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Thursday, April 2
Seat With A View
by
Lou Di Falco
on Thu 02 Apr 2009 09:01 AM EDT
Update - From Newsday 4/2/09
Original Post - 4/1-09
A caller into WFAN, who was at the St. John’s game, complained that his promenade reserved seats in left field did not allow him to see the fence in left field from the foul pole to center field. Welcome to the world of cozy, tight, seating in retro style ballparks. It’s amazing to me that Mets fans complain after years of trashing Shea Stadium. For all of its negative press, Shea did one thing very well. The vast majority of seats allowed fans to see the entire playing field. The trade off was that most of those seats were miles away from the field.
So finally after years of bashing the big round park, Mets fans get their wish and now have a jewel of a yard in Flushing right next door to where old Shea use to stand. The fact is there are many seats in Citi Field that do not allow fans to view every square foot of the field. Is that a bad thing? Hard to say but it is not unusual by any means where retro ball fields are concerned.
In the case of the reserved section in left field’s third deck, it’s true, you cannot see the fence. That’s because the rake of the stand is set at a reasonable pitch and the deck is close to the field. The only solution would be to tilt the stands at an uncomfortable angle (something fans at Chicago’s Cellular field (1990) still complain about) or push the deck so far back that Citi Field would begin to resemble Shea Stadium or the over sized Commerica Park in Detroit.
Here is the view this particular fan was talking about from the 3D Seat Viewer…
 Balls hit into the left field corner or up against or over the left field wall will not be seen from here, no doubt about it. For those plays, fans will have to rely on replays from the huge center field and right field diamond vision boards. Also, these seats are priced accordingly. Most are in the 20 dollar range. Again, the closeness to the infield does not come without a trade off. As stated, this is not a unique problem to Citi Field.
Citi Field is not the only ballpark with this issue. All of the new retro style parks have similar views. After all, retro style means the park resembles those from the past. You know, the ones that did not allow fans to see the entire field. At least there are no obstructing columns anymore.
If you think that Citi Field has a bad view from the outfield looking in, take a look at this view from Petco Park in San Diego…
 Here’s a case of retro being taken to the nth degree. In an attempt to keep an old building as part of the ballpark footprint, fans in this section miss much of left field. At least at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the warehouse is behind the stadium.
I can't imagine New Yorkers not going ballistic over a view like this. Perhaps in laid back San Diego, it's okay.
Busch Stadium III opened in 2005. Like Citi Field, this park was designed by HOK, the same architects that started the trend in Baltimore.
From this vantage point in the right field upper level, the railing gives a good indication that fans sitting in the mid to back sections are not going to see much from the right field corner to center field.
It's simply another instance of the intimate close seating proximity versus the canyon like arenas built in the 1960s and 1970s.
 This photo from Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia also demonstrates that tighter seating configurations lop off some of the playing field.
The railing you see is not the outfield fence. It is the railing of the third level. Fans seated here like those at Citi Field will not see plays in the corner or up against the wall. That's why the outfield seats tend to be the cheaper ones available.
 The highly sought after Green Monster seats at Fenway park also come with a chopped off view of left field. Fans cannot see anything going on down by the warning track in left field or in the left field corner unless they lean over the wall and that’s only if they are in the first row. Plus at 37 feet high, it's dangerous.
That brings us to the Pepsi Porch at Citi Field. These seats come with a built in obscurity. You cannot see the right field wall or corner because the deck hangs over them. Yet these seats on StubHub are some of the highest priced tickets available.
Keep in mind that seats in the outfield sections of Citi Field tend to be cheaper than the rest of the park except for the popular Pepsi seats and the Left Field Landing. If it is imperative to see a complete view of the field and budget is an issue (these days, budget is an issue for almost everyone), I would recommend Promenade Reserved Infield. These seats are still fairly reasonably priced.
For my money, I don’t think I will be bothered too much if I cannot see a corner of the outfield or even the wall or part of the outfield. But of course I cannot say for sure until I go there to see a game in person.
The the newer retro parks are intimate. The closeness of the seats to the playing field is not without some trade offs. I sat through a game at Shea Stadium last season in the upper deck in right field. I could see the entire playing field (except for the right field corner) but the infield seemed like a mile away.
With all the amenities and closeness to the game at Citi Field, I am willing to give up a corner of the outfield if I can get in for a reasonable price. But that’s just me.
