Gameday

Ballpark Village (BPV)

BPV is an amazing venue located right next to Busch Stadium along Clark Avenue. During games, this portion of the street is closed to traffic to allow fans to wander around.

There are multiple buildings that make up BPV, and each of those buildings has its own bars, restaurants, and various things to do or see. Honestly, to describe them all would be incredibly long and hard to follow. This is just something that you need to experience on gameday for yourself, and you really must block off enough time on at least one of your game days to check it out. Anyone can enter the buildings for free – the only part of it with an entrance fee is the Museum (see below).

Some of the highlights that you’ll definitely want to check out include:

The main BPV building, Bally Sports Live!, features a 65-foot media wall for watching live sports and is very energetic during local Cardinals, Blues, St. Louis City SC, or Battlehawks games. There’s also an entertainment stage that features pre-game/post-game entertainment and live bands.

If you want to reserve a booth at the main bar, they require minimum people and purchases. But note: the service can be slow on busy gamedays, so be sure to come early enough to not interfere with your baseball watching inside the stadium.

In the Together Credit Union Plaza, there are yard games and picnic tables where you can enjoy your food, drinks, or ice cream from the Prairie Farms Ice Cream Barn. A couple of massive statues – an “STL” and a World Series trophy – were recently added to the plaza, and are great for photo ops.

The Cardinals Nation restaurant is Cards themed (think ALL RED), and is full of fun memorabilia. It’s worth checking out even if you’re not eating there.

The Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum ($8 kids, $12 adults) showcases the Cardinals’ storied history. The “Hall of Fame” is a free gallery at the entrance to the museum, featuring plaques for Cardinals Hall of Famers. The museum takes fans chronologically through seven galleries of rich Cardinals history and 11 World Series Championships. We think it’s a great exhibit, even if you’re not a Cardinals fan. (Cubs fans may disagree.)

The Budweiser Brewhouse has a nice hidden beer garden, and also a kid-friendly arcade in the back. So if you want to grab some food and beverages while the kids are kept busy, this is your place.

The Sports & Social is a sports bar & restaurant and gaming venue located adjacent to the plaza. Games include shuffle board, skeeball, putt putt, and a few arcade games. They have a wide variety of food choices on their menu.

For other sitdown restaurants at BPV, Katie’s Pizza and Pasta Osteria and Salt+Smoke BBQ are local favorites. New restaurants include the Condado taco joint and Koibito Poke, which was co-founded by former Cardinals pitcher Todd Stottlemyre.

Pre-game Party

Cardinals Nation restaurant hosts an official Pre-Game Party pep-rally 2 ½ hours before game start until first pitch. This is a $43-$48 ticketed event that includes a full buffet (hot dogs, brats, nachos, entrée selections, salads and desserts), along with a full service all-inclusive bar including beer, wine, and mixed drinks. It’s located on the second level of Cardinals Nation in the Hall of Fame Club near the museum. 

Though it’s referred to as a party, it’s basically a casual meal with a DJ. But it could be a good value depending on your drink intake, considering alcoholic drinks are $10-15 inside the stadium. When paired with a reasonably-priced ticket to the game, it could basically give you an all-inclusive experience and potentially better view than most of the in-ballpark all-inclusive sections offer. 

Just keep in mind that there are tradeoffs: the environment isn’t as fun and lively as the rest of BPV, and the surroundings (a colorless wood-paneled room) aren’t as good as the Cardinals Nation restaurant downstairs (as well as the rest of BPV). Really, this is all about getting a great deal on alcoholic beverages with some ballpark food to chase them down.

Nearby Local Bars and Breweries

If you’d rather skip the chaos that can be Ballpark Village, St. Louis has some amazing breweries and sports bars that are close enough to the ballpark to visit. Here are some of our favorites:

Paddy O’s local sports bar is a 5-minute walk from Busch that’s great for pre- or post-game festivities. This bar pre-dates BPV and is a little less crowded, with better service. There is an outdoor area with yard games, typically live music or a DJ, and plenty of drink options. 

The Broadway Oyster Bar is a 5-minute walk from Busch and features Cajun cuisine and nightly live music. It’s a great post-game venue to enjoy wonderful food and enjoy the sounds of a local band. 

