What facility improvements would you like to see at Camden Yards?

[OFFNY]

o

 

A major improvement was already made during the 2011-2012 off-season, when the right-field wall was lowered from 25 feet to 21 feet and replaced by see-through metal railing. Subsequently, pretty much everybody can stand there and still have a good view of the game.

Prior to that, you had to be at least 6'2" or taller in order to not be visually inconvenienced by it.

 

Camden Yards at 20: Park will Feature New Statues, Lower Wall

(Sporting News)

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/211583-camden-yards-at-20-park-will-feature-new-statues-lower-wall

 

 

o

[TradeAngelos]

58 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

If anything is going to immediately turn me away from a sport, it's closer ties to gambling.

Might as well stop following all sports now then. There will be a sportsbook at almost every stadium within 5 years. Trying to appeal to that whole "fun" thing I guess you don't care for. 

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, TradeAngelos said:

Trying to appeal to that whole "fun" thing I guess you don't care for. 

Gambling is mostly a tax on people who can't do math.  There's no fun in that.

[jerios55]

On 2/9/2021 at 8:16 AM, Frobby said:

Notice I said “facility improvements.”    No lame jokes about putting a better team on the field.   I think we’d all agree that we’d prefer that to anything they could do to the facility.

I have to say, I have no complaints at all about the facility.   There are few things in life I enjoy more than an evening at Camden Yards, and it’s a beautiful place to see a game.   But since the O’s and MSA are talking about improvements, what would you do?

I didn't read all 3 pages.

Did anyone circumvent you're qualifier by saying they want the facility to be improved with more pennant and WS decor?  :)

[Sports Guy]

38 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Gambling is mostly a tax on people who can't do math.  There's no fun in that.

Gambling is incredibly fun.

[NCRaven]

I didn't say I want to gamble.  I said I want to play poker.

[InsideCoroner]

Demolish (implode) the Hilton beyond the LF bleachers and give us the original city skyline view. More variety in concessions. Employ more ex-players and personalities to always be inside the concourse — let fans shake hands and take a pic with the likes of Floyd Rayford or Joe Orsulak to enhance the stadium experience. Heavy discounts for kids to get in with their parents. Heavy surcharges for “premium seats” (anything third base side lower concourse) during Yankees or Red Sox games.  

[TradeAngelos]

3 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Gambling is mostly a tax on people who can't do math.  There's no fun in that.

Plenty of people who can do math, are very well off, (and educated) love to gamble......and to suggest the only people who take part are poor and stupid is absurd. I gamble because it is fun and any money I lose is just the cost of entertainment. That is how 99% of people look at it. People blow money on things every day that give them zero value, at least gambling you can have fun doing it. If I choose to spend my entertainment dollars gambling that is my choice. And TONS of people are making that choice every day, so sportsbooks will soon be coming to a venue near you. Not a question of if, but when. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, TradeAngelos said:

Plenty of people who can do math, are very well off, (and educated) love to gamble......and to suggest the only people who take part are poor and stupid is absurd. I gamble because it is fun and any money I lose is just the cost of entertainment. That is how 99% of people look at it. People blow money on things every day that give them zero value, at least gambling you can have fun doing it. If I choose to spend my entertainment dollars gambling that is my choice. And TONS of people are making that choice every day, so sportsbooks will soon be coming to a venue near you. Not a question of if, but when. 

That might be how you look at it, but I guarantee you that isn't how 99% of the population looks at it.

[DrungoHazewood]

13 hours ago, TradeAngelos said:

Plenty of people who can do math, are very well off, (and educated) love to gamble......and to suggest the only people who take part are poor and stupid is absurd. I gamble because it is fun and any money I lose is just the cost of entertainment. That is how 99% of people look at it. People blow money on things every day that give them zero value, at least gambling you can have fun doing it. If I choose to spend my entertainment dollars gambling that is my choice. And TONS of people are making that choice every day, so sportsbooks will soon be coming to a venue near you. Not a question of if, but when. 

That's all well and good, and I'm not going to advocate for getting rid of gambling.  But your 99% number is way off.  Almost every state has a lottery, and by definition the house wins.  In the long run it's 100% guaranteed that most people will lose money on it.  But there's never a shortage of players.  Maybe that's the cost of having fun, I don't know... if that's your fun that's fine.  It's not my idea of fun.

And sports gambling.  The more of it that exists, the better chance someone will eventually throw a game.  Baseball can't really afford people thinking it's not on the up-and-up.

[CarrRun49]

On 2/9/2021 at 5:20 PM, owknows said:

Crab cakes that don't have diced red pepper in them.

Like the Jimmy's Famous Seafood Stand, Nats Park just got?

[Tony-OH]

The stadium experience needs to provide something you don't get at home. Most of it in my mind revolves around the social aspect of going to game with friends or family because after all, if you really want to follow the game action and all the nuances, watching it at home with your computer up with Gameday, Baseball Savant, Twitter, and/or the Hangout message  board is probably the most immersive experience.

