The "Duck Pond" at Warner Park will undergo a major renovation this off-season. The $1.3 million upgrade is made possible through a public-private partnership between City of Madison Parks and the Madison Mallards. Demolition of the existing seating bowl has begun and the new stadium is scheduled to be completed in late May 2011.

Every seat in the new facility will be a re-purposed stadium seat from Camden Yards. The Mallards will be holding a fan informational session at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center Wednesday, November 10 at 6 pm to give fans a first-look at the new facility and answer questions.

Video Tour

Here are more details on the project;

·  The original Warner Park main grandstand was built in 1983. All three grandstands will be taken apart and demolished with the bleacher sections and wood planking being re-purposed for future projects.

·  When the original grandstand was constructed, the structure was guaranteed by the manufacturer for 25 years. The City had set aside money for a facility upgrade due to the age of the existing grandstand. The Mallards added to the City’s contribution and the result is the current project. 

·  The project will be at least a $1.3 million upgrade to the facility. The City of Madison will contribute $800,000 out of the 2011 budget with the Mallards contributing at least $500,000 to the project. The Mallards are solely responsible for all costs above $1.3 million.

·  The Mallards contribution has been made possible through sponsorship agreements with four “Founding Partners,” Budweiser (Wisconsin Distributors, Inc.), Pepsi, the Great Dane and TDS.

·  The Common Council recently approved a new 10-year lease for the Mallards to use Warner Park through 2021. As part of this agreement, the Mallards will contribute an additional $500,000 in improvements to the facility on top of their upfront contribution of $500,000 bringing their contribution to at least $1 million.

·  The Mallards recently completed a total overhaul of the infield playing surface at Warner Park.  The playing surface was removed, re-graded and re-sodded with the same turf used at Milwaukee’s Miller Park. The Mallards will be taking over maintenance of the field as part of the new agreement.

·  Demolition on the existing structure will be completed by February 1. Ground will be broken on the new project on approximately March 1 with a scheduled completion date of May 27. Mallards Opening Day 2011 will be announced in the coming weeks.

·  The new stadium will feature a similar number of seats to the existing structure. However, every seat in the house will be an actual stadium seat.

·  Every seat in the new facility will be a repurposed seat from Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles.

·  The new stadium will feature extra leg room. Building code calls for 32” treads for each row. The new stadium will offer 36” treads in the first 10 rows.

·  The new stadium features a concourse that will connect the entire seating bowl. This concourse is above the first ten rows of the stadium and can be accessed through two handicapped accessible ramps and four stairways.

·  The brick façade look that was started with the TDS Triple Play Club in 2010 will be used as the field perimeter throughout the stadium in 2011.

·  Fans will be moved at least six feet closer to the action compared to the previous configuration.

·  The new stadium will also feature a Home Plate Club offering food and beverage and access to two lounge areas.

·  The Great Dane Duck Blind, Budweiser Solid Rock Rooftop Building and TDS Triple Play Club will all remain as is. Furthermore, the restroom and concession building behind home plate and the clubhouse building will also remain as is.

·  Ticket prices for the best seat in the house ($12) and stand room only ($5) will remain the same. The price of the worst seat of the house will be raised from $7 to $9, but will offer a folding stadium seat as opposed to a backless bench bleacher. There will also be a $10 ticket option.