The 360 Rooftop Bar, at the nearby Hilton St. Louis Ballpark, has great views of Busch Stadium and the rest of the city, including the Arch. 

The Soulard area, covered in the Transit and Lodging sections, has many lively bars with live music and free ballpark shuttles, including 1860 Saloon, Duke’s, Molly’s, Big Daddy’s, and Great Grizzly Bear. If you’re driving, it makes perfect sense to take advantage of their free shuttles and pre-game and/or post-game party with the local crowd. Just go inside, make any purchase (a $3 soda at the bar is enough), and they’ll give you a shuttle ticket to show the driver. Shuttles typically start running an hour before the game and pickup/dropoff at the corner of Spruce & Broadway.

There are several other local breweries a short drive from downtown that are worth visiting and include: Urban Chestnut, 4 Hands, Square One, and Schlafly. The legendary Anheuser-Busch Brewery (“Budweiser Brewery”) offers great tours and a lively Biergarten. See the Lodging section for more on the areas these breweries are located and additional tips.

Points of Interest Outside the Stadium

Beyond all of the things to see inside and outside of BPV, there is a great lineup of Cardinals hall of famer statues worth seeing outside of the main team store on the northwest corner of the ballpark (beyond left field, to the west of Gate 4). If you continue on to the west side of the ballpark outside of Gate 3, you’ll find the iconic Stan Musial statue, a Busch Stadium mainstay since 1968.

Storing Your Luggage at the Ballpark

If you need to make a quick escape to the airport after a day game, then you can store your luggage right outside the stadium at the Mobile Locker Co’s truck. They open 3 hours before the game and close 30 minutes after the game. Even though your hotel might be close to the ballpark, it might still take 20-30 minutes to get back there and grab your bags, so this could save you valuable time if you’ve got an early evening flight. It’s only $5 per bag, and it’s monitored at all times, so it’s safe.

Social Hangouts

Budweiser Terrace is the most popular FREE fan hangout spot in Busch. The seats were removed from several sections to make this multi-level social area in upper right field, which includes two full-service bars, social standing areas, lounge seating with field views, cabana seating with urban gardens, a performance stage for pre-game entertainment, and beautiful views of the Arch. There is a “Busch” happy hour with $5.25 Budweisers and Busch Light from when gates open until first pitch (there’s a countdown clock at the main bar).  

The 1764 Craft Pub (named for the year St. Louis was founded) is a social area near first base on the main concourse where you can get a “beer bat” filled with a local brew. Some of the local craft brewery options include Urban Chestnut, Schlafly, 4 Hands, O’Fallon, Civil Life, 2nd Shift, Mother’s, and Perennial. There are numerous high top tables to hang out and enjoy your beer.

The 1876 Bar near Ford Plaza in the outfield is the place to go for premium cocktails. They also have plenty of Budweiser products, since it’s named for the year Budweiser was first introduced. There are picnic tables in Ford Plaza to enjoy your beverage.

Kid Activities – Ford Plaza Family Pavilion and Build-a-Bear

Kids activities are located in the Ford Plaza near the outfield. The Hi-Chew Family Pavilion is a small enclosed kid’s area that includes two Busch Stadium themed play places (for different ages), speed pitch, and an arcade. Fredbird, the Cardinals’ mascot, visits the Family Pavilion from first pitch to the start of the 3rd inning. 

While there are some fun activities, this dark space (in the hollow beneath the bleachers) is typically cramped, crowded, and can get a little stuffy. If this bothers you, you’ll want to avoid the beginning of the game and plan for short periods of time here. The newly-added arcade fits the dark ambiance well, so it seems that the Cardinals are aware that this isn’t a great space and are attempting to make improvements.

Within Ford Plaza is a small baseball diamond and a Build-a-Bear Workshop for kids (or adults) to build their own Fredbird, bear, or other trending animal. Build-a-Bear is headquartered just down the road by Union Station, so it’s fitting to have a workshop at Busch. The stuffies here start at $20-$34 for the base (Fredbird, Clydesdale, Cardinals bear, etc.) and have various add-ons for under $10 each such as adding heartbeats or voice recordings. This is a fun, local activity with a nice keepsake that’s a good alternative to the hectic Family Pavilion.

