How Do You Like the Stadium Experience Now and What Would You Do to Improve?

[fish16]

Ive also been saying for years that a partnership with publix would be huge. They had to have already tried and be shut down though because it makes no sense not to. A pub sub concession would be a pretty big draw.

[gustavopim]

The thing I meant about other stuff to do isn't about during the game, it's really for before the game. Because of traffic and parking and giveaways I've gotten there before 6 every time I've gone. And then...you're just there.

I usually get there around 5 30 PM too and I agree with you. I usually take a book or watch videos trying to stand the noise and the cold until the game starts.

As for food and beer, it's expensive but that's pretty much anywhere. However now there's a trend to lower prices in places (saw recently, I think the Falcons are going to have $5 craft beer). They should do that, at least at one stand. Even at Coral Sky Amphitheatre in Palm Beach, the beers are all $12-$15, but there's always one stand selling $4 Rolling Rocks. I think they're 10 ounces. Who cares though?

Yes, I do agree that's pretty much anywhere, but one can of beer is more expensive than the ticket for the game. The Florida Panthers are having $5 Beer Thursdays and things like that. What I meant is that I end up spending less money at the ballpark because things are so expensive. I take my own food, my own sweets because it's so expensive. I would think about getting a beer or two if it was $5-$6 dollars, but since it's $10-$14 I just don't spend any money.

[Erick]

It’s worse because of the loud music. It’s supposed to be a baseball game, not a night club. I went to one game, and that was enough for me. And yes, part of the reason I haven’t gone back is because the team sucks. Even if the team were good though, I would still hate the loud music.

[fish16]

It’s worse because of the loud music. It’s supposed to be a baseball game, not a night club. I went to one game, and that was enough for me. And yes, part of the reason I haven’t gone back is because the team sucks. Even if the team were good though, I would still hate the loud music.

One thing I wish they would do less of is play into the stereotypical miami atmosphere and pander to latinos. Its one thing to provide an inclusive atmosphere for latinos, but to me they seem to go over the top to downright corny pandering.

And the nightclub atmosphere is a terrible idea. They would be better off creating a sports bar like atmosphere in more of the stadium than a nightclub.

[rmc523]

Since the new stadium opened, I've lived in Gainesville, North Carolina, and Orlando, so I've actually only been to the new stadium 4 times (not counting the ASG festivities). When I was living in Gainesville and they played at Pro Robbie I'd make it to 4-5 games a year. It was just much simpler to get to from my parents' house in Coral Springs. I didn't spend time in Miami growing up and as such it's kind of terrifying to me because of the traffic and the parking (not because of the people, don't take it that way). I've never driven to the new stadium, I've always gotten my friend to drive. That's the number one issue I have with the new stadium, and I'm not sure how they could fix it because I don't think it's fixable. It's just too much of a haul from Broward.

Once I'm at the stadium I love it, I think the atmosphere is great, even when it's 80% empty. The place was electric for the ASG. Love the food there, love the aesthetics and love that you can see the game while walking the concourse. I do wish there were maybe a few more "activity" type things in the concourses (like a museum or something) -- other than the bobblehead display there's nothing to really do or see outside of the game.

Yeah, the drive sucks from FTL, especially trying to make it for weekday 7pm games dealing with rush hour. I've said it a few other places, but I wonder if it's worth partnering with Brightline and then either running a shuttle from the station to the park or with metromover (and then a shuttle the last bit). Partner with them to offer a discounted train fare if you're going to the game. It gets them ridership and fans to the game. I'd certainly consider it.

I agree about the experience at the park - activity things would be neat, but once you see that type of thing you usually don't go again (unless you're going with new people and showing them around).

Every excuse is a cover for "the team sucks." I've always believed that. I can't call fish16 a fair weather fan, he writes essays about this shitty 100-loss team and defends brand new ownership. The bottom line is, if the team is good, more people will show up. More doesn't mean sell outs. The stadium location still sucks, there's nothing to do there, etc. Absent a true downtown ballpark vibe with bars and restaurants and shops, they should be having regular food truck gatherings outside the stadium, as much live music as possible, and create some interesting events to get people to the area. Most ballparks are cool to hang around even if you don't actually go to the game. Not the case with Miami. I could theoretically envision it being like that in 20 years, but it's awful now.

Rays are a great example, there is some neat stuff surrounding the stadium on Central Ave but it's too far to walk to the stadium. So no one goes. Meanwhile you take a place like Cleveland or Baltimore where the ballpark is in walking distance from awesome restaurants and bars and it's a totally different vibe. I'm purposely excluding places like Fenway and Wrigley here because they're a different animal. These are newer ballparks developed correctly.

I wonder if Jeter & Co will ever really invest in the city the way Shad Khan has in Jacksonville. He's been instrumental in building up parts of Jacksonville that have long been underserved. He's poured money into the community and now stuff is popping up all over near the stadium in areas that used to be garbage.

