Category: stadiums

Is building a new park going to help attendance?

Athletics Nation has a interesting post about what exactly happens to attendance to MLB ballgames after the team builds a new stadium.  The results aren’t what you might suspect or even necessarily consistent. 

Not surprisingly, attendance is up in the initial year but after that, the data is mixed and in some cases, such as San Diego’s PETCO Park and New York’s Citi Field, the figures drop drastically.  Of course, many factors figure in to this… team performance, city demographics, but as Athletics Nation tries to point out, building a new stadium is not a cure-all for dwindling fan attendance. 

Metrodome “snow thud”

Sounds like crews are already on the ball and are inspecting the damage of the “snow thud” at the Metrodome last Sunday. 

This isn’t the first time this has happened at the Humpdome. 

Commission chairman Roy Terwilliger says it’s the fourth roof collapse since the stadium opened nearly 30 years ago, all caused by heavy snow.

 

Interesting personal angle with me.  The University of Illinois baseball team (who I blog about at Illinois Baseball Report) just came out with their schedule last week and the team is/was scheduled to play at the Metrodome in mid-March at the newly formed Metrodome Tournament. 

Gives a new definition to “Tournament jitters”.

Things always look better after an Illini win

I may have come off as a tad grumpy when I insinuated that the Big Ten modifications to Wrigley Field for the Illinois-Northwestern football game were a “joke”.  Funny what an Illini 48-27 win and a Mikel Leshoure 300+ rushing performance can do to temper one’s opinion. 

Bleed Cubbie Blue’s Al Yellon, who attended the game, had a more positive spin on the whole affair:

But when the Cubs, Northwestern, Illinois and the Big Ten put on a spectacle as entertaining as today’s 48-27 blowout by the Illini over the Wildcats, it shows off Wrigley to a national audience as the terrific place it is…

…For those of you who cried, "travesty", "joke" or "disaster" yesterday when the rule changes were announced, I say: kwitcherbitchin. Playing every offensive series facing the west end zone had absolutely no impact on the flow of the game. The officials seemed briefly confused the very first time they had to reposition the ball, but after that it all went smoothly.

Boy, it’s almost like Al’s talking to me.  I will indeed kwitmybitchin’. 

Rumor has it that there was a lot of good-natured Cubs-Sox trash talkin’ going on between the Illini players.  No word on which contingent was larger. 

Congrats to the Illini who are in line for a bowl bid for the first time since 2007. 

European ball parks

This is a rather unusual and interesting project by Mister Baseball, a blog that bills itself as “All about Baseball and Softball in Europe”.  He’s collecting photographs of baseball parks and fields in Europe. 

Not surprisingly, I’m not finding too many huge stadiums save for the Neptunus Familiestadion in Rotterdam, Netherlands which hosted the 2005 World Cup.  That one is comparable to a decent sized college field. 

A nice collection of photos.  Take a look. 

Miller Park gets a touchup in the off-season

Some teams gain a good rapport with their fans by doing all the right things and then sit back, enjoying (not to mention pointing to) their successes.  Others look to fans to find more ways to improve their baseball experience even more. 

The Milwaukee Brewers and Miller Park are good examples of the latter.  The Brewers team has already gained acclaim by getting ranked 7th out of all 122 major league sports franchises for “Fan Satisfaction”.  They’ve also were ranked #3 in “Affordability” and “Stadium Experience”. 

Yeah, surveys whatever… what matters to me is that every friend of mine who’s been to Miller Park, (no matter what team they root for) tell me that ballpark is one of the best. 

Well, they’re not stopping there, it seems.  After soliciting feedback from the fans, the Brewers are making more improvements to Miller Park.

Work has already started on the Terrace Level where the team is renovating the existing merchandise store to create a new “Brewers Team Store on Terrace Level.”  The store, which is modeled (on a smaller scale) after the award-winning Team Store by Majestic on the Field Level, will be upgraded to improve customer flow and overall visibility.  The renovations will consist of an expansion of the current footprint as well as new lighting, signage, cash-wraps, store fixtures and floor design. The Brewers will also feature a variety of new merchandise in the store, which is scheduled to be accessible during home games when the Miller Park gates are open.

They are also making improvements to the clubhouse interior and parking lots will be renamed after “the city’s baseball legends” (I take that to mean they will include some of the Milwaukee Braves too). 

Kudos to the Brewers for catering to the baseball fan.  The rest of MLB can take a lesson from the Brewers and Miller Park here. 

Illini football at Wrigley Field??

There aren’t a lot of details but Wrigley Field may be the home of future Northwestern-Illinois football games.

Both teams have been in talks working out the finer points.  The soonest it could happen would be the 2010 season, according to the Big Ten Network.  Illinois football coach Ron Zook favors the idea.

It wouldn’t be the first time football was played at Wrigley.  The Chicago Bears played there up until 1970.  This video clip shows the Bears coming out of the locker room when they played at the Friendly Confines.

 

Wrigley fuss

Lots of hatin’ on Wrigley Field (and its fans) going on lately…

Why Your Stadium Sucks: Wrigley Field

Wrigley Field Bleacher fans are a bunch of slobs

[Oh, and I can’t leave this one out]

Wrigley Field makes Ozzie Guillen puke

Ozzie does have a flair for the dramatic.

This weekend, I’m going to see the Cubs first hand for the first time this year so I guess I’ll judge for myself. 

Old Tiger Stadium ruled to be demolished

tiger-stadium-opening-day

A judge lifted the stay of execution for the old Tiger Stadium and ruled that demolition of the ballpark can continue. 

Wayne County Circuit Judge Prentis Edwards rejected a request by the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy to issue a preliminary injunction preventing further demolition of the stadium. He also lifted a temporary restraining order issued Friday afternoon that halted work begun just hours earlier.

 

Edwards agreed with attorneys for the city that the nonprofit group likely can’t raise the funds for a proposed $33.4 million redevelopment project, noting there is little financing in hand after years of work.