Sundays are typically when special kids promotions are available including the Hi-Chew Run the Bases, Prairie Farms Ice Cream Sundays (free popsicles for all ages) in Ford Plaza, kid-friendly giveaways, and special ticket offers. If fans purchase tickets for the Family Sunday at Busch Stadium presented by Smithfield, you receive a free jumbo Smithfield hot dog and a Coca-Cola beverage. Dates for these can be found on the Cardinals’ promotional giveaway page.

Cardinals Authentics Shop

There’s an amazing Cardinals Authentics Shop located within the Ford Plaza where they’ve got it all for sale – game-used jerseys, pants, hats, bases, locker name plates, stadium flags, broken bats – they even have game-used balls from that very day! There are also many autographed items that are typically more expensive. But they often have sales, which are generally set up outside in the Ford Plaza. We once scored some game-worn Joe Kelly pants for $40. Weird? Sure. But it made a great talking point when we met him!

Concessions

There’s a lot to choose from at Busch Stadium, but here’s a quick list of our favorites:

• The bacon-wrapped hotdog from All About the Bacon is our favorite hotdog at Busch (Sections 147 and 168). It can be loaded with both white and crispy fried onions, pico de gallo, baked beans, BBQ sauce, and spicy aioli.
• The Ultimate Stadium Tater Tot Nachos are unique and tasty, with crispy tater tots topped with white cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, jalapeño peppers, crumbled cotija cheese, sour cream, and green onions. They are tricky to find and only served at Crowd the Plate (Section 148). You can also top these with beef or pulled pork for an extra charge.
• Unlike the standard nachos that include only cheese and jalapenos, El Birdos Nachos (Sections 131, 152, 189, 251, 452) are the best nachos at the stadium and are covered with nacho cheese and then you can top your own with as much diced onions, black olives, sour cream, pepperoncini peppers, jalapeño peppers, BBQ sauce, and salsa as your heart desires. These have the option to pay extra for protein – smoked pulled pork or taco beef – both of which are excellent.
• Kohn’s Knockwurst (Section 147) is a German hotdog loaded with sauerkraut, onions, and brown mustard. We think this is the best quality and flavored hotdog at Busch. If you like sauerkraut, you’ll love this.
• Nona’s Italian Beef Sandwich (Section 189 and 440) is very similar to a Philly cheesesteak with thinly sliced beef, melted provolone, onions, and peppers on a locally made Fazio’s Bakery bun. It was surprisingly one of the best entrees we’ve tried.
• Shaq’s Big Chicken chain opened two stands at Busch in 2023. Big Chicken features some really over-the-top food including a “314” sandwich with Nashville hot chicken smothered with Shaq’s special sauce and enclosed inside a Cardinal red, maple-bacon donut. The combo of savory and sweet was delectable. They also serve a “Big Cookie,” a basketball-sized chocolate chip cookie, which was surprisingly chewy and great to share with friends. Plan to eat your full day of calories if you eat here.
• The most popular dessert is Dinger’s Donuts. It includes unglazed, mini-cake donuts with options for cinnamon-sugar, vanilla and/or chocolate icing, and soft-serve vanilla or chocolate ice cream custard (for extra). If you enjoy cake donuts, you’ll enjoy these. But our favorite is their Wachos, which are waffle chips topped with Freddy’s frozen custard (vanilla or chocolate), Oreo crumbles, chocolate and strawberry syrup, cherries, and sprinkles.

See the Seating section for more details on All-You-Can-Eat ticketed seating areas. 

The Island Freeze (Section 160) allows fans to fill up their own frozen boozy drinks – mango margarita (tequila), blue lemonade (vodka), piña colada (rum), and strawberry daiquiri (rum).

Batting Practice (BP) and Autographs

Cardinals BP is typically before the gates open, so it’s rare to catch it. The visiting team BP typically starts 1.5-2 hours before game start, so if you arrive right when gates open (90 minutes before game start), you should catch at least a portion of it. 

Visiting BP is the best chance to try to get an autograph, either from the outfield or along the visiting dugout (third base side). The best chance for Cardinals players autographs is before the game by following where players are warming up and hanging out along the Cardinals dugout (first base side). Cardinals players also exit near Gate 1 (around an hour after game finish), and you can catch a glimpse and sometimes an autograph here.