Thursday, March 26
Opening Day and The Economy
by
Lou Di Falco
on Thu 26 Mar 2009 03:55 PM EDT
Update -
Yesterday on WFAN's Miked Up, Mets Executive Vice President of Business Operations David Howard was interviewed by Mike Francesa. In the interview, Howard admitted that although season tickets are selling better this year than last, they have not sold as many complete season ticket packages as they had expected. About 200 seats were still available for opening day and were being held for season ticket packages not yet purchased.
In an effort to stimulate sales and to sell out opening day, the Mets decided to create a new package offering left over opening day tickets with four additional games from April and May. The pack is called the Opening Day Pack and gives the buyer the choice of games to pick from during the first two months of the season.
Howard pointed out that the cost of many of the 15 game packages are less than the five pack being offered. His remarks were in response to fans who were angered over having to purchase the 15 games to get opening day tickets only to see a five game pack released at this late date. Another point Howard made was that with the 15 game pack, the games are spread accross the entire season and not just in April and May.
Howard is correct. There are 15 game packs remaining whose ticket prices are lower than the five packs being offered. In fact, some of the 15 packs remaining appear so affordable, I'm considering one myself.
Original Post - March 26
Just when you thought you were shut out of opening day, low and behold you can go to the Mets home opener at Citi Field after all.
Back in the winter you could have obtained opening day tickets by purchasing some sort of season ticket plan. There was the full 81 game plan, two forty game plans, and several different 15 game plans, some that included opening day. Then the Mets held a lottery and selected a number of lucky applicants that received the opportunity to buy tickets to the home opener. When single game tickets went on sale, I checked and the Mets website showed me that indeed the home opener was sold out.
Yesterday, the Mets announced that additional opening day seats are available and they can be had by simply buying an additional four games. The four games must be selected from games in April and May. Just for the heck of it, I went on to the Mets web site to see what is available.
On the ticket page, the Citi Field Opener pack is laid out nicely. You can choose seats in the Metropolitan Box, Field Box (both on the field level) or Caesars Club Bronze (second level). Being not of much funds, I plugged in two seats for the Caesars Club Bronze, the cheaper of the three choices. I also picked games featuring the weaker clubs to drive down the price as much as possible. In other words, I did not select games against the Phillies or Braves as much as I would rather see those teams than the Nationals or the Marlins.
When all was said and done, the cost of my two tickets for five games was $950.00. That's almost a thousand dollars for five games, two hundred dollars per game, one hundred a seat. Selecting the Phillies and Braves for the additional four games raises the price over an additional 200 dollars. I'm not saying the price is not reasonable, it's just not reasonable for me. I would guess not for a lot of other people either. You may think I'm not a die hard fan. I would say that is not true. I, like a lot of other people in this bail out economy, am simply not in the position to pay that kind of money for five games which does not include travel, parking, and concession costs. And if you think I am bashing the Mets, I am not.
The Mets are also feeling the pinch of this economy. They are simply trying to stimulate ticket sales by offering the home opener as an incentive. The point of all this is the Mets are moving into a state of the art, brand spanking new ballpark, having not sold out opening day. That has more to do with the economy than the last two failed Septembers do.
It is very likely that once opening day passes, each game of relative insignificance will be played before a number of empty seats. If you have not noticed, the economy is still bad even though the incentive plans put forth by Obama and the congress are starting to show some positive effects. However, major economists on both sides of the aisle agree that the recovery will be slow and expect it to take a year or perhaps even longer. Given these facts, new park or not, I can't see every Mets game will be a sell out.
And it's not just the Mets. Boston Red Sox tickets are available for certain games. This is historic considering the Red Sox have sold out every game now for a number of years. The Red Sox fans have not grown tired of their team and Boston is still expected to content for another championship. Therefore if Sox tickets can be purchased, you know the economy has something to do with it.
If you happen to think the Mets are out of control with their more expensive tickets ($495 per game), get a load of this.
A friend of mine, a Yankee fan, loves to take his family of five to a game on the Fourth of July. I watched him enter ticket information for the game against Toronto. He made the mistake of selecting best seats available. When the five available tickets came up, we could not believe our eyes. The cost of one game for five came out to be $13,423.50, $2600 per seat plus service charges. That's college tuition for a semester at some colleges. Who in their right mind would pay such an outlandish price for a single baseball game?
Those seats are the most expensive the Yankees have to offer. So the fact they came up suggests no one is buying them. With corporations being looked at with a scrupulous eye, don't expect too many CFOs to approve corporate tickets. Not at those prices.
