Cleveland Indians announce Phase 2 of ballpark renovations

While it hasn’t necessarily translated into an uptick in attendance, the Cleveland Indians spent much of last offseason giving Progressive Field a beautiful new facelift.

They redesigned the center field entrance and gave Bob Feller‘s bronzed statue a couple friends. They built the ever-popular Right Field District complete with The Corner bar. And they refurbished the kids entertainment center.

And they’re not done yet.

On Wednesday, the Indians announced Phase 2 of renovations coming to Progressive Field next season. Those enhancements include extending the changes made in center and right field throughout the main concourse, adding new concessions, constructing a new club located behind home plate and adding more elements to celebrate the team’s rich history.

In the redesigned Right Field District, the Tribe added some local flare to include restaurants such as Melt Bar and Grilled, Sweet Moses, Dynomite Burgers and Great Lakes Brewing Co.

Given the success of those options this season, the Tribe will likely add more local specialties to bring a more unique — and homey — feel to the concourse.

The section behind home plate will feature a new club, including a full bar and access to the new concessions options, a customer service center and glass front viewing of the game. The club will be available for season-ticket holder in the Diamond Box and Field Box Front sections and remain open after the game to provide a way to let traffic die down before leaving.

The renovations to the center field gate turned out masterfully. The Tribe now has three statues honoring greats Bob Feller, Larry Doby and Jim Thome and, while there could (will) be more statues coming soon, the Indians are looking to add more historical elements to the stadium similar to the popular and unique exhibit in the Terrace Club launched this year that highlights Feller’s incredible career.

The Tribe continues to work toward their goal of enhancing the sightlines from everywhere in Progressive Field. While the Right Field District and family deck included elements that helped, the Indians are continuing to work toward giving fans a 360-degree view of the field from anywhere in the concourse.

According to Andrew J. Tobias of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, the Indians also received approval from their non-profit landlord for a new scoreboard to be financed by taxpayers:

The system could include a main center-field display measuring 60 feet tall and 237 feet wide — nearly three times the square-footage of the current display, which was installed in 2003.

With so many exciting things happening in Cleveland sports (and Cleveland, in general), the Indians are looking to enhance the connection between the city and the ballpark. Phase 1 was a really good start. If Phase 2 produces the same quality of noticeable changes, Cleveland fans will be in for another treat come 2016.

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