When the St. Louis Cardinals first told architect HOK Sport that they wanted 40 to 45 party rooms for their new ballpark, “HOK looked at us like we were crazy,” club executive Bill DeWitt III recalled.
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| The party rooms, less formal than suites, meet
a distinctive demand in St. Louis. |
Senior project designer Jim Chibnall says the firm normally designs no more than 10 party rooms in a stadium. But Chibnall, a St. Louis native, knew from experience how much the Cardinals relied on group ticket sales at their old ballpark.
“For the rest of our group, it was a surprise,” Chibnall said. “Once they got a little more familiar with the program and understood what the market was, it was easy to see.”
The 42 party rooms, located on the two suite levels, don’t have the carpeting and cushy couches featured in the 61 skyboxes, and catered meals are an additional cost beyond the chips, pretzels, beer and soda included in the ticket package.
The rooms can accommodate up to 60 people and have 26 to 46 outside seats. The cost per ticket is $82 to $102 depending on the game. The Cardinals tack on a $20 service fee for the first game and $10 for each additional game each group decides to buy.
Individuals can buy single-game tickets for $90 and $110 to party rooms rented by groups that fall short of filling capacity, said Joe Strohm, Cardinals vice president of ticket sales. As of last week, Busch Stadium’s party rooms were 92 percent booked for the 2006 season, Strohm said.
The Cardinals do not disclose group ticket revenue but group sales account for 18 percent to 20 percent of total ticket sales annually, and the team sold 747,201 group tickets in 2005, a franchise record, Strohm said.
The Cardinals will sell about 500,000 group tickets this year. The reduction is due to the loss of about 4,000 seats in the first half of the season, the outfield portion that overlapped with old Busch Stadium that is still under construction, Strohm said.
The party rooms are themed after great Cardinals players and teams. The red, yellow and blue floor tiles, tabletop baseball graphics and Cardinals bat logo etched in the wood chairbacks reflect a festive atmosphere compared with the button-down corporate suite environment.
The party room tradition started at old Busch in the 1970s when the Cardinals started using the football press box for group sales, Strohm said. The Cardinals eventually built 29 party rooms while renovating their previous facility.
The franchise attracts fans from throughout the Midwest scheduling their vacations around Cardinals baseball, and families account for more than 60 percent of the team’s group sales, said Mark Lamping, Cardinals president.
“In many respects, it’s like the world’s largest family reunion hall,” Lamping said.