We may be witnessing the pendulum beginning to swing back the other way. The most expensive seats at the two new ballparks are not selling because the economy is so bad. That means less revenue which will translate into less money being offered to players. At some point, the bubble has to burst. Whether that is happening now or not still remains to be seen but make no mistake, the pin has been pushed into the bubble.
Monday, March 23
More Pictures Before the Park Opens
by
Lou Di Falco
on Mon 23 Mar 2009 02:04 PM EDT
Saturday, March 21
Citi Field Interior Photos
by
Lou Di Falco
on Sat 21 Mar 2009 11:31 PM EDT
Stadiumpage.com has posted brand new interior shots from Citi Field. The photos were taken by Chris Swann. In them, you will see the skyline from the old scoreboard at Shea Stadium has found a new home. Plus, the Apple has grown a stem, the grass looks recently groomed, more signage is up, and the Jackie Robinson Rotunda is nearly complete. Oh, and who is Ben?
Sunday, March 8
Outside of Citi Field
by
Lou Di Falco
on Sun 08 Mar 2009 10:15 PM EDT
On Friday, Yankee announcer and talk show host Michael Kay was given a personal tour of Citi Field by COO Jeff Wilpon. On his afternoon radio show, Michael was raving about the ballpark, saying that Mets fans will never feel like second citizens again when it comes to their home. His only criticisms were of the chop shops next door and seating capacity at only 42,500. I agree about the amount of seats but the Iron Triangle will be rebuilt over the next ten years.
The latest from the camera of Citi_Field from Webshots...
Citi Field Construction 3/7/09
Friday, March 6
Citi Stock
by
Lou Di Falco
on Fri 06 Mar 2009 12:51 PM EST
Citigroup Inc. (c) stock went under one dollar yesterday and is now hovering just above at 1.02. A stock that had a 52 week high of 27.35 is now hanging by a thread. How much longer do you think Citi Field will be called Citi Field?
There are two sides to this argument and both are good ones. Citigroup Inc. is one of many corporations that have accepted TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) money. The cry from many has been how does a company using U.S. Taxpayer money to bail themselves out of financial catastrophe have the nerve to give the Mets 20 million per year over 20 years? How can they lay off employees but yet give the Mets all this money, money they have received from the government?
The other side of the argument is that Citigroup is not the only company receiving TARP that has naming rights deals with professional sports teams. In fact, there are 44 other companies in similar deals as the Mets have but not as lucrative. Also, a corporation should be able to spend money on advertising otherwise they will surely go out of business. The association with the Mets gives Citi a huge profile that could eventually help turn things around.
But regardless of what argument you want to side with, the fact is Citigroup is suffering and things are not turning around fast. Through it all however, the Mets and Citi have remained adamant about keeping their deal in place.
You cannot fault the Mets here. Some have criticized them for not breaking the deal with Citi. Why should they? What have the Mets done wrong here? They negotiated a good deal for themselves. It would make no sense for them to break it off. Plus both parties have signed a legally binding contract. It's not as if a simple phone call would terminate the relationship. Ending the deal would likely involve many lawyers and a court case or two.
Never the less, Citigroup Inc. may not be in any reasonable financial condition much longer and they could be acquired by another entity. If that were to happen, it is likely the deal would be restructured as part of the process of acquisition. Such a deal could give the Mets an out to seek a relationship with another corporation. But it is unlikely the Mets would find anyone willing to fork over the kind of cash they negotiated from Citi. To date, the Citi-Mets deal is the largest ever.
The Mets new ballpark will likely be called Citi Field at least for this season. But a year from now, don't be surprised if you will be returning to see the Mets at Morgan Stanley Field or Wells Fargo Park. Perhaps we might even be going back to Shea Stadium. Now wouldn't that be something.
Sunday, March 1
Two New Slide Shows
by
Lou Di Falco
on Sun 01 Mar 2009 10:05 AM EST
Friday, February 27
Update On Obstructed Seating
by
Lou Di Falco
on Fri 27 Feb 2009 12:00 PM EST
In yesterday's Newsday , Mets vice president David Howard indicated they are aware of promenade level obstructed seating. Because of the LED ribbon boards mounted on the railings of the promenade facade on the first and third base side, fans may have a partially blocked view of the infield if seated in the first row.
