GaryMrMets
04-03-2004, 11:31 PM
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/sports/s040304d.htm
Citizens Bank Park ready, but not finished
Saturday, April 3, 2004
Fans won't really notice, but final touches remain
By KEVIN ROBERTS
Courier-Post Staff
PHILADELPHIA
There are 1,500 construction workers laboring through the night on Citizens Bank Park, tending to hallways and concourses still littered with equipment - ladders, buckets, debris of all kinds.
By today, fans won't even notice.
"Oh, if you were here yesterday, you'd think this was a ghost town," Phillies President Dave Montgomery said. "Do we have some spit and polish to do? Absolutely. But when fans walk in (today), they'll see a ballpark. It might look like we need a lot of work, but go back 48 hours and you'd think there's really not a lot of work left."
The Phillies are racing for the finish line on the new ballpark, and all indications are that with one more long night of cleaning and swabbing, Citizens Bank Park will be ready to go right on schedule for today's game.
There will be a handful of elements that won't be finished, however. Most of them are interactive gaming areas and special fan points of interest like the All-Star walk (commemorating former Phillies All-Stars). Some concession stands won't be open, and some areas will be serviced by portable concessions only.
But the gameday operations are ready. The restrooms are operational, even after a last-minute snag. When construction workers and Phillies employees flushed all the toilets two weeks ago (a day known in the business as "the great flush"), the pipes sprung what Montgomery called "a modest leak." But it's been fixed and all systems are go.
"Like any major construction project, we had some curveballs thrown at us," Montgomery said.
This is why, despite the inevitable weather issues of April in the northeast (Friday's workout was rained out) and despite the earlier deadline to be finished, the Phillies wanted these exhibition games that will open Citizens Bank Park today and Sunday against the Indians at 1 p.m. They'll serve as sort of a trial run for the inevitable glitches that always pop up.
"This was one of the things we got advice on," Montgomery said. "People told us to do this because we would absolutely need it. It gives you an early deadline, and it forces you to get to a point where you have to iron out the kinks. And there will be some kinks. But then we'll be out a week, and in that week we will digest what happens (today), and when we open on the 12th, we'll be a better ballpark."
Fans should probably arrive early, anyway, since the new surroundings will create some points of congestion. While workers were still pouring concrete at some of the entrances Friday, Phillies officials maintain every point of entry will be open and ready today.
The gates will open at 11 a.m., in time to watch the Phillies take batting practice at 11:15 a.m.
But the gates will open without a hitch. Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal said he toured the place two months ago and told Montgomery he didn't think it would be ready. He's now sure it will be, although he noted the travails of getting around amid the last-minute work Friday.
"I still feel like I need a hardhat when I'm walking around," Lieberthal said.
It's not quite finished, but it's ready - and when it's finished, the views will be unique among major-league parks. Fans will have a compelling view of the downtown skyline (interrupted, however, by a giant, white Phillies sign that team officials say will be taken down before next year), and Citizens Bank Park will be the only major-league ballpark with open concourses offering a full view of the field on both the upper and lower levels.
It might appear the Phillies are cutting it close, and they are. That's the way the process works. But the grass, dirt and seats are all in place and Citizens Bank Park is ready for baseball.
"Probably, truth be told, if somebody had told me it was going to get this exciting at the end, I'd have said: `Can't we cut down a little on the excitement?"' Montgomery said. "But that's construction."
Citizens Bank Park ready, but not finished
Saturday, April 3, 2004
Fans won't really notice, but final touches remain
By KEVIN ROBERTS
Courier-Post Staff
PHILADELPHIA
There are 1,500 construction workers laboring through the night on Citizens Bank Park, tending to hallways and concourses still littered with equipment - ladders, buckets, debris of all kinds.
By today, fans won't even notice.
"Oh, if you were here yesterday, you'd think this was a ghost town," Phillies President Dave Montgomery said. "Do we have some spit and polish to do? Absolutely. But when fans walk in (today), they'll see a ballpark. It might look like we need a lot of work, but go back 48 hours and you'd think there's really not a lot of work left."
The Phillies are racing for the finish line on the new ballpark, and all indications are that with one more long night of cleaning and swabbing, Citizens Bank Park will be ready to go right on schedule for today's game.
There will be a handful of elements that won't be finished, however. Most of them are interactive gaming areas and special fan points of interest like the All-Star walk (commemorating former Phillies All-Stars). Some concession stands won't be open, and some areas will be serviced by portable concessions only.
But the gameday operations are ready. The restrooms are operational, even after a last-minute snag. When construction workers and Phillies employees flushed all the toilets two weeks ago (a day known in the business as "the great flush"), the pipes sprung what Montgomery called "a modest leak." But it's been fixed and all systems are go.
"Like any major construction project, we had some curveballs thrown at us," Montgomery said.
This is why, despite the inevitable weather issues of April in the northeast (Friday's workout was rained out) and despite the earlier deadline to be finished, the Phillies wanted these exhibition games that will open Citizens Bank Park today and Sunday against the Indians at 1 p.m. They'll serve as sort of a trial run for the inevitable glitches that always pop up.
"This was one of the things we got advice on," Montgomery said. "People told us to do this because we would absolutely need it. It gives you an early deadline, and it forces you to get to a point where you have to iron out the kinks. And there will be some kinks. But then we'll be out a week, and in that week we will digest what happens (today), and when we open on the 12th, we'll be a better ballpark."
Fans should probably arrive early, anyway, since the new surroundings will create some points of congestion. While workers were still pouring concrete at some of the entrances Friday, Phillies officials maintain every point of entry will be open and ready today.
The gates will open at 11 a.m., in time to watch the Phillies take batting practice at 11:15 a.m.
But the gates will open without a hitch. Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal said he toured the place two months ago and told Montgomery he didn't think it would be ready. He's now sure it will be, although he noted the travails of getting around amid the last-minute work Friday.
"I still feel like I need a hardhat when I'm walking around," Lieberthal said.
It's not quite finished, but it's ready - and when it's finished, the views will be unique among major-league parks. Fans will have a compelling view of the downtown skyline (interrupted, however, by a giant, white Phillies sign that team officials say will be taken down before next year), and Citizens Bank Park will be the only major-league ballpark with open concourses offering a full view of the field on both the upper and lower levels.
It might appear the Phillies are cutting it close, and they are. That's the way the process works. But the grass, dirt and seats are all in place and Citizens Bank Park is ready for baseball.
"Probably, truth be told, if somebody had told me it was going to get this exciting at the end, I'd have said: `Can't we cut down a little on the excitement?"' Montgomery said. "But that's construction."