For most of the past 143 years, the St. Louis Cardinals could do no wrong in the eyes of their rabid fanbase. But patience with the team is fraying.
The ballclub’s first 90-loss season since 1990 had fans feeling disgruntled. A suboptimal start to the 2024 campaign is also raising eyebrows, even among the diehards. However, not even the possibility of back-to-back sub-.500 seasons for the first time in nearly 30 years appears to be dissuading the organization from preparing an outlandish request.
According to numerous reports, the St. Louis Cardinals are preparing an official request seeking taxpayer funds to renovate Busch Stadium.
St. Louis Cardinals’ Home Opened in 2006
The current Busch Stadium, is the third St. Louis Cardinals’ ballpark to bear the name of the Busch family that used to own the ballclub. It is also the eighth stadium that the team has called home in the Gateway City since coming into existence as a professional club in 1882.
A decade of lobbying efforts to move the team from the second Busch Stadium, a multi-purpose facility the team played in from 1966-2005, and into a baseball-specific home, culminated in the opening of “Busch Stadium III” on April 10, 2006.
It was a gleaming structure, built in the “retro-style” that influenced ballpark building after Camden Yards in Baltimore took the nation by storm in 1992. It used to be thought that building a new stadium came with a sigh of relief that a team would leave the public alone for at least 30 years or so.
However, the shelf life of MLB stadiums seems to be growing shorter and shorter. The Texas Rangers moved from The Ballpark in Arlington, built in 1994, and into Globe Life Field after just 25 years. The Atlanta Braves lasted just 19 years in at Turner Field before making the switch to Truist Park in 2017.
St. Louis Cardinals Not Seeking New Stadium Yet
While nothing is being said about the St. Louis Cardinals needing a new stadium yet, according to a report in the Riverfront Times the team is planning on asking the public for funds to update their 19-year-old home.
A possible amount of the reported impending ask was not declared, nor was it declared what kind of renovations the prospective funds would in fact be funding.
Team president Bill DeWitt III spoke with the St. Louis Business Journal in response to the initial report. He said it was “premature” to say the team will seek public money for any Busch Stadium renovations. However, DeWitt did note that “a big infusion of capital” would be required at an unspecified date, saying:
“It’s going to need that (capital) influx at some point. Nobody is talking about how we’re going to finance yet. It’s so premature to say something remotely implying that we’re out there asking for public assistance.”
Stay tuned, Redbird faithful. And hang on to your wallets.
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Tom Carothers is a sportswriter with more than 20 years of experience covering sports at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Still longing for the return of his Minnesota North Stars, he has a high pain tolerance as a big fan of the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Browns, and Tottenham Hotspur.
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