So keeping that in mind, it's time for teams to really take a look at how they do seating and how they provide social areas, and perhaps Camden Yards can become a leader in this aspect. 

The center field bar is the first "social area" where fans can have a drink and watch the ball game, but of course the team decided it was a better idea to sell the seats in the first two rows instead of having it as a first come first serve area where friends could meet up and watch the ball game with a nice view. That "sports bar" approach in my mind is  definitely one that needs to be expanded but they really need to keep these places open where fans can congregate with others.

Maybe build other areas like this in the stadium and they all don't have to revolve around a bar. Perhaps have an open area where there were places for small children to play where the parents could allow them to play a bit while they enjoy the game with other parents? Right now you have to go underneath the grandstand on the 1st base side and let them climb around, but you really only have a few TVs to watch the game and it's not the same as being out in the crowd and cheering together.

As a poster mentioned before, the seating environment is not conducive towards talking with a bunch of people, especially if your group buys tickets in one row. I've always tried to offset this by putting my main party in a two row, four seat situation where you can kinda talk and cheer with your main friends and family. Perhaps there is way to configure more spacing between seating in little seating bowl areas that encourages groups? Maybe even add in some drop down tables for eating so your Boogs doesn't go all over the front of your shirt or on the grounds. 

Another thing that would add in some fun and excitement would be an in game app that allowed you to guess the next outcome at the plate, who will hit the first/next home run, have the most hits, etc). Maybe have a scoring system that would have inning by inning leaders, game leaders and season leaders and would have a leaderboard displayed somewhere. I think fans would like the idea of seeing their name on the screen if they had a good inning or game of guessing. Obviously this kind of thing is being brought in by teams with gambling in mind, and if it was connected in someway to that I guess that would encourage a whole other set of fans to attend and enjoy, but they need to have a free version that would be just for fun. Maybe even offer prizes like free tickets to future games or ticket upgrades for an inning winner? 

When people are fighting traffic, parking, and paying well over $200 for a family of four to attend, eat and have a drink or two, there needs to be an incentive to get people to do that vs sitting at home and watching the game on their 65 inch HD TV in the comfort of their homes.

Everything should be about adding social opportunities and games/challenges that they don't get if they are home. FOMO is real with some people. They should use this to their advantage.

 

 

[Frobby]

38 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

When people are fighting traffic, parking, and paying well over $200 for a family of four to attend, eat and have a drink or two, there needs to be an incentive to get people to do that vs sitting at home and watching the game on their 65 inch HD TV in the comfort of their homes.

First of all, you make a lot of really interesting and creative suggestions in the other parts of your post that I didn’t quote.    They are all worth exploring and I hope the Orioles do explore a bunch of ideas like that.   

That said, I don’t find the experience of seeing a game live to be anything like watching a game in my living room.   There’s just something about being in a crowd of like-minded fans, reacting together when good and bad things happen, being able to focus on whatever interests you in that moment, hearing the crack of the bat and the smack of the ball hitting the glove, and seeing that beautiful field close up.    No HD TV can replicate that, so far as I’m concerned.    I realize some people feel differently — I’m only speaking for myself.  
 

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

First of all, you make a lot of really interesting and creative suggestions in the other parts of your post that I didn’t quote.    They are all worth exploring and I hope the Orioles do explore a bunch of ideas like that.   

That said, I don’t find the experience of seeing a game live to be anything like watching a game in my living room.   There’s just something about being in a crowd of like-minded fans, reacting together when good and bad things happen, being able to focus on whatever interests you in that moment, hearing the crack of the bat and the smack of the ball hitting the glove, and seeing that beautiful field close up.    No HD TV can replicate that, so far as I’m concerned.    I realize some people feel differently — I’m only speaking for myself.  
 

I agree with all of that.  But...

- It's a poor experience when you go to OPACY and there are more visiting fans than home fans, even in the box seats and the warehouse restaurants.  I would rather have stayed home.

- OPACY is two hours from my house.  No matter how often I would like to go, there just aren't many times I'm carving out eight or nine hours a day for baseball.

 

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

First of all, you make a lot of really interesting and creative suggestions in the other parts of your post that I didn’t quote.    They are all worth exploring and I hope the Orioles do explore a bunch of ideas like that.   

That said, I don’t find the experience of seeing a game live to be anything like watching a game in my living room.   There’s just something about being in a crowd of like-minded fans, reacting together when good and bad things happen, being able to focus on whatever interests you in that moment, hearing the crack of the bat and the smack of the ball hitting the glove, and seeing that beautiful field close up.    No HD TV can replicate that, so far as I’m concerned.    I realize some people feel differently — I’m only speaking for myself.  
 

I don't believe I made that point either. I definitely understand the lure of going to games, and agree with you, I too enjoy being at the ball park with family and friends, but what I was trying to point out is that to get people out to games consistently in today's world, they need to provide a more immersive and social experience that people can't get elsewhere.