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MIAMI -- During this holiday shopping season, premium seats are selling quickly at the Marlins' new ballpark.
Fans already are lining up to purchase the best seats in the house for the retractable-roof building set to open in 2012.
The high-end Diamond Club, where the first row is 47 feet from home plate, has only 12 of its 379 seats remaining. Diamond Club members receive star treatment. Their food, beverage and parking are included in the price of the ticket.
The Dugout Clubs, the best seats on the first- and third-base sides, have about 80 of 296 total seats remaining.
The rush of sales and excitement for the top seats in the ballpark continue to energize the organization as the final year of construction is about to get under way.
"Things are going well on the premium side," Samson said. "We will then spend the balance of the next year working on all of the other locations. But we are very, very happy and confident with the reaction of our fans, and our new fans as we are in the process of relocating our team down to Miami."
Securing the long-term future of the Marlins in South Florida has been an important initiative for the organization and Major League Baseball. Commissioner Bud Selig played an active role in assisting the team getting the deal done.
MLB has long considered South Florida an important market. As a reward, the Marlins are hoping that the new ballpark is showcased in the first game of the 2012 season.
"To let people know how fast things are happening, the 2012 baseball schedule is being worked on right now," Samson said. "And by late summer at the latest, we should know who our Opening Day opponent is at the ballpark next April. Our goal, and what we hope will happen, is we will be the national game to open the season the night before Opening Day. That's our hope."
In recent years, there has been one nationally televised game the night before the rest of the league gets under way. In 2008, the Washington Nationals were featured in that game to open their new stadium.
"In my opinion, this is a monumental day for baseball in Florida," Samson said. "This has been a very important initiative for Commissioner Selig since the early '90s. To finally see, after all these years, the ballpark opening and the future of the Miami Marlins completely solidified, is something I think would be celebrated by many, many people."
Sometime after the 2011 season, the Florida Marlins will officially be renamed the Miami Marlins.
The upcoming season will be the franchise's last at Sun Life Stadium, the only home the organization has known since its inaugural 1993 campaign.
Construction, which started on July 1, 2009, remains on schedule, and the ballpark is about 53 percent completed. All stages of construction can be viewed on the Marlins' new ballpark web cam on www.marlins.com.
Construction has pretty much been non-stop since ground was broken in 2009. Christmas and New Year's Day are two days off for the workers.
"The workers have been doing a terrific job," Samson said. "Productivity is up right now, which is common, given that the weather is so perfect."
Baseball fans are taking notice of the state-of-the-art ballpark in the Little Havana section of Miami.
"People right now are buying tickets for 2011 and 2012," Samson said. "There is right now a greater focus on 2012, because people want to get their seats reserved before they run out. That has always been our problem. We have always had an unlimited supply at Sun Life Stadium, so the urgency to reserve a seat is not there right now. There is greater urgency to purchase for 2012, because it's a much smaller ballpark and areas are selling out more quickly."
Moving to downtown Miami will be a major downsizing for the club in terms of stadium size. Sun Life Stadium, primarily a football stadium, seats 65,000. The new building holds 37,000, and there is the comfort of the roof.
The Marlins have made several free-agent signings and high-profile trades in hopes of revamping the team into a playoff contender.
"We're very interested in 2011, as evidence by our increased payroll," Samson said. "We're putting together a team we expect to compete as we always do. We expect them to win. But our plan, as it's always been, has been to be ready to win in 2011 and 2012.
"We thought we were ready to win last year. We obviously were not. We've made quite a few changes on the field that we think puts us in position to win this year and certainly going forward into 2012."
Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Fans already are lining up to purchase the best seats in the house for the retractable-roof building set to open in 2012.
The high-end Diamond Club, where the first row is 47 feet from home plate, has only 12 of its 379 seats remaining. Diamond Club members receive star treatment. Their food, beverage and parking are included in the price of the ticket.
The Dugout Clubs, the best seats on the first- and third-base sides, have about 80 of 296 total seats remaining.
The rush of sales and excitement for the top seats in the ballpark continue to energize the organization as the final year of construction is about to get under way.
"Things are going well on the premium side," Samson said. "We will then spend the balance of the next year working on all of the other locations. But we are very, very happy and confident with the reaction of our fans, and our new fans as we are in the process of relocating our team down to Miami."
Securing the long-term future of the Marlins in South Florida has been an important initiative for the organization and Major League Baseball. Commissioner Bud Selig played an active role in assisting the team getting the deal done.
MLB has long considered South Florida an important market. As a reward, the Marlins are hoping that the new ballpark is showcased in the first game of the 2012 season.
"To let people know how fast things are happening, the 2012 baseball schedule is being worked on right now," Samson said. "And by late summer at the latest, we should know who our Opening Day opponent is at the ballpark next April. Our goal, and what we hope will happen, is we will be the national game to open the season the night before Opening Day. That's our hope."
In recent years, there has been one nationally televised game the night before the rest of the league gets under way. In 2008, the Washington Nationals were featured in that game to open their new stadium.
"In my opinion, this is a monumental day for baseball in Florida," Samson said. "This has been a very important initiative for Commissioner Selig since the early '90s. To finally see, after all these years, the ballpark opening and the future of the Miami Marlins completely solidified, is something I think would be celebrated by many, many people."
Sometime after the 2011 season, the Florida Marlins will officially be renamed the Miami Marlins.
The upcoming season will be the franchise's last at Sun Life Stadium, the only home the organization has known since its inaugural 1993 campaign.
Construction, which started on July 1, 2009, remains on schedule, and the ballpark is about 53 percent completed. All stages of construction can be viewed on the Marlins' new ballpark web cam on www.marlins.com.
Construction has pretty much been non-stop since ground was broken in 2009. Christmas and New Year's Day are two days off for the workers.
"The workers have been doing a terrific job," Samson said. "Productivity is up right now, which is common, given that the weather is so perfect."
Baseball fans are taking notice of the state-of-the-art ballpark in the Little Havana section of Miami.
"People right now are buying tickets for 2011 and 2012," Samson said. "There is right now a greater focus on 2012, because people want to get their seats reserved before they run out. That has always been our problem. We have always had an unlimited supply at Sun Life Stadium, so the urgency to reserve a seat is not there right now. There is greater urgency to purchase for 2012, because it's a much smaller ballpark and areas are selling out more quickly."
Moving to downtown Miami will be a major downsizing for the club in terms of stadium size. Sun Life Stadium, primarily a football stadium, seats 65,000. The new building holds 37,000, and there is the comfort of the roof.
The Marlins have made several free-agent signings and high-profile trades in hopes of revamping the team into a playoff contender.
"We're very interested in 2011, as evidence by our increased payroll," Samson said. "We're putting together a team we expect to compete as we always do. We expect them to win. But our plan, as it's always been, has been to be ready to win in 2011 and 2012.
"We thought we were ready to win last year. We obviously were not. We've made quite a few changes on the field that we think puts us in position to win this year and certainly going forward into 2012."
Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.