Howard indicated this may only be a problem for fans that are vertically challenged (short). He went on to say that a booster seat of some type may be necessary. I'm thinking for $75.00 a pop to sit in those seats, a booster seat is not the best solution. Howard also said that they have the means to correct the problem but he did not elaborate. That either means they can move the seats for complaining individuals or they can do the right thing and mount the LED ribbon boards lower.
The Mets, always concerned about what the media has to say, are playing with fire here. There will be a number of fans who will be effected by these ribbon boards on both the first and third base side. It's hard for me to believe they did not think this through before installing these message boards.
In case you don't know what a ribbon board is, they are all the rage at stadiums and arena's these days. They are very thin message display boards that use LED technology. They mostly display advertisements but can also display team related stuff like slogans and cheers. The content on these boards are animated graphics in nature using brightly lit colors. Shea had them too the last few seasons.
At Citi Field, the ribbon boards are mounted on the third and first base promenade facade. In drawings and also in the 3d-Seating tool, the ribbon boards appear to be hung just below the railing but in reality they are in front of the railing. Fans seated in the first row in three sections on both sides of the park will need to look through the railing to see the entire infield. It is not uncommon in newer ballparks, where the upper levels are closer to the field then their cookie cutter counterparts, to have to look through a railing to see part of the field. In the case of Citi Field, fans will be staring right into the back of the ribbon boards unless they sit far forward in their seats. Doing so will like effect the fans sitting in rows behind.
It's late in the game as Citi Field is slated to open in a bit more than a month. The Mets need to figure out how to get those boards moved down about a foot and a half and settle this problem. The last thing the Mets want is for the media to start ripping apart their brand new ballpark, one that has been touted to have impeccable site lines.
The Mets made a conscious effort to build a very intimate setting at Citi Field. Fans will be much closer to the field than they were at Shea Stadium. The footprint of Citi Field appears to be slightly larger than Shea but the seating bowl is much smaller. Bringing seats closer is not without its problems. For example, the out field seating which includes the Pepsi Porch has built in obstruction. Since the porch hangs over the field, anyone seated there will miss the action when a ball is hit into the right field corner. The difference here however, is this built in "quirk" is obvious when looking at the view from the 3d Seat Viewer. And it's uniqueness has apparently become popular since tickets in this section are selling well.
Fans seated in the three tiered left field sections will also be hard pressed to see the action in the left field corner. Again, that is to be expected since the stands are so close to the field. The only way to have avoided this was to create a much steeper rake in the upper level. A steep upper level is something Chicago White Sox fans still complain about at Cellular Field.
Some seats at Citi Field will have worse views than others but the infield and most of the outfield should be seen from all of them and they are. But when prime seating is effected by a device mostly used for advertising, then something must be done. This is not a design flaw, it's a placement flaw and if the Mets do not straighten it out, the fans will let them know about it.
The Mets are not alone here. While the Mets can solve there issues by moving the ribbon boards, the Yankees have their own problems. About three hundred bleacher seats have a huge obstruction. Fans seated next to the center field restaurant can only see half of the field. The Yankees are giving the excuse that those seats are only twelve dollars and they are putting up flat screen TVs. I'm not putting up with the hassle of going to Yankee Stadium to watch the game on TV. Sorry, that's just me. Either don't sell the seats or correct the problem.
Yankee Stadium also had some seats behind beams but the Yankees have indicated they will be removing those seats. At least, that's what they are saying.
It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out. I have been a big fan of Citi Field and have written about the new digs often. I certainly hope the place is everything we have been led to believe it is. In this economy, regardless of how expensive or how cheap a ticket might be, the view from your seat should be a good one.
Sunday, February 22
Citi Field Construction
by
Lou Di Falco
on Sun 22 Feb 2009 11:18 AM EST
Enjoy this slide show from WebShots' Citi_Field. The pictures show construction around the new ballpark including leveling the parking area that was once Shea Stadium. Inside the park we see the work going on to complete the Pepsi sign at the right field Pepsi Porch.
Citi Field Construction 2/21/09
Also, click here to view the latest aerial shots of the site from Tom Kaminski's chopper.
Wednesday, February 18
Obstructed Seating
by
Lou Di Falco
on Wed 18 Feb 2009 03:45 PM EST
A post on Metsblog.com yesterday suggested the New York Post is soon publishing an article detailing flaws within Citi Field. I agree with Matt Cerrone that the source should be judged before we begin condemning the new Mets home. However, there are several photographs out on the Internet that do show some disturbing seating locations. Like anything else in life, buyer beware when purchasing your tickets.
