NewsMarlins brass tour Target Field
Team officials seek to learn from park's completion
By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com
11/20/09 10:20 AM EST
This is part of an MLB.com/Marlins.com exclusive series with Marlins president David Samson chronicling the progress and developments of the new retractable-roof stadium that is scheduled to open in 2012. Throughout the series, which will run weekly in the offseason, fans are encouraged to e-mail Samson at D.Samson@Marlins.com with their thoughts.MIAMI -- On April 12, the Twins will play host to the Red Sox in the inaugural game at Target Field, Minnesota's new 40,000-seat ballpark.
Why is this date significant to the Marlins?
Because representatives from the organization will be at that game, witnessing firsthand the opening of the last new MLB stadium before the Marlins move into their retractable-roof home in 2012.
"We'll go to Minnesota on Opening Day and see how they do, being the last new ballpark to open before ours," Marlins president David Samson said. "We're next after Minnesota. We want to see how they do their festivities and see how fans circulate on Opening Day.
"We want to see how the concession stands work -- how the lines are working in their concession areas. We'll get some good ideas from that."
For months, Marlins officials have toured new ballparks. Earlier this week, before MLB held its Owners Meetings in Chicago, Samson was in Minneapolis, getting a look at Target Field.
Joining Samson in Minnesota were Marlins vice chairman Joel Mael, executive vice president/chief financial officer Michel Bussiere and executive vice president of ballpark development Claude Delorme.
"The purpose of this tour was to take a look at the new ballpark toward the end of construction, and to really get an idea of some of the things we have to look forward to when our construction progresses," Samson said.
Construction on the Marlins' park on the Orange Bowl grounds in the Little Havana section of Miami began on July 1. The project remains on schedule and on budget. In recent weeks, there has been a greater influx in workers from the Miami area. And that trend is expected to continue in the upcoming months.
"On the construction side, things are progressing very well," Samson said. "What I'm most proud of is our local numbers [of workers] are indisputable. More local firms are working on this project. More local workers are working on this project. It's more than we anticipated, and we're very proud of that trend, and it will continue the more we do construction."
Fans can follow all the developments of the Marlins' new park via a webcam on www.marlins.com.
Surveying the Twins' park gave the Marlins more insight into what to expect when Florida's stadium is almost completed.
"We spent many hours going through all sorts of details about how seats were put in and how handicap railings were put in," Samson said. "And how safety railings were put in -- the list goes on and on.
"We looked at the clubhouses and how they made some decisions there. We looked at some of their exclusive club [seats]. We looked at the field and the grass. We really looked at just about everything. One of the advantages of being the last team building a ballpark is we get to see what everybody has done."
While the Marlins' ballpark will have a retractable roof and Minnesota has an open-air facility, the two stadiums are designed by the same company -- Populous.
Like Florida, Minnesota spent a great deal of time figuring out how traffic will flow in and out of the building.
"The way fans get in and out of the ballpark is very similar to what we're looking at," Samson said. "They tried to figure out traffic patterns for people. That's very important to us, too."
Capacity at Target Field will be 40,000, compared to 37,000 at the Marlins' new park. So in terms of size, the stadiums are similar.
Samson came away from the tour with a better idea of how each ballpark's main plaza areas will look.
Minnesota's plaza connects to the Target Center, home of the NBA's Timberwolves, so it is smaller than what is under construction in Florida.
"We got an idea of how they're using their plaza," Samson said. "That was interesting."
In touring different buildings, Marlins officials are seeing how each team offers something unique to its own area.
For instance, when someone on the Twins hits a home run at home, there will be a scoreboard display that incorporates Minneapolis and St. Paul.
"It's a nice feature that they have that is original and unique just to that area," Samson said. "It's not something we can replicate. For us, we would have to do something to bring together Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. I don't know if we'll have a feature like that."
Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
