I've read that TD Ameritrade Park cost $131 million. If that's accurate, $131 million doesn't get you as much as it used too.
The park's just very vanilla, very sterile. I suppose in time it will gain character.
It's nice but not eye-popping. The best thing is you can walk the entire concourse (except behind the center field hitter's backdrop) and see the field.
Some General Admission traditions have moved over from Rosenblatt - beach balls, the wave, obscene comments to/from the left & right field bleachers.
It kind of reminded me of the old Bill Cosby routine about Los Angeles sports fans - very few people in the general admission area seemed to be following the game. We were outside the stadium during the final three or four innings of the California-Virginia game and it seemed there were people leaving all the time.
Also, folks holding GA tickets start lining up a couple of hours before gametime in order to be assured of a seat. You can get into some nice conversations with people in line around you. Folks we've talked to are very friendly.
General admission is first come, first served, and they don't cut off GA ticket sales per session. They just tell you it's full and you have to wait until someone leaves.
Outside, there are the same vendor tents and activities for fans. Jack Morris, Jack Clark and (if I recall correctly) Robin Yount were signing autographs. Pete Rose is supposed to be around on Monday.
They moved the famed statue of the players celebrating a title from Rosenblatt Stadium, but it's kind of stuck between some bushes and steps leading up to the stadium. It's not nearly as prominent.
The stadium is close enough to downtown Omaha that you can park on streets (meters don't operate on weekends) and walk to the stadium. The area is very, very flat, so the walking is easy.
Maybe as a traditionalist I'm too tough to please, but my grade for the new CWS home after one visit: C+ or B-.
No comments:
Post a Comment