Busch Stadium III (a.k.a. New Busch Stadium) is the new home for
the Major League Baseball St. Louis Cardinals. It replaces the old
Busch Stadium (which itself was actually the second Busch Stadium
since Sportsman's Park was
renamed by the brewery in 1953), where the Cardinals played for nearly
forty years. It is scheduled to open with a April 10, 2006 game in which
the Cardinals will host the Milwaukee Brewers.
Left
Field - 335 ft
Left-Center - 390 ft
Center Field - 400 ft
Right-Center - 390 ft
Right Field - 336 ft
Backstop - 60 ft
Funding
Since 1995, St. Louis Cardinals team ownership had lobbied for a new
ballpark in downtown St. Louis, though the team was unable to acquire
funding for the project for several years. In June 2001, the State of
Missouri signed a contract with the team, proposing ballpark in downtown
St. Louis, but a subsequent funding bill was struck down in May 2002,
leaving the saga open. Team owners sought a location near Madison,
Illinois, adjacent to Gateway International Raceway, until the city of St.
Louis drafted a financing plan for the team to construct the new stadium
in downtown St. Louis. The Stadium was financed through private bonds,
bank loans, a long-term loan from St. Louis County, and money from the
team owners. The development, including the Ballpark Village will cost
approximately $646 million with the stadium alone costing $346 million.
Construction
Busch Stadium III was constructed by HOK Sport and Hunt Construction
with an estimated cost of $346 million. The stadium is being built in
phases:
First, the construction of the south side of the new stadium.
Second, the wrecking ball demolition of the old stadium, which began
the week of November 7, 2005. That phase is expected to last 90 days.
Third, building the north side of the new stadium, i.e. the left
field area.
Fly
to New Busch Stadium!
If you have Google
Earth installed, click here
to be "flown" to the site of New Busch Stadium. (If you do
not have it installed, get
it from Google. It allows you to view virtually anywhere on
Earth in 3D using satellite imagery.)
Although the stadium will be opened on opening day in April,
construction will not have been completed on that date. Construction on
the club/loge level, the pavilion level, and on nine "party
rooms" will continue until July. The field level (16,880 seats),
terrace level (9,150), and bleachers (3,661) are expected to be completed
on opening day, with total capacity on that day to be 37,962, not
including up to 2,751 standing room tickets. Once construction is
completed, capacity included all 2,886 standing-room-only tickets for the
general public and within the suites and party rooms will make the
stadium's total capacity 46,861. Natural grass turf was installed in March
2006.
New Busch Stadium!
Date: August 5,
2005 4:36 PM Photographer: David K. Staub
Camera: Olympus C-5500 Subject: Busch
Stadium. Taken from the top of the Gateway
Arch in St. Louis, MO, looking West.
Construction in progress on the new
stadium can be seen on the left (south)
side of the photograph. This
file is licensed under Creative
CommonsAttribution
2.5 License.
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NEW & OLD
'Old' Busch and the highlighted area marking the approximate location of the 'New' Busch Stadium.
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