nothing is ruined. And by the way, the seats were never moveable. Entire sections of the lower bowl was movable for a football configuration.
@@brothaman007 At this point, the Rogers Center Skydome is now only permanently a Baseball Centric facility that can also host concerts. If Toronto ever got a NFL expansion club, it will be in a new NFL centric building elsewhere in the city or nearby suburbs.
Dude, I'm new to your channel. You're a beast with the videos. You're cranking them out like crazy and they are good quality. Keep it up.
Dude I can upload 5 times a day sometimes
@@depressedginger love ur output DG
Great video, just a fact check as a jays fan tho, they did the scoreboard and also added new lighting last year. Great in-depth video, love to see it man
He is wrong about a lot of the stuff
I hope they never get rid of the SkyDome.
They can paint the concrete exterior a textured earth tone. Perhaps they can add a ring of windows between the top of the stadium and the dome roof some how - similar to BC Place stadium’s post renovation roof from a few years back.
The SkyDome has been a part of Toronto’s iconic skyline for so long that you don’t go changing it if you can renovate and improve the old girl.
Though I haven't been to other ballparks, Rogers Centre's outfield wall and "District" looks like one of the best if not the best in all of baseball now. Great job by whoever designed it, taking it from one of the most bland to the coolest. Will be interesting to see the renovations to come elsewhere in the seating areas....
I read that article and another, Fisher traded off players for no reason other than keeping his payroll down to League requirements and no more. Las Vegas WILL NOT make any deal to pay for the A's stadium with John J. Fisher as the owner, at best they might, maybe give him some free land, but they saw Loria's evil deal with Miami and then after hiring big names he sold them off. As long as the owners can fire and hire any commissioner they want this nonsense will go on. Fisher is making a profit or he would not have traded off good players for bags of bats and balls.
"Manfred says" like he is a paragon of virtue and tells the truth. If I was a sponsor or TV company I'd put requirements on my TV money, like the team actually wins and it is obvious that is what they want to do. No more 'win a World Series then sell off the players' nonsense. The Angels lose a lot, but it isn't because they didn't spend enough.
MLB needs to have its antitrust exemptions and protections taken away, then see how long they let Fisher run the As into the ground. MLB can force Fisher to sell and they don't.
Why?
I like that teams have a retractable roof even thought it's closed 95% of the time (ala Phoenix) because it allows them to still have natural grass. It stays open except when there's a game to allow the grass to grow...
This is the only multipurpose stadium from the 80s that actually looks good!
As someone that has visited Toronto a few times and been to 2x games in the Jays Back to Back Championship years in the early 1990's, looks like they made the right decision to stay at their now nearly 35 year home. With almost 1/2 Billion Dollars in basically a near total rebuild. PS The Rogers Skydome is in IMO one of the best downtown locations of all current 30 MLB clubs. A couple of blocks from both a major Toronto subway line, also the largest regional/national train and long distance Bus station in Canada called "Toronto Union Station."
Plus a major Highway/Freeway that goes directly to both Niagara Falls and Buffalo for access to the US.
Most niche RUclips channel but exactly what I enjoy watching. Love the commentary keep up the good work. You should do a video on obstructed seating views in sports that would be a good vid
My home park and home tram ! I LOVE all the money they are putting into our park here in Toronto !!!! Just beautiful
SkyDome was never in danger or in need of 'saving'. Keep in mind that it was originally built to house MLB baseball and CFL football. The lower bowl was on wheels and could be repositioned. Main issue was when Rogers bought it, they didn't know what to do with it for the longest time.
Toronto never needed a new stadium, it needed SkyDome to have a renovation. Once the Argonauts moved out, it was the perfect opportunity to make it a baseball-only venue and improve it.
The lower bowl renovation next off season is going to be major. They are completely tearing out the lower bowl and redesigning it from the ground up. The seats will move much closer to the field and I’m sure there will be more unique social spaces integrated since they have so much room to work with. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they renamed the stadium to Rogers Field or Rogers Park although I think they should go back to calling it SkyDome or even Rogers SkyDome.
I believe you will find the second stage of the renovations are much more involved than you are suggesting. I read they are going to rip out the entire lower bowl and reconfigure the seating.
