Baltimore Ravens to Invest $35M in Upgrades to the M&T Bank Stadium

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

NFL champions the Baltimore Ravens aren’t taking it easy after defeating the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. The team announced last Thursday it plans to invest $35 million to upgrade M&T Bank Stadium in order to enhance the fan experience.

The project has been in the works for a year now and mainly calls for improvements to video boards, concession stands and all concourses. It will be carried out in two phases, over the next two years.

The first phase will begin in the next week and is expected to be completed by the start of the 2013-2014 preseason. It calls for extensive upgrades to the stadium’s lower concourse and video boards. The second phase of the project will start next year and will focus on the upper concourse. It is scheduled to be complete in time for the 2014-2015 season.

The concourses will be redesigned and will feature a ”Ravenized” theme influenced by the brick and steel look of the stadium’s exterior. The support columns will be wrapped in brick and steel, purple LED lights will be added to each of the pillars, and enhanced directional signage installed throughout each concourse.

All 16 lower concourse concession stands will be upgraded. Work will also be done on specialty areas such as the lower concourse’s Barcardi Bar and Talon Pub. The four retail stores inside the stadium will be slightly increased in size. Renovations to upper concourse concession stands will be made prior to the 2014 NFL season. Beginning in 2014, stadium suites will also be upgraded.

Two high-definition video boards, 8 feet high and 30 feet wide, will be installed at the concourse entrances of gates A and D. The static boards on each side of the RavensVision HD video boards behind each end zone will be replaced with four new LED boards. New LED ribbon boards will also be installed around the entire seating bowl.

The 71,000-seat M&T Bank Stadium is still one of the NFL’s top venues. It is owned by the Maryland Stadium Authority and has been the Ravens’ home for the last 15 years. The team will pay for the upgrades.

Photo credits: www.baltimoreravens.com