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7/12/00- Tiger Stadium Mid-Season Report OK, it's the Baseball All-Star Break and now is a good time to rate the new Tiger Stadium. Seating First of all let's talk about the seating. Many sports writers have written that there's not a bad seat. Well, that's easy for them to say since most them are sitting in the press box. I've had the opportunity to sit in different places and here are my opinions.
Left field (sections 144-151) Good view of the field, decent price ($14), can't see the scoreboard, sun is bad during day games and during the first couple of innings of night games. Right field (sections 101-106) Good view of the field, great price ($8 includes a soda and a piece of pizza), benches not chairs Upper Deck 3rd Base Side (sections 338-345) Good view of the field but the seats are really high up, decent price ($12), sun is bad during day games. Upper Deck 1st Base Side (sections 210-219) Good view of the field but the seats are really high up, decent price ($15), sun is bad during day games. Upper Deck Infield (sections 321-327) Better view of the field, decent price ($20), and sun is bad during day games. Outfield Lower Box Infield (sections 107-117, 138-143) The back rows have a great view of the field but front rows aren't steep enough. More expensive ($25), and sun is bad during day games. The back rows are shaded by the upper deck. In my opinion the back rows are some of the best seats in the new stadium. Infield Lower Box Infield (sections 118-137) The back rows have a great view of the field but front rows aren't steep enough. More expensive ($30), and sun is bad during day games. The back rows are shaded by the upper deck. Upper Box Outfield (Yellow Sections) Great view and good price ($20). These are my favorite seats so far. Parking Parking isn't nearly as bad as was expected before the season began. Parking immediately next to the stadium is $20-25 (which is way too much in my opinion). You shouldn't have to pay more than $10 if you don't mind parking a few blocks away. Security is good with lots of people and police around. Try behind the Fox Theater ($8-$10) depending on how many blocks you want to walk. I park about 3 blocks from the stadium and pay $5. Scoreboard The scoreboard is huge. Of course, so are the advertisements on it . Still it's very impressive. Concessions Concessions are expensive. A lot of of items seem about a $1 too much. There is a variety of items available and although I've been to more than 10 games so far and I haven't sampled everything yet. Best so far: Italian sausage and corn dogs. The lines aren't too bad now that all the concession stands are open. Restrooms The restrooms are plentiful and seem to be well maintained. Entertainment The carousel and ferris wheel are neat but not kind of thing that you'd ride every time you go. The kids seem to like them. The water fireworks are some kind of bad joke. I don't know what they were thinking on that. Friday night games are followed by a real fireworks display that is first rate. Conclusion The stadium is nice. It's definitely worth a visit. I've visited a number of major league ballparks and the new stadium definitely rates very highly. Now, if the team could just start playing better everything would be great. UMGoBlue.COM Editor-in-Chief, Phil Callihan |
