Turner Field Renovation

Turner Field goes high-def in major renovation (AJC)

It's not just the Braves' roster that is being reworked this off-season. A giant crane arrived at Turner Field last week, a heavy-duty sign of $15 million in renovations at the ballpark. "When you come to a game next April," Braves president Terry McGuirk said, "it's going to feel like a new stadium." Turner Field's most dramatic -- and expensive -- addition will be $12 million worth of new video and information boards, including a supersized, high-definition video screen in centerfield.

At 80 feet by 72 feet, the screen "will be the largest and tallest video display in any stadium in the world," said Todd Stih, regional sales manager for Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, which will manufacture and install the screen. It will be the first "true high-definition" megascreen in a sports stadium, he said.

The giant screen will replace two much smaller scoreboards that the Braves say had become worn out and obsolete.

Other high-visibility changes for next season, according to Mike Plant, the team's executive vice president of business operations, are:

D A 1,085-foot-long, 42-inch-high LED "ribbon"-- to feature animations, graphics, game information and advertising -- which will be installed on the fascia below the stadium's upper deck, extending from behind home plate toward both foul poles.

D A spin-off of the successful Chop House restaurant that will be built high above right field, connected to the eatery by an $85,000 staircase and named Top of the Chop by general manager John Schuerholz.

D A facelift for concession stands throughout the stadium and a complete renovation for the 755 Club.

D Electronic signs -- more than $500,000 worth -- that will direct fans to parkingand exit routes.

Nine years old next season, Turner Field remains an exceptional and well-maintained ballpark, Plant said. But it "needs a facelift, needs some new energy injected into it, needs to have a number of new things to offer," he said.

Enhancing 'experience'

The changes are needed because people come to Turner Field for the "experience" as well as for the baseball, the Braves executive said.

The team is trying to reverse seven consecutive seasons of declining attendance.

The total price of this winter's planned improvements, about $15 million, could grow, Plant said. The Braves and Turner Broadcasting are considering building a $3 million Cartoon Network-themed entertainment park adjacent to the entry plaza, he said. A decision has not been made on whether to proceed, and if so whether to do it this winter or next.

Plant said the Top of the Chop addition, the 755 Club renovation and concession stand upgrades will be funded jointly by the team and by Aramark, which holds the stadium's food and beverage contract.

The "ribbon" LED board will be a $2 million expenditure by the Braves, while the $10 million for- the centerfield megascreen, an upgraded screen at the entry-plaza and new video control room equipment will be provided in part by the team and partly through the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority.

Under the Turner Field operating agreement, the authority is responsible for capital repairs and replacements -- such as new video boards when needed -- while the Braves are required to contribute $1 million to $1.5 million a year to the authority's capital fund.

In this case, the Braves and the authority agreed the centerfield and entry-plaza screens needed to be replaced, partly because replacement parts no longer are available for the old boards. But the new boards are far grander and more expensive. So the Braves and the recreation authority agreed, with city and county approval, that the team will pay $10 million and deduct $5 million from its scheduled payments to the capital fund over the next five years.

Winter workout

Work on the renovations has already begun. The crane will be in operation through March, Plant said. The video control room has been gutted, and the old scoreboards are to be gone by Christmas. Mitsubishi has begun manufacturing the new centerfield screen in Japan and plans to have it installed a few weeks before Opening Day.

The screen will be the first of the next generation of Mitsubishi's Diamond Vision boards. It will integrate live video, replays, animation, game information and advertising onto a single screen, which can be devoted to one huge image or split among multiple elements.

Braves fans previously could watch two screens in centerfield: a 24-by-30 foot one for video and, below it, a monochrome screen for game information and animation.

"We'll be working hard until March," said Mark Foster, Mitsubishi's Pennsylvania-based general manager of Diamond Vision systems. "It's a large project, very involved."

Because the new board will have high-definition technology, "fans will notice not only the clarity but the depth of the picture," he said. "The Braves decided they wanted to step up the fan experience at Turner Field, and there's nothing like this in the major leagues."

"I think people will be blown away by the visual impact it will provide," Plant said.

The Braves executive said the improvements to the facilities will be matched by initiatives to improve customer service at the stadium. "The objective is to change the look and the feel -- change the way people get here, park here, experience the game here," Plant said. "And then we'll leave it to John [Schuerholz] and [manager] Bobby [Cox] to keep having good baseball teams."

Frankly, I'd prefer $15 million in player salary for Schuerholz to work with.