THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Pac-Bell/SBC/AT&T Park has to be the worst place for fans.  I mean, the park is cute, and it has Wi-Fi and sushi, but the experience is anti-enjoyment.  There seems to be a prohibition against cheering too loud.  I had an usher come over an tell me not to stand up while Barry Bonds was batting...unless of course everybody was standing.  On the subject of casts, I went to a game when I was on crutches and they wouldn’t let me in the handicapped entrance - I had to go up and down 35 rows.  And the season ticket holders are really uptight.

Oakland Coliseum is an ok place to see a game - no problem getting seats in Row 1 even against the Red Sox.  But the staff couldn’t care less about fan enjoyment...On the other hand, they aren’t going to hassle you like at Giants games.

Sharks games are generally good - except if you sit in the upper deck, where people always ask you not to lean forward.  As in, sit back, don’t get into the game, buddy.

49ers games seem to involve a gang convention inside the stadium, with thousands of cops looking on over the tense stand-off.

I saw a lot of games at the old Winnipeg Arena.  What an awesome place for a 7-year-old - you could sneak down and get seats by the glass even in the playoffs.  Of course, you also had to deal with adult Winnipeggers, who would tell a kid to f- off or push him out of the way so they could get to a urinal first.

Anyways...I don’t think I’ve been to a park where anybody associated with the team or stadium has done anything more than the absolute minimum required.  And usually they do less, and actively worsen the fan experience…

The Blue Jays, either through a realization that nobody in Toronto cares about teams whose names are pluralized correctly or because of sheer stupidity (or, likely, both), have for years pandered to the Red Sox/Yankees fans. Since the NY border is an hour or so away, it’s a Tonawanda Invasion whenever New York comes to Toronto.

And this year, they actually got ahold of contact info for Boston/Detroit fans and offered them tickets to the relevant April games before offering them to people in Toronto. Only one person thought that was a good idea, and when it’s Paul Godfrey vs. the world, it’s not hard to choose sides.

SkyRogersDomeCentre itself is a fine stadium; no complaints you won’t get anywhere else. (I suspect by the end of this thread we’ll have heard from all 30 teams--except Tampa Bay, nobody goes there--and they’ll all complain about their park being the worst ever, with the stupidest in-game distractions.)

I’ll defend San Francisco’s ballpark experience. I’ve never had a problem with ushers or fans around me in the 100-plus games I’ve gone, and I’ve sat in the bleachers, upper deck, and behind the dugout. Ushers will move you from places where you’re not supposed to stand, but all those places have clear signage. The big plus for me is it’s a fantastic piece of architecture. I always see people taking joy in the place, much more than any other arena/stadium I’ve visited. The downside is the organization falls into the same trap as every other team (sans the Cubs and Dodgers) of thinking we can’t enjoy the game if they don’t toss aural and visual stimuli at us at all times.

Now that I live in Charlotte, NC, I’m a Bobcats season ticket holder, which is its own odd experience. The Cats suck, and few people in the region care about them. They’ve sold out the arena perhaps twice this year, when the Celtics were in town and all the Boston transplants went to the game. For regular weeknight games, though, they might have 8,000 people in the 18,000 seat arena, and many of the expensive seats and luxury suites go empty. It’s pretty pathetic to have an extravagant sound and light show for the introductions, yet more empty seats than filled.

An interesting story from last week, when I went to the game against the Raptors: While I was walking about the upper deck before the game, a woman stopped me and asked if I’d like to sit downstairs. She was with the team and passing out unused SECOND ROW seats to people in the upper deck. I figure it’s a great move on their part. If the tickets are unsold, no one’s going to buy them day-of-game, so build goodwill by upgrading some lucky folks in the cheap seats.

I’m a little confused about the post that Tango quoted--the poster said that management of the team has not improved under Krivsky?  I certainly hope that my team’s GM is working on something other than the bunting or the seating arrangements for a workout.

I’m not a huge game attender (I went to 3 last year, 1 in 06, 2 or 3 in 05 IIRC), but when I do go to the ballpark, it’s to watch baseball, not fireworks or hot dog races or what have you.  So as long as my ability to see the game is not impaired, I’m a happy camper.

So one thing that bugs the heck of the me is the vendors.  Not so much the vendors but the reactions of fans to the vendors.  People flock towards them, rather then letting them come to them.  If you are sitting in an aisle seat, this can be extremely annoying.

One nice thing the Indians have done the last couple of years is hand out a mini-program to everyone when they come through the gate.  It doesn’t have a lot of substance in it, mostly just advertisements and “helpful” information like where the concession stands are located (actually, sounds a lot like the $5 program), but it does have the rosters for each team.  Originally it had a scorecard too, but I guess they figured that was too useful so they replaced it with a player profile.  For my purposes, having the roster is enough, since I would never keep score in a program.

We must have gone to a different PacBell/SBC/AT&T Park.  I’ve been to probably 75 games since it opened (Giants players can thank me for funding their solid-gold front doors any time) and once the team started losing, the fan experience really went downhill. 

In the various sections I sat in, a lot of season ticket holders stopped paying attention to the games and started acting like they were the behavior police.  I saw numerous people get tossed from the game because some season ticket holder told their favorite usher to do so.  I never saw any fan do anything that would have offended anyone at Yankee Stadium.

I’ll give you one thing - the bleachers are fine.  But whatever you might say about the architecture, the place is going to be half-empty this season.

Koshien Stadium in Japan was great until 2 years ago. You could haul in a cooler of beer and snacks with absolutely no complaints from staff, and generally enjoy yourself. You’d pay for a 2000 yen ($20) ticket, 1500 yen ($15) each for beer and snacks, and you’d have a Hell of a time for less than the bar tab.

Osaka Dome is far more lax, and lets you haul in beer so long as you’re semi-discrete about it, have an air conditioned dome with great views of the field from the cheap seats, though the ushers are real pains in the arse about moving to the (generally deserted) good seats.

Tokyo Dome was by far the best. Despite the pricier concessions (it being Tokyo and all), they had wonderful facilities, and after I got drunk and dropped some personal belongings, they called me up and posted them to me (bless their souls).

For sumo, Osaka has the best fan service, with the rikishi (wrestlers) coming through the crowd after matches allowing you to get really close, as well as making them come through the front entrance (again with fan contact). Tremendous. They also don’t care if you sit up front until the bigwigs come to claims their seats 6 hours in.

Nagoya was far worse, and Kyushu was passable, the one in Ryogoku in Tokyo was the best venue, but the strictest ushers and most isolated from the wrestlers.

Fenway is Fenway. They should build a new park, because dear God the amount of obstructed seats and horrid layout of the park really makes the ticket price a lot less tolerable than when the bleachers were under $10.