Yea same here, apparently its even bigger
The color change makes such an amazing difference
I had not been to a Jays game since 2019, so I was really impressed with the renovations. New seats in the 500's, new lighting, scoreboard, bare concrete given a coat of paint and all the standing open areas really give it a new lease on life.
I agree about the hotel cladding now looks very drab against the rest of the outfield area, should be very obvious that it needs to be refreshed to anyone looking that way
Phase 2 is well underway and Rogers Centre is going to be even more incredible!
also the new upper decks seats are more roomy than the old ones from last year, which is nice because the old ones were way to crammed together lol
I'm not sure where your getting your info from. Phase 2 of the reno at Rogers Centre is probably even more major than phase 1. They're ripping out the entire lower bowl.
They had said they are completely tearing out the lower bowl seating and putting in permanent seats
The scoreboard was upgraded last season. Wasn’t apart of the major renovations this season
Park Social makes more sense when you account for the fact it's a family area. Grilled cheese sandwiches and all. I was just there, it's nice. The part that is kinda ugly is the area around the batter's eye.
Was at the game, checked out the bleachers. They are insanely close to the visitors BP, I think they will remove the first row of bleachers to seperate the fans and BP more.
US Bank Stadium is a multi-purpose with retractable seating for baseball.
That’s true, it’s for a college team tho!
I think it saved it.
I agree with constructing a fully see-through roof. Whoever makes the decision to keep the roof open or closed always seems to lean towards closed even if the weather isn't forecast to cause delays of any kind. Too cold? Close the roof. Too windy? Close the roof. Too hot? Close the roof. Ideal weather? OK, open the roof. Baseball is sport meant to be played outdoors, or at least be able to experience the natural daylight or moonlight throughout the playing surface while watching or playing the game. Since this team keeps it closed far too often, a totally see-through fixed roof would be the best of both worlds. Outdoor sunshine plus protection from weather stoppages. Not sure how much it would cost or who would pick up the tab since you can't have advertising on the roof, but it would be far better than what goes on now.
The stadium does indeed look amazing after these changes. It's MLBs modern version of the Tokyo Dome. It's super unique to MLB and time is starting to swing back in its favor with these investments. Will be interesting to see what the next phases of the reno will look like.
Tokyo Dome was actually modeled after the Metrodome. If only the Japanese knew how much sports fans hated that place.
Just won 4 tickets over the Jays bullpen for Saturdays game. Can't wait to see the Reno's!
Looks great!
The scoreboard was added last season but it is very cool
I’ll be in Toronto and Cinncy this May for the first time. It will be the 25th and 26th of the current stadiums I will have gone to. And I must say, Globe Life is the 3rd worst stadium currently. Just wanted to put that out there 😂
EJ read my above comments on the great location in Downtown Toronto that the Jays newly rebuild stadium for both mass transit and also a major highway that connects to Buffalo, NY as well.
The point about the hotel they can’t do anything about the hotel exterior because it is not owned by them anymore. So I don’t see it happening
I'm OK with the retractable roof as long as they lighten up on the number of games where they keep it closed. I go back to the Exhibition Stadium days as a teenager and I liked that stadium better than SkyDome since it was open-air only. Travelled to Toronto with friends for a Double-Header vs. Red Sox. Only played 5 innings total before games were cancelled due to rain. Disappointed, but better than being indoors during an afternoon game with the roof closed and no threat to game cancellation.
The stadium looks incredible after stage 2
Skydome has become a vintage park in a weird way….it’s already in a prime location and it has that 80s/90s intimidating feel. Most baseball stadiums now don’t have that….Jays should keep the stadium and let it become a classic park in its own right.
The scoreboard was new last year. So this is year 2 for it.
Some of what the ginger is saying isn't accurate, Skydome was designed in 1984 the main design goals was to be multiple purpose which was the norm at the time and to have as much seats and field open to sky when open with no shadows or obstructions, every other retractable roof is meant to provide as much shade to all the seats and allow.enough sunlight and air for the grass to grow and it doesn't have a hockey arena feel inside, the worst shadow is between 4-6 pm where a shadow will cover the warning track between the power allies and that is it, Rogers doesn't own the hotel attached to the building, Rogers sucks but they did a decent job upgrading the concrete field of the building, the lower level is going to be torn out and completely redesigned
Oh yes, the stadium looks awesome. I feel like a lot of Stadiums could go with Renovations over completely new stadiums. Hard Rock Stadium is another example of how much a renovation can change a stadium.
that's because the owner and Toronto is like RICH rich. Many cities in the States wouldn't be able to afford this much money to renovate this ballpark. Not to mention the Blue Jays consistently have a sold out ballpark while many other ball parks are filled with half to nearly empty, which is why Blue Jays were able to rack in a lot of money from filling seats and are able to afford to renovate.
