DBAP to Get an Upgrade in Off-Season
by Aaron Schoonmaker, WRALSportsFan
Image of the new Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
With a restructured lease between the Durham Bulls and the City of Durham completed, all that stands in the way of a Durham Bulls Athletic Park facelift is the success of the product . Now that the Bulls have wrapped up play in the 2013 Governor's Cup playoffs their sixth trip to the postseason in the last seven years ground will be broken on more than $9 million worth of repairs, upgrades and renovations to the 18-year-old stadium.
Eighteen years ago, the Bulls were a thriving Single-A affiliate in a city on the precipice of a cultural resurgence, and naturally, the DBAP reflected that. Since then, the team has been promoted to Triple-A, the city has flourished in the areas around the ballpark and cultural ideals have demanded more than just baseball when attending a baseball game. Soon, the DBAP will reflect that growth as well.
When this place was built, it was built for a Class-A Atlanta Braves team. Now all of a sudden you have Triple-A and you have 10,000 people, the infrastructure from a concessions standpoint can't keep up, said Mike Birling, general manager for the Bulls. I think the great thing is, because of what has happened to downtown Durham, we have a great partnership with the city. It was always, how can we help each other?'
The solution came in the form of a lease restructuring three years in the making that will take the financial burden of day-to-day baseball operations away from the City of Durham.
In May, the city and the Bulls agreed on a lease that will keep the baseball team in the DBAP through the 2033 season and have the team assume all operating costs. In exchange, Durham will remain on the hook for $12 million in deferred and owed money and will collect a 3-percent share of any gross revenues that exceed $10.75 million annually for team-played home games and 1.25 percent for special events. The new deal is expected to save the City of Durham roughly $10 million over the life of the contract while estimates show that the Bulls generate approximately $7 million for the city annually.
Slideshow
Durham Bulls Renovation Plans
We started talking about, if we are going to keep spending all this money on things the fans aren't going to see, we are going on our 18th season at the ballpark, let's see if we can work out a situation where we can work out a longer lease, Birling said. The city didn't want to be in the business of maintaining a ballpark. We said, OK, we will take that all over but let's focus on trying to find a way that this stadium can be built up for the next 18 to 20 years to where people come in here and still say this is a new ballpark.'
The renovation plans for this offseason are targeted to cost $9 million - $6 million to be paid by the city and $3 million by the Bulls. Any costs that exceed the budgeted $9 million will be covered by the baseball team. The Bulls are currently owned Capitol Broadcasting Company.
Among the listed items on the renovation plans: an expanded club level gathering room with monitors, seating and a kitchen; added concessions on concourses; added picnic-style seating areas; improved field lighting and an added ticket gate along the left field line. The stated goals are to make the ballpark a viable place to host events in the offseason and have fans be able to enjoy the ballpark's amenities while missing as little game action as possible.
One of the big parts of minor league baseball is turning their ballparks into 365-days-a-year venues. You need the space where you can hold anything from fantasy football drafts to Christmas parties, Birling said. We also want this to be a food experience. That's what we are doing with these is adding concessions where you can still see the field.
The Bulls fell just short of drawing 500,000 fans during the 2013 regular season, totaling 498,735 for 70 home games. That breaks down to an average of 7,125 per game for a stadium that seats 10,000. And while DBAP is the smallest stadium capacity-wise in the International League, it continues to out-draw nearly all of them. Unfortunately, this leaves the current concessions over-populated on a routine basis.
That's where almost all our complaints come from our lines at the concessions. You can't see the game, I missed two innings,' Birling said. The biggest key is to try and fix that so the fans, when they think of our game experience, they love the on-field stuff, they love the facility, and now, the food lives up to those standards.
New stadium, new field
Separate from the offseason structural renovation projects at DBAP will be a long overdue field restructuring. New sod, drainage, underground plumbing and even new scoreboards will be part of a separately budgeted project funded by the franchise that will coincide time-wise with the structural facelift.
Normally, a Major League team will replace the sod every few years. Minor League teams usually do it every 8 to 10 years, Birling said. We are going all the way down - all the irrigation, all the pipes. This is 18 years old, we have plastic pipes that have broken. We have to go in and take everything out and start over.
The project will include doubling the size of the scoreboard on the Blue Monster in left field and making it completely LED. The rotating advertisement fixtures along the right field wall will also be converted to LED, making for easier customizations that will better cater to non-baseball events.
The deadline
In case you missed the announcement, the Durham Bulls and Durham Bulls Athletic Park will host the 2014 Triple-A All-Star Game. The nationally televised event is a five-day festival of showcases, galas, the home run derby and more all leading up to
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
DBAP to Get an Upgrade in Off-Season
