Stadium Review: Marlins Park

[Brian Fein]

I'd love to hear the impressions of people in other areas who watched the debut on TV last night, but the following is my perspectives from 2 games experience at the new Marlins Park

the facility: A-
The ballpark (don't call it a stadium) itself is very nice.  I recognize the value of the convertible roof, but would prefer them to leave it open more than closed.  However, in mid-summer games, when its 90+ degrees, the Marlins front office thinks people don't show up because of the heat and that the roof will help them with day-game attendance.  They will soon figure out how wrong they are on this.  The home run porch in left field might be the best outfield view of the game.  There are seats in both lower corners where half the outfield is blocked from view, and you can't see the scoreboard at all from the center field or right field seats

getting there: F--
The park is in the worst possible location for South Florida lifestyle.  The Marlins brass think that because the Orange Bowl was built there 75 years ago, that its a great location for a stadium.  They only have 5700 on-site parking spots for a 37,000 seat stadium, and public transportation options don't exist.  We don't have the luxury of a T, L, Metro, or Subway stop within a quarter-mile of the stadium front door like they do in other cities.  And the bus system needs to utilize the surrounding road ways which are crammed with people driving to the stadium.  In all, it took me 2 1/2 hours to get to the game last night, a drive that would normally take 35-40 minutes.

food/concessions: C+
This is a situation where experience would help.  Last night was already improved over Sunday's exhibition game, where it took us over 2 innings to get a hot dog.  Somehow, the food vendors are underprepared and lines are impossibly long for the entire game.  They ran out of hot dog buns.  They didn't have any burgers cooking.  The cash registers are down.  They ran out of cups.  All stuff that will get ironed out over time.  The food itself, though, it quite good.  They have a "taste of Miami" section which has specialty Miami food.

special features: B
Of course the first thing you see when you enter the park is the huge monstrosity home run feature, which plays music and moves and splashes water when a Marlins player hits a home run.  Of course no one has seen it in action yet, except in testing.  This is much maligned in the Marlins fan community (and pretty much everywhere else).  In addition, they installed 2 huge 450-gallon aquariums with fish and coral behind home plate.  I love this, but I wish they were bigger and more of them.  Outside the stadium, they have the letters from the "Miami Orange Bowl" sign (click here) randomly strewn throughout the park's "backyard" (outside the left field window).  I love this as well, as a permanent symbol to pay homage to the one that came before.

surrounding area: F
The cell phone coverage at the stadium is horrible.  You have data plan?  Want to post a picture to Facebook?  Want to call your mom to say "look for me on tv?"  Forget it.  There's no cell phone coverage at this stadium.  A HUGE oversight to not be prepared to handle that kind of capacity.  Additionally, there's literally nothing around the stadium.  No clubs, bars, restaurants.  Just a bunch of houses.  And its not the best neighborhood.  All houses have bars on the windows.  They did build a Clevelander club in the side of the stadium for in-game and after-game enjoyment, similar to Club Liv at Sun Life Stadium except it can be accessed from the outside.  But it seems to work better here.

in game entertainment: C-
They did away with the Marlins Mermaids, which some people would applaud.  However, they never mentioned they would replace them with the Marlins Energy Squad.  Almost like a college cheerleading squad, men and women, doing lifts and tumbling.  Horrible.  They painted Billy the Marlin in rainbow colors, and held a sea creature race similar to the Milwaukee sausage races.  Overall, it would be fine with me if they just did away with all of it.

Overall: I give the new ballpark a solid B-.  The facility itself is quite nice, but the transportation options make it difficult to get there. 

I will be posting an full write-up with pictures and more details on my stadium review site.  PM me for the link, if you want.

[Dave Gray]

Post the link here.   I want to see pictures.

I am interested in going.

I heard people on the radio last night trashing the opening ceremony / first pitch.  They said that it was all "special" and that was nice, but that both the kid talking about his Dad at war overseas and Muhammad Ali were both so depressing that it sucked all of the energy out of the stadium and made it a very somber mood.

Brian, I recognize your concerns regarding parking and concessions.  I think you're right that, over time, they'll figure that stuff out.  But also, I think that this won't sell out on most occassions so it might be easier to get in and out.

I think that the roof is a must.  ...not even for heat, but because of rain.  ...and not even because of rain, but because of threat of rain.  I think that knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the game is going to be played in full, on-time, is invaluable.

[Brian Fein]

The pregame activities were poorly planned and horrible.

They first had a ceremony to hang championship banners in the stadium.  The banners are tiny and plain and you can't read them where they hung them.  They have an opportunity to hang enormous "WE WON THE FREAKIN WORLD SERIES TWICE" banners from the non-moving portion of the roof, and they blew it.

The soldier and his family - the gesture was nice but it would have been better if they had him parachute into the stadium or something.  The video uplink was laggy and had a delay so they couldn't communicate real-time, and the family just started weeping uncontrollably when they saw him.  And then they talked over each other, the guy in Afghanistan barely said a word.

The Muhammad Ali thing was sad to see.  A legend, a champion, in such awful shape seemingly got dragged out of his home to come to this event so he could sit in a golf cart and hold hands with Jeffrey Loria.  He couldn't even hold the baseball.  It was just sad to see and awkward.  Poor choice of person, IMO.  They could have brought out Don Shula or Dan Marino or some other Miami legend who has more ties to the community than Muhammad Ali.  I can't figure that one out.