We are not out of the multi-purpose stadium era yet. The Phoenix Suns home stadium is actually a multi-purpose stadium. They share the stadium with the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football league, and they have been doing so for the last 30 years.
No, MLB will NOT build a dome with a clear roof. They already tried that (somewhat) with the Astrodome and it didn't work. It's okay in Football, because receivers don't need to look high up in the sky to see the ball. Outfielders must do that, so it's easy to lose the ball in the glare. Ironically, the ideal roof is in Montreal, where they painted it blue on the inside. I don't understand why every other stadium didn't do that.
i was there and it was such an amazing atmosphere!!!
It cools down a lot at night in Las Vegas
Funny that domed stadiums are incorporating glass into the roofs and overall design when the world's 1st dome, the Astro Dome, painted over their glass roof due to sun glare. I like the new designs though
I’m coming awfully close to seeing myself in this video… I was in those bleacher seats for the HR derby in the 8th.
oh come on have you even been to the stadium yet must be a design expert
If Rogers wanted a new stadium they would have just knocked the entire SkyDome down (preserving the Hotel which they don't own) and build a new one from scratch at the same site.
As an owner of season tickets behind home plate in the green td in the action seats, I’m worried I will lose my seats with the phase 2 renovation as they are planning on adding “boxes” down there for companies to own instead of just normal people.
What's the deal a stadium that opened in 1989 is considered old? Fenway Park opened in 1912, that's old
Every team gets the All-Star game in their city. They just take turns doing it buddy.
I hope the Howard Terminal idea seems to make MUCH MORE SENSE than the A’s moving to Las Vegas, it just makes more sense for the A’s to build a new stadium in the Oakland area
At this point, it either these 2 long time options for the A's. Either a new Howard Terminal ballpark in Downtown Oakland near both the Bridge and Subway to San Francisco. or 2)A new ballpark in Vegas. No matter what happens within 5 years tops, Vegas is getting a MLB club guaranteed. Ditto soon after for Vegas getting a NBA team as well.
Polycarbonate roof is needed asap
I wrote to the jays 4 yrs ago with this suggestion
Just a heads up 2026 has already been announce. The 2026 All Star Game will be in Philadelphia due to the 250th Birthday of the United States of America. If Toronto is going to hold a All Star game its going to be either before 2026 or after 2026
Video ideas: Rate Championship Rings for Major Sports like mlb
I know this is old but this isn't the first video where you talk about the Roger's center and give wrong info. The phase 2 reno is massive reno. They are gutting the entire lower bowl.
Only stadium I’ve been too because it’s my home of course but I think they should at least paint around the hotel windows blue to match! And blend in
this guys voice, yeezus crust
It would be nice if Montreal got a team. I grew up an Expos fan even though I'm not from Montreal. Sounds like MLB does not want to go back even though there's a deep-pocketed man (Stephen Bronfman) would would own the team and plans for a new ballpark should they be granted a team. Are there any other cities that once had a MLB team which left the city yet don't have one today like the Expos...? MLB wouldn't even let the Expos share a regular season schedule with the Rays (which the Rays were on board with) as a way to show MLB that there's still a large fan base in Montreal that would support a MLB team even if that "home" team is actually based in another city.
It looks beautiful but i bet in about 7 to 10 years they will ask for a new stadium smh
If the A's average 8500 or so this year, they would be better off pulling a Chargers and playing at the small stadium for a few years than staying in Oakland
The entire 100 level (lower bowl) is going to be complely redone. It's not an easy task. All the cement which is under all the seats and aisles will be complelty demolished and redone.
Just to let you know the scoreboard was last season
Weren't they talking about making that "outfield" portion of the roof to be transparent? Alright, he just answered it. I wish he'd stop bringing up "Mount Davis"!
I would say God saved because it looks gorgeous
$300 Million???? And it's still bottom 5 stadiums in the MLB
It was a bad stadium for football, let’s hope it’s a good one now for baseball.