Yesterday, I purchased my first tickets to the new Citi Field. I plan on taking my son on his 15th birthday. I purchased the tickets on StubHub and they were reasonably priced. For $23 dollars each, I obtained two tickets on the aisle behind home plate in the promenade reserved level. In height, the seats are roughly equivalent to the first row of Shea's upper deck but are positioned closer to the playing field. One thing I did was to verify our site lines by using the Citi Field Seats-3D tool found on Mets.com, a practice I strongly suggest.
The view from these seats appear to be excellent. You can see the entire playing field with nothing obstructing your view except a bit of railing blocking an area behind the plate. If a ball is hit in either the right or left field corner, you will not see it bouncing around because the lower field level stands stick out hugging the foul lines. Other than that, the seats are perfect. Now are these seats as good as the field or club level? Of course not but my last name is not Trump.
Are there bad seats in the ballpark even when Jeff Wilpon claims every seat is a good one? Yes there are. When you build a stadium that is cozier and smaller than Shea Stadium, there are bound to be seats that do not have the best of views contrary to all the hype. While most of Shea's seats allowed you to see the entire playing field, a great many of them were a mile away from the action. That's the trade off.
Bringing Citi Field's promenade level (upper deck) closer to the field is where most of the bad seating will be found. In particular, there are a whole bunch of seats in left field behind the out of town scoreboard that will not allow those seated there to see the flight of the ball. This is likely limited to the last five or six rows of the upper level (17 rows in all). However, these seats are no worse than sitting in the last row of the mezzanine at Shea which were probably worse. What could have been done different?
In the original computer rendering, the out of town scoreboard looked a bit smaller and not as obtrusive. I'm no engineer but I do not see a reason why the board was not installed above the canopy instead of below.
Another area of concern involves seats in the first couple of rows of the promenade reserved. The promenade level is split into two sections, one up and one down. From the open concourse, fans step down to the box seats. Fans must climb stairs to the upper reserved seats. A number of fans sitting in the first couple of rows on the baseline sides of the reserved seats above the split are going to have to look through the landing railings of the stairwells that reach these seats. Again, this was a design change from the originally released renderings. If you look at a current photo of the upper level behind home plate, you will see six access tunnels to the seating area. These tunnels originally were in every section of the promenade as illustrated by another originally released rendering. A design change was made for some reason.
Later drawings showed the newer access stairways having metal railings with posts. These were changed to Plexiglas when they were eventually installed likely because engineers realized that some of these seats would have obstructed views because of the railings.
I can only assume the stairs at the split were added to reduce the amount of steps fans would have to climb to get to their seats. Plus the concourse would be much more open than if there were access staircases every so many feet. The trade off however is to create some seating at a desired location with less than desired results.
While everyone seems to be touting the Pepsi Porch in right field. Realize that the right field corner will not be visible by any fans sitting there. You can't see something you are sitting on top of. The quirky and retro section comes with a retro view. Yet when you check StubHub, these seats are hard to come by and expensive. Go figure.
Fans sitting in the Left Field Landing also have a similar obstructed view of left field because the height of the wall. The outfield corners are hard to see from the promenade the further you sit down the lines. Another consequence of offering an upper level that is so much closer to the field than Shea's.
No matter how you shake it, there will be some less than desirable seats at Citi Field. But nothing can be definitive until the park opens and the shakedown begins. And in all fairness, it's a bit difficult to be critical when judging from photographs and computer annimations. I'm sure when the Post article comes out they will have a field day trashing the place because that's what they do. The truth is the majority of the 42,500 seats at Citi Field will be fine and superior to any seat Shea Stadium had to offer. But retro and quirky designs can't be created without some goofy seating.
The good news is if you have a bad seat, nothing is to stop you from walking around the place where there is plenty of standing room to get a better view. Plus the large scoreboards, both with playback capability, will aid in seeing things you missed because of a bad seat (unless of course, you cannot see the scoreboards from your bad seat). The Mets may have to adjust the pricing of the bad seats as well. I certainly would not be happy if I put down several hundreds of dollars for a season ticket plan and then have to dodge fans climbing to their seats while looking through Plexiglas the whole game.
In the computer world, things that don't work or are convoluted are sarcastically referred to as features. I guess in the stadium design business, seats with obstructed views can be referred to as charm.
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