I haven’t gotten up to Massachusetts yet to see the Worcester Red Sox‘ $160 million giant shipping container, but FoS reader Jason did on Sunday, and sent along some photos and observations:
Jason: Party Terrace area in right field above home bullpen. As you can see, a large portion of right field and the dedicated line score is obstructed by the patio/congregate area next to and above it. For what it’s worth, I walked over to the far left side of this area, right next to the box seats, to see if the view was much better, and it was only marginally so, meaning seats in that section of “field box” seats would also have obstructed views.
FoS: That is some pretty egregiously terrible design right there — why not push the patio areas a bit farther back from the field so fans on the terrace next to them can see right field? (Also, why does a stadium need a “party terrace” and a “patio congregate area”? But I digress.) This design element was present in the original renderings, so you would have thought someone would have noticed, but maybe all that digging into a hill cut into the budget for VR walkthroughs, or even just for building out the damn thing in Minecraft.
Jason: Same congregate area, but a level higher. As you can see, the light pole blocks a good portion of the view from this spot and in many places, obstructs either the plate or the pitcher’s mound.
FoS: I’m on the record as saying that I’m fine with obstructed-view seats if pillars allow for the upper deck seats to be brought closer to the field (f in chat, Tiger Stadium), but for a light pole? It looks like there was room behind the patio to place the pole, too, so I have no idea what they were thinking here.
Jason: The video board is tucked so far to the left side of the outfield, it’s essentially blocked by the stadium structure. This would certainly be better the lower you walked down in the section, but you would still need to get pretty close to the front row to completely open up the video board view.
FoS: smdh
Jason: One of the things I was struck by was how “small” the park seemed. From what I read, the park only has about 6,000 fixed seats and the rest of the capacity, making its way over 9.000, would be filled out by congregate areas and the large grass berm under construction in left field. This facility just doesn’t seem to project the sense that you are only “one level away” from the majors. In fact, I would argue that the park in Hartford gives off a much stronger AAA vibe than this one.
FoS: Small is … good? Intimate? Though “We got to 9,000 seats by making one-third of the fans either stand or sit on the ground” is maybe not so good.
Jason: A look at some of the “finishes” in the ballpark. The seats behind the rail are the seats that come with the skyboxes. As best I can tell, these are identical to the seats used in the regular field box section of the park, with no extra padding or flourishes that one would expect in a “luxury” seating category. Also, the corrugated metal fascia in lieu of brick or some other concrete or masonry facade. Again, this is a facility that cost roughly $160 million?
FoS: While it’s hard to complain too much about high rollers not getting enough padding on their seats, it is totally legit to complain about plain-ass seats and corrugated metal running up a bill of $160 million.
Jason: This is the one that really baffles me. I cannot imagine the thought process that went into designing a stadium using crushed stone as the floor in a portion of the concourse. (This is the right field area behind the “Worcester Wall.” Why wouldn’t you use concrete here or at worst, asphalt? And what does this area look like after it rains?
FoS: “Crushed stone” is apparently technically different from gravel, but let’s face it: Most people would call this gravel. There are no doubt reasons for this design choice, but it’s hard to avoid the feeling that one of them was “Only eight dollars a cubic foot at Lowe’s!”
The trifecta of poor design, cheap materials, and massive cost overruns is a tough one to achieve, yet the WooSox — at least from initial reports — appear to have hit it. It’s tough to believe that Janet Marie Smith, who helped design Camden Yards and the renovation of Fenway Park, drew up this place, but maybe she wasn’t involved in decisions like where to place the light poles? I, for one, can’t wait for the oral history of the Worcester stadium design process, because everyone loves a good train wreck.
you really have to work at it to come up with this much obstructed seating, is this the retro look they were going for?
It’s never too early to start laying the groundwork for another multimillion dollar renovation.
So true. I think if this is going to be the face of Worcester for the mid 2020s we need to renovate before all the crushed gravel gets dusty. That satuid was fine when it opened but that was like 2 weeks ago. Time to get it up to modern standards.
$160 million divided by 6,000 seats or $26,666,67 a seat in stadium costs. As my Jewish grandmother used to say, “Such a deal!” Rushing out to buy my season tix now!
And here I thought the cost of 1,000 seats was $1 million, about $1,000 a seat in stadium costs. Guess you can’t believe everything in print or the franchise team president says or …..
https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/07/16/heres-why-fc-cincinnati-s-new-stadium-capacity-is.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2021/04/26/fc-cincinnati-set-to-open-tql-stadium-debut-mls-stadium-firsts/?sh=465b8d3868f4
Correction: $10 million for 1,000 seats or $10,000 a seat in stadium costs.
Give the old man a break. Math is hard man when you’re using an abacus!