Great informative video. NGL though I had to watch it with CC on. The monotone delivery was hard to listen to. Def sounds like you’re reading from a script.
The A’s NEED to stay in the Oakland area in California and build a new stadium in order to stay in the immediate Oakland area, the A’s WILL NOT go to Las Vegas
The renovations aren't done. This was just phase 1 of 3
The Roger's Centre is still dated and the renovations only gave a reason they need a newer ballpark. Ballparks are getting rid of seats and more open concourses and party areas similar to newer NFL stadiums that look like big shopping centers.
The renovations fall in line if the team is winning, if they're losing, stadium doesn't mean anything to the fans.
Jordan I think the Jays Owners Rogers (They Canada's version of say NBC/Comcast)did look around all over the Toronto area. And (correct me guys if I am wrong)most neighborhoods in or near Toronto that was considered for a new Jays ballpark opposed it.
The Rogers Center best feature not mentioned is that is in heart of Downtown Toronto near a major citywide subway line and a regional train hub as well. Plus a major highway that can take customers as far as Buffalo for US fans driving up for the games as well.
@@americangiant1003 They can still keep the Jays in Downtown by building a new stadium at the site of the Rogers Centre.
@@americangiant1003 this would only work if they have a temporary stadium and break the ballpark down and rebuild it. But that means there's no point in having a renovation then
Blue jays will still need another stadium in 10-15yrs imo.
Definitely possible, at least just going by Mark Shapiro's comments on the matter. Not really sure where else they would build one, though.
@@terrycullen3302 the only options are exhibition grounds or the East Portlands area, because you need a massive transportation hub to feed the fans into the area. Or they could build a temporary stadium, knock down the skydome and rebuild a proper baseball stadium.
The Jays don’t actually own the hotel that’s why they didn’t renovate the facade
This might be the only way I will ever enjoy a Blue Jays game since I can't stand watching home games on TV. Sportsnet likes to bombard viewers with excessive advertisements on the batters eye and along the foul lines. In past years I have seen batters eye advertisements overpower a fly ball into the outfield. Instead of focusing on the gameplay, I was drawn to ads for Home Hardware, Honda, Dairy Queen, and of course...ROGERS!! Now it's online betting sites that are appearing in its place. Do other teams do things like that on TV broadcasts with superimposed advertisements on the batters eye or along the foul lines?!?
it will always be SkyDome to us argo fans
It's called the Skydome! lol not Rahhhhhhhhhhjers center. lol
I think it’s unfair to criticize a stadium that you have never been to.
He didn’t even know that the jumbotron wasn’t apart of this offseason’s renovation.
GRASS FIELD!!!
The renovations are just to hold it over till they figure out a new stadium......
Can’t put a baseball team in Vegas, that seems like a stretch. But you never know. I think Montreal or Nashville should be on the list imo. Is Vegas hotter than Arizona, Florida or California in the summer? They all don’t have closed domes. I just don’t think the market would support it with Hockey and Football there now. NBA would be next. Shorter season, lots of betting.
Vegas is very similar to Arizona, very dry heat. It would have to be a closed dome stadium. Chase Field in Arizona can also be fully closed by the way.
@@al1976-v7m yeah I knew that about the stadium in Arizona.
I would love the Roger Centre to host football teams, such as Toronto Argonauts or any NFL country tour games
Go to Las Vegas
Thanks Depressed Ginger !!
The trop with those catwalks in play. The trop is the worst!
Yes it did!
Just "MLB" not "the MLB."
Siding? That’s concrete bro
The hotel exterior facing the field is siding. You can tell up close.
The bleacher renovations are an improvement, but the original all purpose design is still too cavernous.Yuck!
They ought to ad a final phase: gut all the tiers except the bleachers, reconfigure the field, by moving homeplate behind 3rd base coaches box. 2nd base in same area, reduce seating to a smaller 40,000 make it an intimate retro look & feel like the other MLB venues (post Camden yards). Center field bleachers would become left field. The outside looks bland. They should ad a brick facade outside exterior.
So the problem with the roof is snow. In the winter the roof has to potentially support 10's of thousands of pounds of snow. Not sure the clear stuff will withstand the weight over time.
It was saved? It wasn't a really an issue. The ballpark has been baseball only for 4 years. And because it was a CFL field, the football only layout wasn't all bad either. The 100 level sections moved and rotated. It was for a dual purpose park actually pretty decent.
