Blue Jays revamp Rogers Center for 2022 with new scoreboard, lights and concessions

TORONTO — Toronto Blue Jays fans will see their team in a whole new light at Rogers Center this season — literally.

Hundreds of new lights as well as an all-new 8,000 square foot video board, featuring two new lower wings and side ribbons that wrap around the stadium, were installed at the downtown Toronto stadium on time for Friday’s home opener against the Texas Rangers.

The Blue Jays believe the new stadium features will improve the viewing experience for spectators in the ballpark and watching television at home.

“It makes things stand out, it makes things look high definition, even if they aren’t,” said Paul Zuschlag, senior facility maintenance manager, of the new lighting system. “It’s hard to explain until you see it in person.”

Light Arrays have 532 new LED fixtures, 48 ​​of which are RGBW fixtures, allowing gaming operations to project any color anywhere in the room. Zuschlag said the new lights will be especially useful at concerts and special events, like creating a rainbow effect for Pride week or bathing the stadium in red and white for Canada Day.

During Blue Jays games, the LED lights will not be brighter than older fixtures, but are more consistent, with no bright or dark spots on the field.

“This system is typical, we have it in 16 other baseball fields right now without RGBW, we’re the first in Major League Baseball to have RGBW,” Zuschlag said. “It’s the exact same system they used in Houston and New York, Miami.”

Fans will also have their eyes drawn to the new scoreboard that dominates center field and surrounds the ballpark’s upper deck. Mike Christiansen, the Blue Jays’ technical production manager, said it was “beyond high definition”, using a 1080p signal with better colors and resolution than the standard screen. ‘he replaced.

“There’s a lot more square footage and real estate for us to put more stats on the scoreboard during innings, it allows us to put more things front and center, and it allows you to see the pictures and the font more clearly because the resolution is so high,” Christiansen said. “We’re going to put as much as we can on the dash, all the time.

The fan experience will also be different in the Rogers Center lobby.

The Rogers Center is launching the Hangry Canadian burger with bacon and cheese curds, but will also continue to serve traditional dishes like foot-long hot dogs. A new concession stand with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options called Field of Greens was added to the stadium roster, as was a Mary Brown’s Fried Chicken.

Beer drinkers will also have a host of new options at Blue Jays games, with three new in-stadium breweries and a specialty collaboration with Mill Street Brewery called Blue Wave added to menus.

“This is a rallying cry for our fans,” said Christine Robertson, Director of Fan Services for Blue Wave. “It’s a hybrid of a traditional light lager and a juicy IPA.”

Fifty-four of Toronto’s 81 home games will feature some promotion. Highlights include the bobbleheads of veteran center fielder George Springer, star shortstop Bo Bichette – with real hair – and Hello Kitty.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on April 6, 2022.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press