Ravens Get $430M in State Funding for M&T Stadium Renovation
The Baltimore Ravens and the state of Maryland have reached an agreement to fund a $430-million renovation of M&T Bank Stadium, the Baltimore Sun reported on Tuesday.
The 71,008 stadium was finished in 1998 and was built to help lure the NFL back to Baltimore after the Colts had departed in 1983. The former Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996 and played their first two seasons at Memorial Stadium before their present home opened.
To secure the money for the renovations, the Ravens must agree to a lease extension that will keep them in Baltimore through at least 2037. The Ravens can unlock a total of $600 million in state funding through a bill passed in 2022.
Construction on parts of the project will begin this offseason and be finished in time for the 2024 season. Other work will be completed in the 2025 and 2026 offseasons.
The changes will include expanded upper-level concourses and more premium seating at field level and where the press box is currently located behind the 100 level. Outside the stadium, three plazas with bars and retail stores will surround the building.
The announcement is the latest in a series from NFL teams about renovations to or replacements for stadiums that are about the same age as Acrisure Stadium.
The Tennessee Titans have proposed a $2.1 billion replacement for Nissan Stadium, which opened in 1999. The Cleveland Browns have secured $1 billion for a massive renovation of their stadium, which also opened in 1999. Hamilton County, Ohio officials are still discussing whether to renovate or replace Paycor Stadium, which opened in 2000.
The Steelers promoted David Morehouse to executive vice president for strategy in May. Morehouse is a former Pittsburgh Penguins executive. As president and CEO, he helped that franchise secure its funding for Consol Energy Center.
The Steelers’ lease with the Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority is currently set to expire after the 2030 season. Team president Art Rooney II said last year that he hopes to be able to extend that lease beyond 2030.
“We’d love to and we assume we will extend the lease at some point,” Rooney said. “We haven’t quite gotten to that point yet. We still have, I think eight years on the existing lease. At some point, we’ll get into those discussions down the road. …
“I certainly hope that we’re here for longer than that. Obviously, different contracts have different terms and you deal with them as terms expire.”
Such an extension would almost certainly need to be sweetened by an investment in stadium upgrades, as it has been in Baltimore and other locations.
New Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato was non-committal about support for such spending during a pre-election debate with her opponent:
“How do we broker a deal where the public ultimately wins?” she said via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “That is going to take a lot of time and energy and figuring out what’s on the table … to be able to deliver on a contract that keeps the Steelers here, but also is a win for our public sector and our pocketbooks.”
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