I know I'll go to more games if the team is good. It's all obviously inter-related. The team being good leads to more people showing up, which leads to more businesses inclined to purchase/redevelop the land around the park since there's increased traffic in the area. That will take quite a while, though. But even within the last few years, several nice looking apartment buildings have been built within a few blocks of the park. At some point, I'd imagine some of that development (and more opportunity for bars and whatnot in retail bays in lower floors) will come closer the park, but again, it'll take years before that happens. I sometimes wonder if it would've been better for the retail in the garages to face inward toward the park, which could've led to a plaza vibe with several restaurants/bars facing the park.

The team investing in the area around as you suggested woudl help too.

On your food truck idea - what if they redid the Clevelander and made it open to the outside (could rope it off to make sure people have tickets) and park food trucks out on that plaza to the east of the park, allowing you to go downstairs there to a food truck, take in the game in the standing area there, and come back up as you please.

Classic fair weather fan mentality and one of the main reasons MLB will never have sustained success in Miami.

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The standard excuse for not attending games used to be, “it’s too hot out” or “it might rain”. That has transitioned into, “I’ll watch from home because it’s cheaper”. What the fuck, man.

I'm not going to give Fish16 a hard time for not going this year, though living closer (I'm in FTL) would certainly give me more reason (or opportunity) to go. I do work maybe 15 minutes from the park, but have only been to 2 games this year, whereas in previous years, I'd go somewhat more regularly right from work, usually on Fridays. I'm not inclined to go because the team is bad, and I also have barely watched (I'm honestly not sure if I've seen an entire game start to finish on tv this year), so I guess I'm a fair weather fan too then....

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A few of my own points:

-As I pointed out, I've only been twice this year, but I also found the music obnoxiously loud and even echo-y because of how loud it was with the roof closed.
-The kids area in the outfield seemed like a neat thing, but also seemed "thrown together" in the sense that it was just put there and not built in. I'd imagine they'll improve this in the offseason - it was also closed - seems like that'd be something you'd keep open if people want to take their kids to play throughout the game.
-Lower concession prices - I should've jumped on the ticket plan for the discount, but I didn't get to it, but it'd be nice to see them follow Atlanta's lead and lower concession prices to reasonable levels. Someone mentioned it above, but I always sign up for the designated driver thing just to get a free drink, as I don't want to pay whatever they're charging for it or a bottle of water now.
-Increased food options - sounds like they're working on this, but it'd be nice to have something other than the typical ballpark food - I was disappointed when I found out they don't have the Goya taster platter this year - I discovered that late last year and liked it, and it's gone now.
-Lower parking prices - I get they share this with the county/city, so they may not be able to change this without affecting what they earn, but I know I'd probably go in the garage for $10 instead of a local lot.
-Firework Fridays - I selfishly liked having the fireworks on Fridays (vs. Saturdays) because I'd go from work and see the game/fireworks.
-Better routing of traffic before/after games - just seems like a lot of the routing ends you up in directions you don't want to go in/causes backups
-More northbound 95 lanes from the 395 - I realize this isn't on the team, but it's ridiculous that there's only one northbound 95 lane from 395, and you have to dart over almost immediately into a giant line of traffic to get to that one lane.

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One thing I wish they would do less of is play into the stereotypical miami atmosphere and pander to latinos. Its one thing to provide an inclusive atmosphere for latinos, but to me they seem to go over the top to downright corny pandering.

And the nightclub atmosphere is a terrible idea. They would be better off creating a sports bar like atmosphere in more of the stadium than a nightclub.

I'm with you on this. I definitely get and agree with the concept of being inclusive with the community and reaching out to the areas around the park, but not EVERYONE that goes to the park is latin, not everything needs to be latin.

Heck, if they want to go for a nightclub vibe - why not reconfigure a section (upper deck maybe?) somewhere into something with more of a nightclub feel rather than the entire park. And I don't mean the Clevelander (which I would reconfigure to a food truck/family area with the pool).

Also, why is there not a chicken stand called "FOWL BALL" or something....

[fish16]

-More northbound 95 lanes from the 395 - I realize this isn't on the team, but it's ridiculous that there's only one northbound 95 lane from 395, and you have to dart over almost immediately into a giant line of traffic to get to that one lane.

This is a huge issue that doesnt have anything to do with the marlins, but still a huge issue nonetheless. That lane is backed up no matter what time of day and the having to get over immediately thing is right on as well. Then you have people trying to cut the line and causing the lane next to it to get backed up and then causing a chain reaction. South florida in general is terribly planned out.

[Erick]

One thing I wish they would do less of is play into the stereotypical miami atmosphere and pander to latinos. Its one thing to provide an inclusive atmosphere for latinos, but to me they seem to go over the top to downright corny pandering.

