Tag: 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. 

The Corn Crib hosts Illini night Aug. 26

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As we were passing by going north of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, I got took this photo of the home of the Normal Cornbelters. 

The Cornbelters who are in the independent Frontier League, have one of the more original names for a ballpark, in my opinion.  It’s called “The Corn Crib”. 

My city-dwelling friends are snickering already.  I know it.  But as a farm kid who had a “corn crib” not too far away from the house, I think it’s pretty cool. 

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The Corn Crib is officially sponsored by the Illinois Corn Farmers.  In this day and age of sports sponsors that consist of wireless phone companies, soda drinks manufacturers, and insurance companies, that’s a little refreshing in my opinion.  Note the tractors out front of the stadium. 

For those University of Illinois sports fans, the Cornbelters have declared August 26th, “Illini Night” and have even convinced men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber to come down and throw out the first pitch.  There’s added significance since the Cornbelters will be playing a team in the vicinity of Weber’s former team, the Southern Illinois Miners.  More info at the Normal Cornbelters website.

Twins hang on to Mauer for $184 mil

Mike Bauman, columnist for MLB.com, explains why the $184 million deal that keeps Joe Mauer in Minnesota for the next eight years, is good for baseball. 

This is where the encouragement occurs for the rest of the non-Yankees in the baseball universe. Instead of Mauer moving to the Bronx to take over for Jorge Posada, for instance, he will simply remain in the upper Midwest as a member of the Minnesota Twins. What a nice, clean, refreshing story line.

and further…

There should be encouragement in this example for other franchises of less than gargantuan size, with star players coming into their own free agency. The best players can be retained by someone other than the biggest franchises.

The figure of $184 seems like a high number but for the number of years and the quality of the product, some feel that the Twins got a pretty good deal.  I’ve even heard the word “bargain” bandied about. 

Put simply, what this does is lock up one of the best players in baseball who was lucky enough (from the Twins’ perspective) to develop within their system.  The Twins are saying goodbye to the Humpdome and hello to Target Field which in the long run will probably help pay for Mr Mauer. 

Back to Mike Bauman’s point, though.  Is this good for baseball?  I guess it doesn’t matter since well, it’s already happened right?  But part of me understands Bauman’s point.  It’s nice to see the small guys hold on to the big players once in a while.

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.

 

Historic Ballparks and what happened to them

 

I’m fan about old baseball stadiums.  Reading about their history, viewing what little photographs we have of them. 

Chris Epting has put together a cool slideshow video of old photographs of historic baseball stadiums in their heyday and then comparing them with current photographs of the locations of where once stood.  Sort of like VH1’s Where are they Now? but more depressing.

Sappy, sentimental, but poignant too for us amateur baseball historians.

 

 

Epting is the author of Roadside Baseball: The Locations of America’s Baseball Landmarks which I haven’t read yet but it is on my “to-get” list. 

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

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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.