Fan Perspectives from the First Games at the new Dodger Stadium

The opening series is over. The reality of 159 more games — 78 of them at Dodger Stadium is upon us. It’s going to be a fun Summer.

This week marked the unveiling of the newly-remodeled Dodger Stadium. While much of the work that was done is in infrastructure, we wanted to find out what was really different about the place for the fans. There have been lots of articles on what was coming up, but how was the fan experience really?

Here are some accounts (or portions of them) from three people. Two of them attended on opening day and one attended on Wednesday night. They are all Dodger fans with lots of experience at Dodger Stadium over the past few years.

Eric Becker – Glendale, CA

Eric Becker is a Dodger fan through and through. I met him when he was picketing the McCourt regime, but he quickly came back to the ballpark last season. Eric been going to games for years, usually getting a mini-plan and sitting all over the stadium throughout the years. Here is part of his account of Dodger Stadium on Opening Day.

From Eric’s blog:

“Once inside, the ballpark was very festive. Some great new features for Opening Day included bands stationed outside of different entrances. The Left Field side of the Reserve Level featured a band that had a sort of New Orleans/Mardi Gras feel to it, an old-style jazz brass band. The Top Deck featured a rock band blasting out hits from 1960 to about present. “I Want You To Want Me,” “My Sharona” and “Jumping Jack Flash” were amongst the selections I heard while up there. Whether the Dodgers continue this for all games or select games, or whether this was just a part of Opening Day Festivities remains to be seen. As for the pre-game, there was a performance by the Blue Man Group. Then of course the teams were introduced, the San Francisco Giants to continuous boos and the Dodgers to the enthusiastic cheers of a crowd that’s been waiting 25 years to bring a title home.”

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Photos by Eric Becker

There is definitely something fun about live music. Having fans come early for a few drinks before the game in a fun, festive atmosphere sounds like a great idea to me. Live music is a wonderful way to provide this atmosphere. A little more from Becker:

This was truly an Opening Day to remember.  Koufax’s first pitch and Kershaw’s utter dominance of the game on the mound and at the plate set an incredibly positive tone to start the 2013 season.  There are 161 games left to play, and of course one game at the beginning of April doesn’t determine which teams will be playing well into October.  That said, Dodger fans have every reason to feel good about this team, and all indications are that this could be a special year at Dodger Stadium.

Shane Miranda – Arroyo Grande, CA

The view of the first level and field from the loge section. By Evan Moffitt

Shane Miranda is a UCLA alum who has joined those of us 3 1/2 hours north of Downtown Los Angeles in San Luis Obispo County. He played college baseball and also made the trip down to Los Angeles for the Dodgers’ opener. Miranda sat on the Loge level.

“I noticed how much lighter the concession area felt,” said Miranda. “There is lighter paint and more lighting.”

He had some criticisms too.

“They have a new speaker configuration in center field,” he said. “They also had speakers throughout the concession areas that were too loud in my opinion.”

Here are some other bullet points from Miranda:

GOOD:

* Big Screen TV’s you could see if you were standing in line for concessions.

* The new scoreboards looked amazing.

* New table-seating in the concession area

NOT AS GOOD:

* Blue Man Group – Felt a little weird and not quite baseball-relevant.

* Advertisements – Everything seemed like an ad. Ad’s seemed more prominent than in the past.

* Rumors of long bathroom lines, even for the newly remodeled bathrooms.

Last word from Shane:

“I’ve been to playoff games, but I’ve never seen the stadium packed so far before the 1st pitch and stay full through the last out. There were no stragglers and the only people that left early were the Giant fans. And there weren’t many Giant fans.”

Evan Moffitt/Kevin Qualey – San Luis Obispo County, CA

So I guess Dodger and Giant fans can live together. By Kevin Qualey

A pair of my softball buddies decided to go catch the rubber game of the series. Driving from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles and back for a Wednesday night game is the embodiment of fervent fansmanship, but it’s the reality for those of us who live in the far reaches of the Dodgers’ media market.

When they got there, they met up with an in-law Giants fan. With him, they watched the Dodgers lose the game and the series, their early-season offense still totally anemic. Here are a few of Evan’s comments:

* The video displays are AMAZING! It’s like sitting and watching an HDTV at home, except the TV is ridiculously gigantic.

* We sat in the Loge section in the front row. I really believe the Loge has the best view of the game. Better than the lower level even.

* There aren’t separated “boxes” anymore on the lower level. It’s just rows, which seems way better.

* The stadium looks better. You can’t tell all of what they’ve done from only one level, but it looks better overall. The new fan areas and concourses are really cool.

So, a more general assessment, but it was the next day on 3 hours’ sleep (which is what happens when you get back from a game at 2:30 AM).

So, the stadium renovations seem mostly positive. I wasn’t a huge fan of the sight lines created by the most recent renovation of the lower level and the seats there. Hopefully with this latest change, seats down the line and up higher in the first level will be facing a little more closely toward the action and sight lines will be a little better.

Have you been to the park? What do you think of the renovations? What have your experiences been? Post below.