Rendering for major upgrades planned at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla. Hammond Stadium is home to Minnesota Twins spring training. (Photo by Populous)
Much like the Minnesota Twins' home ballpark Target Field, Hammond Stadium ranks highly in Major League Baseball in attendance.
Minnesota's home for baseball in March is one of the most popular spring training stadiums. The 22-year-old park in Fort Myers, Fla., regularly stuffs capacity crowds of around 8,000-plus people into the stands.
The aged stadium, however, is no longer up to snuff with some recently-built facilities such as the Boston Red Sox's Jet Blue Park in Fort Myers and the Arizona Diamondbacks' Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Ariz.
So over the next two seasons, the Twins and Lee County are investing $48.5 million into upgrading Hammond Stadium and building a player development academy.
“Hammond Stadium has served our fans very, very well,” Twins President Dave St. Peter said. “When built, it was one of the great model spring training facilities of its type. It offered all the amenities that were expected at the time. It's now 2013, the facility is 22 years old and it was time for us to reassess because fans' expectations have changed over time.”
By 2015, the stadium will meet the standard of Spring baseball's best. It will have expanded concourses, new group seating areas, technological improvements, a 360-degree boardwalk and a new retail store.
The boardwalk is part of a Twins directive to give visitors more opportunities to watch the game from different angles.
“The 360-aspect of the concourse starts to give you different views of the game and different experiences,” Miller said. “A lot of people go there for three games in a weekend. You can sit at the bar in the outfield for one game, get a seat behind home plate for another; it's about variety.”
It will also feature a little more shade, which will be especially welcoming for Northerners making the trip South.
“One of the problems is that the best seats don't have the ability to get out of the sun,” said Miller. “It's really tough for some people in that much sun and heat. So we've provided a lot more shade structures. This other concourse also allows some of the accessible seating to be in the shade, whereas now it's all out in the sun.”
While the outfield is getting an overhaul, the entrance to Hammond Stadium is getting a touchup. Miller said the team and fans wanted to keep the building's unique architecture. They will add new facades that “mask some older parts,” increase Twins branding and provide a few new coats of paint.
Part two of the project, the team hopes, will pay long-term dividends on the field.
A brand new development academy will look much like that of college football and basketball training facilities. When the academy opens, it will include housing for as many as 54 players, an “agility field” and nutrition centers.
St. Peter said the academy will be especially helpful in integrating foreign players into life as professional baseball players in America.
“We can sign players in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela at the age of 16,” he said. “There are a lot of youngsters that make their way to Ft. Myers, so it's certainly part of it. It's not exclusive to those players because there are also ones drafted out of high school.”
Minnesota's management hopes the dorm-like housing areas will help players build chemistry together, providing a game room and common areas for teammates to spend time together rather than having separate hotels.
The residential component of the academy, which will cost around $6 million, will be paid for by the Twins while the rest of the bill will be picked up by Lee County via bed taxes.
The Twins' investment on the baseball side will provide a new field for their Gulf Coast League team the Ft. Myers Miracle located in the same sports complex as Hammond Field, and renovations to clubhouses.
Expansion of seating capacity and the development academy will be completed by next year, the expanded concourses are expected to be finished by spring training 2015.
“Now that Twins' fans have a home with Target Field, the whole renovation scheme is meant to bring this facility up to that standard,” Miller said. “The emphasis is on branding, team history and reinforcing the fan experience.”
Interviewed for this story: Bruce Miller, (816) 329-4313; Dave St. Peter, (918) 878-3465