It’s always impressive to me what the “per seat” cost for professional and major college stadia are. You can tell the teams that had to pay for the facilities themselves as they are always dramatically cheaper. This is what happens when you have to engineer them to earn revenue based on the amount invested rather than just “sure, put in solid gold bathroom fittings because someone else is paying”.
I built a spreadsheet several years ago which charted the per seat cost of NHL/NBA arenas. It was an eye opener…
It’s pretty impressive that like every minor league yard built since.. 1950? figured out how to support a small upper deck without gigantic pillars/light standards.
As to the gravel bit, I imagine it’s an intentional “feature”, but that kind of thing can help reduce wastewater shed in an overall design. Maybe there was some kind of enviro claim they could make based on x amount of unpaved surface? I’m stretching, but maybe.
Good thought. I’ve no idea what is under that crushed rock/fill, but if it is a non-compacted permeable surface it is possible that including that area as permeable allowed them to avoid building a storm retention pond (or avoid using part of the parking lot as one, ala Walmart and Home Depot etc).
Based upon Jason’s pics, the views of Worcester’s skyline from Polar Park are awe inspiring! And who can put a price on that?
I imagine some people got some really fancy vacation homes courtesy of that $160 million because that much certainly didn’t go into this park. This looks like a beginner’s Minecraft project. And absolutely none of the materials are going to age well. It looks like a borderline dump brand new. Just imagine once the paint fades a bit.
You NEED to have a FOS game where we all buy tickets and tour the stadium !!! As an Rhode Islander, I really feel we dodged a bullet.
Hey, you guys are still recovering from the time Curt Schilling fleeced the state to fund Kingdoms of Amalur. Any breaks you get are good.
Breaks — We get so few of them.
I still can’t believe it’s not my $160 million paying for that stadium. So to speak.
Despite ballpark issues, still can’t past team name. Wooing Socks.
Socks. Is this an East Coast versus West Coast thing? I get sitting next to a nice roaring fire in wintertime with your mukluks on. However, socks?
Now Worcester Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD’s), that’s a team name I can get behind (Raytheon, bonus sponsorship, could design mascot. Kyle the kindly, but deadly cruise missile).
I can see the sports story lines now –
Polar Parks explodes with excitement!
WMD’s blow up opposition!
WMD’s bats fizzle in loss.
WMD’s hit the target for win!
WMD’s destroy opposition!
Worcester’s collateral damage includes injuries to players.
The possibilities are endless!
Polar Park (just one)
I still find a semblance of irony that the PawSox had a polar bear as their mascot yet traded down for Little Miss Sunshine ensemble cast member when they moved to Worcester, yet the park is sponsored by a local soda company that uses a, you guessed it, polar bear as it’s logo.
Nice!
I’ve been there a few times. This (Rhode Island?) guy basically picked out two or three small obstructions and some crushed gravel (which I believe may be temporary and that no one has issues with) and called the park a “train wreck.”
This is the type of guy who would visit the Sistine Chapel and complain that it’s smaller than advertised and whine about how he believes Michelangelo was overrated. And oh yeah, it cost too much and took too long to paint.
Or is all this just sour grapes?
The reason it cost so much is because it was built on a brownfield that was once an industrial site. FYI – To clean up brownfield’s costs a lot of money. But now, there’s no more brownfield. There’s a beautiful new ballpark with the Red Sox AAA team playing there and a ton of business to local bars, restaurants and shops as well as a lot of new development which will more than pay for the park.
Funny though, I dont see anymore panhandlers in the area. I guess they all moved to Rhode Island. (Smiley face)
I am pretty sure he’s from Connecticut.
Oh, Connecticut? I see, so the guy making fun of the cost of the park and referring to it as a “train wreck” actually resides in a state with the second worst debt ratio in the country. (Per Fitch)
He lives in a state with failing rundown cities and tens of billions of dollars in unfunded pension and healthcare liabilities and he calls Polar Park a “train wreck.”
More than one thing can be train wrecks!
I’m from eastern Massachusetts, actually and I’d welcome you to cite where in my comments I referred to Polar Park as a “train wreck?”
Victor Matheson (Holy Cross in Worcester), you and your ilk have been properly put in your place. How dare claim Polar Park hasn’t brought economic and other benefits (no panhandlers), when visual evidence clearly contradicts this.
Brooklynites are so smug, probably why Carolyn Goodman left/moved to Las Vegas bnd (before Neil deMause). It costs a hellavu lot to clean up a toxic industrial park and place a ballpark there. Cannot wait for the new Buffalo Bills stadium to open at the site of the former Love Canal.
I live in RI and I am delighted that Worcester got the park. I will certainly visit the park and wear my old PawSox hat. I think that worcester has paid a too high price for the stadium but It was their choice to do so and I look forward to enjoying games subsidized by OPM.