GRAND CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – It’s time for baseball in the Fox Cities, and a new era is underway at Fox Cities Stadium. Baseball fans are eager to take a peek at the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers’ recent renovations as the team begins a new season.
“We wanted to do some fan amenity- some new areas for the fans to enjoy,” Team President and CEO Rob Zerjav said.
Zerjav said early reactions from both players and fans were overwhelmingly positive.
“We extended our concourse by moving out our handicap seating- creating better handicap seating,” Zerjav said. “You’ll be able to go around the entire facility, walk around the whole facility- we added three suites in the outfield, added a new premium space behind home plate and then we’ve got our big slide we’re excited to get going.”
Although the outfield club seating and the left field slide weren’t completed by Tuesday’s home opener, fans still had their expectations met.
“I did see the left field addition,” Taylor Raether said. “At least a nine out of ten. Bang for your buck.”
Raether said he was impressed by the additions. He’s been to the stadium several times in years past. But the stadium improvements also brought some first timers out to the park.
“Given it’s Appleton, you know a little bit of a smaller single A team but no it looks really good and yeah, impressed for sure,” Taylor Zipper said.
Zipper said he liked what he saw so much that he’s already thinking about coming back.
“We actually already talked about when we’re gonna come next. Pinpointing some dates on when they do giveaways and specials.”
Which is exactly what Zerjav had in mind when the project was announced last fall.
“But just even the fans we had here at Fan Fest have just been amazed by what they’ve seen and the progress that we’ve made and just how clean everything looks and how big league everything looks,” Zerjav said. “The touches that we’ve made just try to upgrade the entire experience, the entire fan experience when those fans come out.”
During the offseason, the team invested roughly $10 million into stadium renovations.
As far as what’s open Tuesday, all of the player and coaching amenities are ready to go and most of the fan additions are complete.
There are some outfield club seats that have to be finished up, and the slide in the outfield will likely be done in May.
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