What they need is to get a translucent look for that roof and maybe natural grass.
When the roof is open, it is a pretty decent park and when joint is packed, it is a rocking park to watch a game. The Jays at home in a good year is a hot ticket by the midsummer.
The A’s should be moved to Nashville. The city is growing like crazy and has a lot of California transplants.
I think MLB wants to save Nashville for one of the two expansion franchises.
Hot take the a’s should move to Sacramento
Been to the first 2 games so far and renos are a disaster. Seats are about an inch narrower than before. Harder and too dark as made look less bright. Horrible look the dark blue. The park section is a joke. Clutter and cheap. The rooftop bar is jam packed. Whoever designed the reno should be fired. End of story. Brutal would be kind.
Stadium is still junk ! Should have just sold this land an built a new stadium
People that think this is a good thing, have either never been to a baseball game in a real park, or have no clue what it is like at the Rogers Center.
1) The WORST lower bowl in all of the MLB. Take a look at ALL of the seating charts in the MLB, you will notice one major difference with the Roger's Center compared to all other stadiums. Take a look where home plate is in respect to the outside wall of the stadium behind home plate. Its by FAR and its not even close, the furthest away from the plate. This means the seats behind the plate go back a mile. If you are sitting in the last 10 rows anywhere on the lower bowl between first base and third base, you might as well be in another area code. You are nowhere near the game.
2) The 500s. If you are not between the first base and third base, you are in part of the stadium that is furthest from the field.
3) Funny they think that changing the direction of the seats is going to do anything. This will now ruin any chance this stadium will be useful for anything other than the Jays. The amount of epic stadium concerts that have been there, are now going to be ruined as a result of this changing. These changes now have really ruined the Dome for concerts. While baseball is the main tenant, they really pigeon holed themselves with these changes. This was not well thought out at all.
I predict within a decade Shapiro is gone, and Rogers sells the Jays.
Rogers will not be selling the Jays. Rogers Communications owns both the Jays and the Rogers Centre and wants the programming that 162 games a year provides on their 24/7 all-sports TV station Rogers Sportsnet and their 24/7 all-sports radio station The Fan 590, both based in Toronto. Since Rogers owns the ballpark and is paying the entire bill for the renovations, they are the ones making the decisions re. the reconfiguration of the place.
EVERYTHING is for sale.
In the past 40 years, the most valuable franchises in every sport have had sales.
1) The Leafs in 1999 to the current owners.
2) The Lakers last year had 27% sold for a few billion.
3) Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989
4) (the yankees did not sell, but the Red Sox and Dodgers have both been sold in the past 25 years and for billions)
The Jays are worth less than all of those franchises that I mentioned. If you do not think Rogers would take mega money for the Jays, you are a fool.
@@brothaman007 Possible, but any potential purchaser would have to pay what Rogers itself values the Jays at with all the benefits to the company mentioned above and how they mesh with the other assets the compony owns, plus a healthy profit over and above this amount. The question then becomes, who would be willing to pay that much to acquire the Jays....?
@@michaelmarkowski204
Rogers value of the Jays can also negatively affect the value of other assets. Let's just say they end up stinking and fans get tired of it. They have a winning record now, but they have not won a single playoff game since Shatkins took over. Attendance has not spiked with the aging of these young players. The team itself is not helping the value of the franchise. Its not like any buyer is getting a franchise that is an annual contender.
And take a look at what someone just paid Michael Jordan for a team that is terrible. Look what someone paid for the garbage Sacramento Kings and invested in a new arena. Hell, someone just paid almost a billion dollars to own one of the worse franchises in the NHL ...... ever.
You can act like the Jays are some super money making cash cow. Reality is, they are not. And this stadium, still bottom 5 to 10 in the league, and in 10 years, these renovations will wear thin, and come with another multi 9 figure price tag.
@@brothaman007 One other thing. According to ESPN's website, so far in 2023, the Jays are 8th out of 30 teams in average attendance per home game at 35,480 while sitting in 4th place in the AL East. Also, how is Rogers going to replace 162 games a year of programming on both TV and Radio if they don't own the team and thus may be outbid by TSN or another network....? I bet Rogers will own the Jays and play in the Rogers Centre much longer than the 10 years you predicted.