Dodgers Still Analyzing Stadium Options

The Dodgers, looking for additional sources of income to meet an increasing player payroll, are still considering several options, among them a scaled-down renovation of Dodger Stadium.

“We’ve got to look at different scopes of renovation,” team President Bob Graziano said Tuesday. “We really are focusing on enhancing and renovating Dodger Stadium--not tearing it down. But we haven’t ruled that out as a possibility. We haven’t ruled out any alternative at this point.”

The construction estimates on a plan to significantly refurbish the 36-year-old stadium by adding revenue-producing luxury boxes and other amenities came in so high, Graziano said, that it would be counterproductive to go through with it because the additional revenue generated would go to contractors rather than players.

“If you renovate the stadium and you end up pouring every last dime of incremental revenue back into the stadium, it doesn’t make any sense,” Graziano said.

One alternative might be a less ambitious construction project.

“We’re still analyzing [the situation], still trying to figure out ways to generate the additional revenue,” Graziano said. “We’ve got to do that to remain competitive. We can’t just shelve the idea of increasing stadium revenues because that’s an increasingly important source of revenue for professional sports teams. . . .

“If we had the solution today, we’d make the decision today. But we don’t have the right solution. We’re taking this process very seriously and we’re not going to push it at a pace that we’re uncomfortable with. We need to make sure at the end of the day that we come up with the right answer.”