Newly Built Stadium, that Sucks

[jkrdevil]

Comerica Park in Detroit was built way too big. It is a pitcher's park and hardly any home runs are hit there. Sure the park looks nice, but remember: "it's the game that counts". While I enjoy a good pitcher's duel, most fans rely on home runs for excitement, and that's why this park is a problem.

Yea, but it is also why if the Tigers can get some good pithcing talent they could serious contenders come any October. Pitching wins, teams like the Phillies who build these small ballparks do so at their chances of winning a pennent.

Winning brings in the fans.

[DGivens87]

I liked Cleveland Browns Stadium -of course, I had great seats in the end zone - but wow, getting through the concourses near Brownstown during halftime is a pain in the arse. Not fun. Concourses could be wider.

[brinkeguthrie]

doesnt get any better than here at PacBell Park. make that SBC Park. Make that AT&T Park. Make that...

[VitaminD]

Comerica Park in Detroit was built way too big. It is a pitcher's park and hardly any home runs are hit there. Sure the park looks nice, but remember: "it's the game that counts". While I enjoy a good pitcher's duel, most fans rely on home runs for excitement, and that's why this park is a problem.

Well... which is it? You say first that "it's the game that counts". But you contradict yourself one sentence later by saying a lack of home runs translates into a lack of fan excitement which translates into fewer fans which makes the park a "problem".

So is the integrity of the game paramount, or is pleasing the fans paramount?

The counterpoint to Comerica Park is Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. It's got all the latest amenities a fan could want, and 2 large flaws. First, there's so much to do, very few people go to the park simply to watch a baseball game. They wander around, check out the food court, hit a bar or 2, take the kids to the jungle gym, play games in the outfield pavilion. I go to watch a baseball game, as quaint and odd as that sounds. Second, and more important, the dimensions of the park are so small as to disrupt the integrity of the game. Check swing opposite field home runs and power alleys less than 350' have rendered the park a joke. Pitchers can't pitch there, the Phillies can't lure free agent pitchers there, and the balance of the game is ruined. The Phillies said the park would "play 'fair'" when it was built; two years later, they're pulling out a couple rows of LF bleacher seats and raising the fence... and it still won't be enough.

Ballparks don't need to be cavernous, but bandboxes like CBP have deflated the value of the home run and made it so commonplace that almost anyone can hit one. It should take some legitimate power to knock one out of a major league park.

[winters in buffalo]

I was a bit disappointed by the RBC Center. It's nice, but I was used to the HSBC Arena, which despite being 3 years older, is far better.

The biggest problem with RBC is that it's not downtown, and no effort has been made to build around it.

You mean NCSU football and the State Fair aren't enough for you? What more could you ask for?

Incidentally, Raleigh could've put the arena downtown years ago. They had the room and could have gotten it done. But they opted for open land. Big mistake.

Ar, but if either a State game or the fair were going on at the same time as a hockey game, you wouldn't want to be anywhere near the place. Save for a single Damon's, there's no restaurant/entertainment anywhere near the arena. Hence, nothing nearby to do before or after a game.

[VitaminD]

Ar, but if either a State game or the fair were going on at the same time as a hockey game, you wouldn't want to be anywhere near the place. Save for a single Damon's, there's no restaurant/entertainment anywhere near the arena. Hence, nothing nearby to do before or after a game.

I completely agree with you; in fact, I was being facetious. I'm still baffled they put it out there.

I was living in the Triangle when the arena issue came to light. My then-girlfriend (a Raleigh native) had a family business off Fayetteville Street, and there was ample room for an arena and parking facilities. As the downtown area was reviving with new restaurants, Exploris and a renewed dedication to getting people from outside the Beltway to come into the downtown area, the arena would've been a perfect anchor to get everyone to come downtown - workers could catch dinner and a game, the NCSU kids would parade down for all the basketball games and concerts, new hotels would attract out-of-town fans, and all the transplants would discover that there's a whole world downtown, beyond their fabricated developments in Wakefield or Millbrook. One of my college roommate's father is a prominent businessman and powerful NCSU alum who was pushing for a downtown area to revitalize the area. How it went the other way, I'll never know.

And if there were a State game going on, I would definitely be somewhere else, unless they were getting beaten around by UNC at Carter-Finley.

As for the Damon's... when there's nowhere else, there's Damon's. I met Jeff O'Neill there one night. So it's got that going for it...

[slapshot]

I think one of the most unfortunate stadiums is New Comiskey/US Celullar Field in Chicago. It was the newest stadium in baseball, along with the SkyDome in Toronto. It was alos the last new stadium built before Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and all its brick-and-iron offspring. It's not that Chicago had a bad stadium, but it looked very "antiseptic" and high-tech, with none of the charm and closeness that Camden Yards provided.

So instead of hoping for the stadium that the whole league would hope to emulate, it became the antithesis of this. And as modern as it looked, it lost its appeal very quickly, as opposed to the fan friendly attractiveness of Camden, Jacobs Field, Coors Field, & the others.

[FiddySicks]

One of the best stadiums ive ever been to is Minute Maid Park in Houston, but if you have tickets to a game in the summer that are in the upper deck, you would be better off staying home. Nice field, good view even, but the heat is unbearable, and the roof makes it even worse

[Mac the Knife]

I was a bit disappointed by the RBC Center. It's nice, but I was used to the HSBC Arena, which despite being 3 years older, is far better.

The biggest problem with RBC is that it's not downtown, and no effort has been made to build around it.

You mean NCSU football and the State Fair aren't enough for you? What more could you ask for?

Incidentally, Raleigh could've put the arena downtown years ago. They had the room and could have gotten it done. But they opted for open land. Big mistake.

