·         Preview 2002:  This year will be a big one for construction of Great American Ball Park.  By the end of 2002 the complex will look and feel like a baseball park.  This issue of Play-By-Play looks ahead to 2002.

·         Steel Installation:  The steel superstructure of the ball park will be completed in 2002.  By the end of winter, all of the steel for the second deck will be installed.  Soon after, crews will begin another pass with the cranes to install the upper decks and supports.  Another pass will install the roofing/canopy in the spring. 

This week crews successfully “topped off” the administration building, marking the completion of the steel superstructure for the first of the “out-buildings” to be constructed on the north side of the ball park complex. 

Erection of the light towers on their already constructed bases will begin later this winter.  By mid-spring installation will be complete with the tops of the towers reaching 228 feet above the playing surface.

·         Concrete Work:  The placing of concrete also will continue at a blinding pace.  Pre-cast concrete seating structures will be installed in each of the decks as they are completed.  The placing of concrete inside completed steel structures will form the floors and walls of the buildings in the complex.

·         Utilities & Interiors:  All deep utilities will be completed this month.  Utility crews will then focus their efforts indoors.  Heating and cooling systems, electrical systems and plumbing, which were installed in 2001, will be completed, allowing portions of the complex to be occupied by year’s end.  The Reds are slated to move in to the new administration building in November.

·         Façade & Finish Work:  Installation of the brick façade will begin on portions of the ball park by the end of winter.  The first of the brick work will be applied to the administration building.  A majority of the facade and finish work for the exterior of all of the existing buildings will be completed by the beginning of 2003. 

Perhaps the most noticeable finishing work to begin in 2002 will be the installation of seats.  Installation of the 42,000+ seats will begin late in the summer of 2002, with a completion in early 2003. Unlike Cinergy Field, which featured color-coded seats, all seats in Great American Ball Park will be red.

·         Demolition:  Shortly after the completion of the Reds’ 2002 season, final demolition of Cinergy Field will begin.