Okay, so this is a little old. But it's worth mentioning here, as it's always nice when the most respected sports magazine tells the world that the best MLB experience you can get is at Angel Stadium. That's right, folks. Sports Illustrated's annual "Fan Value Index" puts our beloved Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and "The Big A" right at the top.
I actually found this article well before I started this blog. But, as things tend to do on web sites, it disappeared, and I feared I'd never be able to link it here. Then it magically showed up again today, and now I get the opportunity to write about it.
This is a brilliant idea, really. It's very, very hard to compare venues as a baseball fan. Living in Southern California, I have more MLB teams local to me than most across America do. I have the Angels a mere five miles down Katella Avenue. The Dodgers are a short traffic jam up Interstate 5. And a hundred miles south play the Padres in Petco park. And folks, those are the only stadiums I have ever seen a ballgame played at. I've driven by the Oakland Colliseum. I've flown over the old Kingdome and new Safeco Park in Seattle. And I've stood outside the gates at Camden Yards in the middle of January while visiting my friend Doug from the Army. But I've only seen SoCal ballfields, and that's a big regret.
But, even had I done a cross-country ballpark trip and visited every Major League stadium in during one of my summers, it would have been hard to gauge the quality of any venue outside Anaheim. First off, I've seen hundreds of games at "The Big A." Even in the 65,000 seat mausoleum it used to be, it was still MY local stadium and MY local team. So my handul of trips to Chavez Ravine to see the Dodgers play or the one outing to see the Braves play the Padres at Petco this season with Art Lyles, the president of California Paralyzed Veterans Association (and a good friend of mine) were both substandard to a simple trip down the road to see my Angels. Even had I taken a vacation to see every stadium in the country (and Toronto), I would still say that "The Big A" was the best value for seeing an MLB game.
But now, it's confirmed by Sports Illustrated. It was done by polling rather than one or two supposedly unbiased sportswriters, which makes it more accurate. And we even moved up this year, after coming in 4th in the 2005 Fan Value Index.
So, if you want the best bang for your buck, the best overall experience while seeing a Major League Baseball game, head to Anaheim.
We'd love to see you there!
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1 comment:
Yeah, the Big A is a great stadium! I remember when I worked for Disney and we bought the Angels, I thought I was in Heaven (getting to talk to the Angels CFO at a party about an up-and-coming Tim Salmon, who had just had his first cup of coffee in the bigs was too cool!). Then the renovations happened and I knew I was there!
A buddy of mine is like you - lives just a few miles from the park and gets to go all the time. I'm way jealous, since I don't live in SoCal any more.
Thanks for the post, and the link to the SI article - it was cool!
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