In Philadelphia, Marcus Hayes noted Citizens Bank Park celebrated its 20th anniversary Friday and Phillies owner John Middleton figures the ballpark is "just getting started.” Middleton said, “There’s no reason this can’t be here 100 years.” Hayes wrote in an era in which most teams “insist on ever newer nests, often subsidized or supported by municipalities,” it is “refreshing that the Phillies are just getting comfortable.” Middleton said that as long as he “keeps the guts of the complex modernized -- the plumbing, the HVAC, the electrical systems -- the Bank should remain viable” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/30).
SPRING CLEANING: In Minneapolis, Christopher Magan noted each spring, Target Field’s full-time maintenance staff of eight “swells to several dozen as workers spend weeks cleaning, polishing and updating everything from the basement to the top of the foul poles.” On the club level, "preparations were underway to convert the Delta Sky360 Club to the Thrivent Club.” This required workers to “replace granite slabs etched with the Delta logo.” Rebranding is a "big part of the work of getting Target Field ready each spring,” as sponsors "change or want new logos." A "lot of emblems across the 1 million-square-foot stadium are updated" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 3/31).