And the nightclub atmosphere is a terrible idea. They would be better off creating a sports bar like atmosphere in more of the stadium than a nightclub.

I don’t mind music, but if you ever go..you’ll notice that you won’t even be able to hear the person next to you. Pre-game and in between innings, the music is that loud.

[fish16]

I don’t mind music, but if you ever go..you’ll notice that you won’t even be able to hear the person next to you. Pre-game and in between innings, the music is that loud.

Ill check it out cause i plan to go to a game or 2 in september, but I hate that shit. IDK why it seems like these teams all lack common sense when it comes to some of this stuff.

[rmc523]

This is a huge issue that doesnt have anything to do with the marlins, but still a huge issue nonetheless. That lane is backed up no matter what time of day and the having to get over immediately thing is right on as well. Then you have people trying to cut the line and causing the lane next to it to get backed up and then causing a chain reaction. South florida in general is terribly planned out.

What the team CAN somewhat control, though, is the volume of people leaving at once - if they're able to develop things in the plaza and elsewhere to get people to stay in the area, it'd mean fewer cars trying to leave the area at once.

[emkayseven]

What the team CAN somewhat control, though, is the volume of people leaving at once - if they're able to develop things in the plaza and elsewhere to get people to stay in the area, it'd mean fewer cars trying to leave the area at once.

Right, this is my whole point. Totally changes the influx/outflux (not a word but you know what I mean) of cars.

With regards to food trucks, my guess is because of the partnership with Levy there's probably an issue with outside vendors selling food "inside" the stadium. If they open the Clevelander to the outdoors and rope off the area like you suggested maybe Levy would argue that's "inside". In any event, the idea should be to get people to the ballpark. Hell, I'd have food trucks DURING the game with a gigantic screen showing the game. I don't care if they aren't in the ballpark today, if they have a good time they'll be in the ballpark tomorrow when the food trucks aren't there.

[dim]

I've been to 14 games at Marlins park this year plus two games at the Tropicana Field.
Make more giveaways/ not one size fits all - Not everyone (most people) are XL.
Don't charge so much in online fees - For some reason it's cheaper to buy tickets at the ballpark than online. Even if they print the ticket, have people working there, etc etc.
.

You made a lot of awesome points but I just want to focus on this quickly. The online fee issue was a terrible problem for more than half the season. They just fixed it within the past month, so if you go on the app you'll find it'll cost the same now as purchasing in the park.

As for the shirts it is incredibly terrible and something a lot of fans complain about (and rightfully so). I hate seeing a lot of the bigger sized fans we have see the giveaways and realize they are getting something they can't use. I hope some day this problem gets fixed because it isn't fair to a lot of fans attending the games.

[Namaste]

You guys realize that with 6,000 people a night (if that) going to these games there is basically no traffic, right?

I mean, it’s now hitting me that only me and like two other people on the board have been to a game this year so, yeah, you guys ought to check out a game because I live basically in Boca and it takes me 45 min* each way. That’s not bad at all for a professional sporting event.

*the 5 times I’ve gone this year, I’ve left home around 4:45-5:00. Leaving that early cut travel time down drastically.

[rmc523]

You guys realize that with 6,000 people a night (if that) going to these games there is basically no traffic, right?

I mean, it’s now hitting me that only me and like two other people on the board have been to a game this year so, yeah, you guys ought to check out a game because I live basically in Boca and it takes me 45 min* each way. That’s not bad at all for a professional sporting event.

*the 5 times I’ve gone this year, I’ve left home around 4:45-5:00. Leaving that early cut travel time down drastically.

Right, but if/when people do actually show up, these are issues that need to be addressed NOW so that when the big crowds do come, it allows for organized, orderly, and efficient ingress and egress to the park. It was an absolute disaster in 2012 when a lot of people went, and it doesn't seem like much has changed as far as their plans for routing/directing traffic go.

[fish16]

I always hear about people having parking issues getting out but i havent ever really had any myself. I havent been this year as ive said but ive been there for some pretty big events like the first game, all star game, a lot of big jose starts.

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You guys realize that with 6,000 people a night (if that) going to these games there is basically no traffic, right?

I mean, it’s now hitting me that only me and like two other people on the board have been to a game this year so, yeah, you guys ought to check out a game because I live basically in Boca and it takes me 45 min* each way. That’s not bad at all for a professional sporting event.

*the 5 times I’ve gone this year, I’ve left home around 4:45-5:00. Leaving that early cut travel time down drastically.

Im from that area originally and it generally takes me at least an hour. 95 is a shit show. You definitely have to leave early like you said. Family member went to the second yankee game and left from coral springs at 6 and didnt get into the game until 8:15

[Namaste]

I take Turnpike to I-95 Express Lanes. If you leave for the ballpark by 5:15 traffic is never a nightmare.