I haven't been to very many of the new style ballparks but here is my take of Turner Field.
A couple of weeks ago I went to my first baseball game at Turner Field to watch the Atlanta Braves play host to the Washington Nationals in front of a crowd of 16,692. The evening was very warm with a first pitch temperature of about 90 degrees. The Braves blew a 2 run lead in the top of the 9th and lost 7-3 by giving up 4 runs in the top of the 11th. I had very good seats behind home plate in the lower level. We sat in section 101, row 7 in the Henry Aaron seats. I think I was closer to home plate than anyone else on the field except for the catcher, batter and umpire.
Turner Field opened for baseball in 1997 upon completion of modifications after the 1996 Olympics. It is known as a fan friendly park with many TV monitors throughout the park as well as an old and new feel to it. I have been to 3 other “new era” ball parks that were built beginning in the early 1990’s to replace the cookie cutter, multi use design popular in the late 60’s and early 70’s. The other 3 that I have been to are PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Progressive Field in Cleveland and Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. In my opinion Turner Field ranks last of those in overall fan ambiance while watching a game. It is not bad by any means but it does not have the same dramatic sight lines the other 3 have.
One area that I give it the highest marks is the fan experience outside of watching the game. The area outside of the playing field or the plaza area is a unique concept that gives an amusement park feel to the outer concourse of the facility. The concession areas are well organized and offer traditional ballpark offering and also choices with the Atlanta touch. Below is the description from the Official Braves web site:
The most unique feature of Turner Field is the Grand Entry Plaza located on the north end of the ballpark. The Plaza is a ticketed entertainment/concession area consisting of two food and game-filled pavilions, Scouts Alley and Cartoon Network's Tooner Field. A 100-foot diameter photograph of Hank Aaron's actual 715th home run ball dominates the Plaza-side scoreboard and provides a popular backdrop for photographs in the Plaza. Every home game features pre-game entertainment in the Fan Plaza. Meet the Tomahawk Team girls and design your own sign, get a picture taken with the Braves mascot, Homer, and get in step with the Heavy Hitters. You can also get involved in some of the pre-game and/or in-game features for your chance to win great prizes and merchandise!
edit: I have no idea why there are 2 pictures of the tickets. the attachment process was very jumpy for some reason and was glad to get anything to atttach. it was also jumpy when trying to change the font color. plus it made me type as bad as JB. wait, that is not possible.
I have included some pictures since each one is worth a thousand words.
- Nice View
- Game Ticket .JPG (136.93 KiB) Viewed 294 times
- Nice View
- Game Ticket .JPG (136.93 KiB) Viewed 294 times