(1) I join WiB in my initial disappointment over the ESA (sorry, I don't corporate whore unless they pay ME to use their name). Kinda nice on the outside, just another arena on the inside.

(2a) They purposely kept it out of the downtown area, predominately because there's NO PARKING anywhere to be had. I worked in downtown Raleigh and paid $60/month to park my car in an open lot. That may not seem like anything to folks from NYC who have to take out a mortgage to park their cars, but that's a helluva chunk of change for parking down here.

(2b) At the location where the arena was built, you have interstate access - something that'd be impossible downtown. I can leave the ESA and be home in 15 minutes, driving across town via I-440. If I started from downtown, it'd be a minimum 35 min. trip, despite being a shorter distance.

(3) They're starting to build around it now - and that was actually part of the plan. The idea was to buy the land for the arena and a perimeter around it - then sell or lease it to businesses who felt they could benefit from the ESA's proximity: restaurants, sports-related businesses, hotels, etc. With the arena in place, they can get more $$$. Plus they control who their neighbors are. Far from a mistake if you ask me - I'd love to have decided who my neighbors were before buying my new house.

[Mac the Knife]

Ar, but if either a State game or the fair were going on at the same time as a hockey game, you wouldn't want to be anywhere near the place. Save for a single Damon's, there's no restaurant/entertainment anywhere near the arena. Hence, nothing nearby to do before or after a game.

WiB, have you ever known a 'Canes game to be going on at the same time as an NCSU football game? I don't think I can recall a single instance of those two overlapping - same date, sure - but not same time.

[BJ Sands]

I think one of the most unfortunate stadiums is New Comiskey/US Celullar Field in Chicago. It was the newest stadium in baseball, along with the SkyDome in Toronto. It was alos the last new stadium built before Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and all its brick-and-iron offspring. It's not that Chicago had a bad stadium, but it looked very "antiseptic" and high-tech, with none of the charm and closeness that Camden Yards provided.

So instead of hoping for the stadium that the whole league would hope to emulate, it became the antithesis of this. And as modern as it looked, it lost its appeal very quickly, as opposed to the fan friendly attractiveness of Camden, Jacobs Field, Coors Field, & the others.

I disagree.

Any seat in the lower deck at The Cell has a good view. The food is good, the concourses are wide. The lower deck has that cool concourse that rings the entire field. There are a lot of cool ammenities. And the renovations actually make the park pleasant. It once was much worse. Getting there is a breeze and parking is ample.

As for the upper deck, it is steep, but it isn't much worse than a lot of other parks.

(I'm not being a homer. Check my poorly designed sig and notice which Chicago team is missing.)

[amfleisch]

the more i go to the new soldier field the more i dont like it.

[markar14]

I know it's just temporary and that the Nationals have little ability to change it, but RFK stadium is extremely unaccomodating-- there is nothing permanent built in the concourses, the upper deck seats are extremely steep, and the upper deck hangs so far out over the lower deck along the baselines that when sitting towards the back, it is impossible to see anything hit in the air or anything in the outfield. I hope their requested stadium will be more baseball oriented, or that they have fixed it up over the offseason; there really wasn't too much time for them to renovate.

on the same trip, I visited Camden Yards. Now that, my friends (or wierd strangers on the internet, whatever you want to call it), is a modern ballpark at its finest.

[JQK]

Nothing beats The Stadium.

You walk in, and it's history. The smell of the grass, the championship pictures hanging in the entryways, the blue seats, it's just.... breathtaking.

I suggest if you can ever get to NYC in the summertime, go see a game there.

[winghaz]

I attended a game at new Comiskey Park in Chicago about a year or two after it was opened. Nice ballpark, I thought, but they put us up WAY high in the upper deck, and it was extremely scary looking down. My aunt (who passed away two years ago) was terribly afraid of heights, and she couldn't even stand up for the National Anthem.

And to make matters worse, I couldn't even get ketchup on a hot dog. Sheesh.

[IceCap]

Nothing beats The Stadium.

You walk in, and it's history. The smell of the grass, the championship pictures hanging in the entryways, the blue seats, it's just.... breathtaking.

I suggest if you can ever get to NYC in the summertime, go see a game there.

Actually I did, last summer. Blue Jays @ Yanks. Jays won

[pooter]

I attended a game at new Comiskey Park in Chicago about a year or two after it was opened.

And to make matters worse, I couldn't even get ketchup on a hot dog. Sheesh.

That was the problem. You were putting ketchup on a hot dog!

[FiddySicks]

Nothing beats The Stadium.

You walk in, and it's history. The smell of the grass, the championship pictures hanging in the entryways, the blue seats, it's just.... breathtaking.

I suggest if you can ever get to NYC in the summertime, go see a game there.

Accually i went to a game on the 4th of July last summer. That stadium looks so big and majestic on TV and then you walk in and its cramped and old. I was very dissapointed. But I do gotta say, the statues out past left field next to the bullpens are pretty awesome.

[HatManTC]

I was a bit disappointed by the RBC Center. It's nice, but I was used to the HSBC Arena, which despite being 3 years older, is far better.

The biggest problem with RBC is that it's not downtown, and no effort has been made to build around it.

have you been around the RBC lately didnt they build a whole new office complex down there, and new private school(ravenscroft, i do beleive) and a hotel. its not like there is much you can build around there being that the NC STATE fairgrounds and the newly renovated NC STATE football stadium are like ten feet away from it. i heard that Gail Force is trying to push for a huge five star resturant down in the grabtree valley area.

PS. i hate calling it RBC, i worked there on Day 1 when it opened, to me it will always be the ESA

[andrewharrington]

I've always thought the height and verticality of Reliant Stadium were very cool.