Eight months after a "losing season marked by injuries to key stars and conspicuously empty purple seats," the new M&T Bank Stadium playing field "stands as an apt metaphor for a fan base with a fresh outlook, based partly" on the Ravens' history of rebounding from disappointment,according to Jeff Barker of the Baltimore SUN. The Ravens have "not suffered consecutive losing seasons" since '98. Ravens President Dick Cass said, "They expect us to turn it around. At the end of the season, we had more no-shows than we'd had in previous years. That concerned us, and I think that's attributable to our performance on the field as much as anything. It makes us go back and look at what we're doing on game day and what can we do better, something other than just on-field performance." The franchise in May "installed the new field" to replace turf that had previously been in the stadium since '02. Cass said that the club is "planning a renovation of the 18-year-old, 71,000-seat stadium, and hopes to announce details this fall." The team already debuted a new Under Armour store in the stadium. About 3,000 game-day workers "received customer service training during the offseason from the Disney Institute." Cass: "We're hoping that the fans will notice some difference in how the staff interacts with the fans on game day." Cass said that despite last season's troubles, the season-ticket renewal percentage remains" more than 99%. Cass: "We're still doing extremely well in terms of ticket sales, suite sales and sponsorship sales" (Baltimore SUN, 9/10).