I'll post the link later, I haven't finalized the write-up, but most of it is similar to the above.

[bsfins]

I watched the last spring training game with Zambrano Pitching vs the Yankees,and lastnight's game versus the Cardinals...(amazingly I got to see it and it wasn't blacked out for me) The bright Green walls are...Well in your face,then the added sulpture...Those seemed to be the most visible things on T.V. for me....

  Excuse me but am I missing a reference some where...The Clevelander?  I saw this tweeted last night a couple of times....

(Every time I saw it I kept thinking of Howard the Duck.....What is this Cleve- land?)

Good review....

[Brian Fein]

The Clevelander is a popular ritzy hotel/club on South Beach.

http://www.clevelander.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-clevelander-miami-beach

And now there's a mini version in the stadium

[MaineDolFan]

would like to say this first, however:  Hearing Tito last night made me miss him even more than I already do.  I hate you, Bobby Valentine.

Anyway, on to the stadium...and other things....

I thought, on tv, it looked sharp - minus that THING in the outfield.  I am not sure what it is.  What it's supposed to be.  It looks like something you might see in Ron Jeremy's living room during a 1973 porn shoot.  Other than that, I thought it was nice.  The colors really pop.

I like the design of the stadium and the dimensions of the field.  From my eyes, the grounds crew did an outstanding job on the field.  One thing "casual" fans won't know about the "old stadium" versus the new stadium?  The ability to close the roof overnight when it rains.  There is a vast difference between a Boston down pour and a Miami down pour.  The outfield took a pounding and it used to really show.

I wasn't originally sold on the uniform look and colors until last night, but I've done a 180 on that.  I thought they / it was sharp.  I REALLY like the change to "Miami" from "Florida."  I also really enjoyed the "pop" from the crowd.  Brian could speak to this as he was actually there, but from where I sat - the acoustics of the stadium seem to be set up well.  It sounded loud.  One thing I think we can all agree on about Miami crowds (Dolphins / Marlins) = lack of crowd noise.  It sounded loud last night.  I enjoyed that.

It felt fresh.  I'd rate opening night a sold "A" from an outsider, watching at home perspective.  The only thing keeping the "+" away is the porn-sicle in the outfield. 

Well done, Marlins.

[Brian Fein]

That thing really is horrible.  I haven't heard one single person not named David Samson actually say they like it.  I bet even Samson hates it but they gave some artist freedom to make whatever he wanted to and they couldn't turn him down.

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_baseball_marlins/2012/04/miami-marlins-manager-ozzie-guillen-hopes-the-dolphins-drown.html

Its metal panels riveted together with spray paint on it.  Not really rocket science.

About the uniforms: The logo is horrible but has grown on me.  I don't understand why their home jerseys say "Miami" across the front though.  Typically teams' home jerseys say "Red Sox" "Yankees" or "Marlins" and road jerseys will show the city name.

[Sunstroke]

I thought, on tv, it looked sharp - minus that THING in the outfield.  I am not sure what it is.  What it's supposed to be.  It looks like something you might see in Ron Jeremy's living room during a 1973 porn shoot.

If John Carpenter had set his movie "The Thing" in the Caribbean instead of the Arctic Circle, that outfield sculpture could be used as the big "morphing everything it's already eaten" monster at the end. Anyone who was involved in designing that monstrosity, or approved the design, should be forced to gulp down rainbow sherbert and sheets of LSD until they die of a horrifyingly colorful cartoon overdose.

[Thundergod]

^^^ Word

...and those uniforms/logo still blow monkey balls

I'm curious to see how long before the THING grows on people too.

Awesome review though, Brian

[Dave Gray]

I have been a big fan of the idea of aquariums in the stadium, all the way back.

But, from what I saw in the Spring Training games, they looked dull and gray on TV.  Yet, last night, they appeared to "pop" a bit more.  Were they lit differently?  And can you see them at all from the seats?  Do they add to the feel of things?

[Brian Fein]

^^ No they are too small.  If you didn't know they were there, you'd never see them from where I was sitting.  That's why I said they should be bigger.

[SportsChick]

I've heard that if the temp is over 80 + 60% humidity then the roof will be closed. Why not make a stinking dome then? Game time conditions will meet that for 90% of the season. There's something wrong when I need to bring long sleeves to a baseball game in April in Florida.

[MaineDolFan]

^^^ Word

...and those uniforms/logo still blow monkey balls

I'm curious to see how long before the THING grows on people too.

Awesome review though, Brian

I'm the wrong guy to provide useful feedback on uniforms.  I love ugly shit.  Always have.  The uglier, the better.  I used to be a Tampa Bay fan in the 1970's because the uniforms were so hideous.  Same deal with the old Houston Astros.  I wish to God they would bring those back.  That would be awesome.  More more hideous, the better.  Doesn't just apply to uniforms, could just be a logo.

I draw the line with ugly shit in the stadium...

[Brian Fein]

OK, here is our full review, complete with pictures.  All the thumbnails get bigger when you click on them:

http://www.stadiumroadtrip.com/?page_id=227

(Note, the site is still a work in progress, most other stadiums are still missing content.)

[raptorsfan29]

Are there any hotels near the stadium?

Was thinking of maybe going to see the jays play there in june.