Over time, systems fail, components wear out, and institutional and commercial facilities generally become in dire need of a renovation. Sports facilities are no exception. The Milwaukee Brewers recently unveiled their renovated and renamed spring training facility, American Family Fields of Phoenix.
“We’ve spent years looking at designs, crafting it, imagining what it would be,” says David Stearns, the team’s president of baseball operations. “For all of us to get a chance to come out and here and see it, it’s a little overwhelming at first.
After looking at other possible training sites without a deal being put together, the team made the commitment to stay in the Maryvale, Ariz., area and spend $60 million on the project — its own money, along with financial help from the city and the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, according to The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
“I'm in disbelief,” says Eric Thames, the team’s first baseman, adding, "It's an awesome place. Whoever planned it did a great job. And I still have more to see." The improvements included new spaces, including:
Individual seats now fill the main stadium. The concourses also were widened to increase pedestrian flow and prevent those looking to use a restroom from interfering with those buying beer and brats.
Ryan Berlin is managing editor of Facility Maintenance Decisions.
