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TIGERS FANS BRAVE THE ELEMENTS TO WITNESS DEBUT OF COMERICA

          Despite near-freezing temperatures and a steady
     drizzle, a capacity crowd of 39,168 attended the Tigers'
     inaugural game at $300M Comerica Park yesterday against the
     Mariners.  In Detroit, Puls & Kozlowski write that Comerica
     Park's grand opening "drew plenty of rave reviews along with
     plenty of complaints about first-day glitches."  Many of the
     complaints centered around the concession stands, as some
     fans "waited in lines to get food and drink for more than a
     half hour."  Several concession stands even ran out of such
     items as coffee, hot chocolate, mustard and ketchup.  Puls &
     Kozlowski note additional problems included "a shortage of
     food vendors" and beer stands that "ran dry."  Also,
     escalators malfunctioned, and several area parking lots
     increased their prices.  But Comerica Park concessionaire
     Olympia Entertainment blamed the opening-day glitches on the
     cold weather and the fans' desire to tour the ballpark,
     which "placed a heavy burden on operations."  Olympia VP
     Stephen Facione: "Clearly, there are some bugs to be worked
     out, and we will work them out.  But generally speaking,
     guests had a pretty good time" (DET. NEWS, 4/12).  In
     Detroit, Terry Foster notes the team's promise of quicker
     visits to the restrooms and concession stands and writes
     that "it might happen for a crowd of 25,000 or so. ... But
     [the team] cannot deliver on big crowd nights just yet." 
     Foster adds that the wait for a urinal last night was 15-20
     minutes and 45 minutes to buy a hot dog and soft drink.  But
     overall, Foster calls the ballpark a "pretty baby" whose
     beauty "is hard to ignore" (DETROIT NEWS, 4/12).  Also in
     Detroit, Joe Falls: "You might want to gush or criticize the
     new ballpark, but we should reserve judgment until the place
     is up and running for a while" (DETROIT NEWS, 4/12).
          GOD BLESS COMERICA: But there was plenty of praise for
     Comerica Park, as in Detroit, Mitch Albom describes the
     ballpark as "spectacular" and writes yesterday's crowd was
     "positive, welcoming, impressed, awestruck, even giddy at
     the idea that we get to use this place not one day or one
     season but for years to come" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 4/12). 
     MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, on the ballpark: "It's
     unbelievable.  When I walked in here today, the thing that
     so impresses you ... is that here's a brand new ballpark,
     but it looks like an old ballpark.  And it has all those
     wonderful features. ... This place is absolutely
     magnificent" (FSN, 4/11).  In Seattle, John Hickey notes the
     "open environment" of Comerica Park and writes that "it
     doesn't have that corporate feel Cleveland [Jacobs Field]
     does" (SEATTLE P-I, 4/12).  In Toronto, Richard Griffin
     calls the ballpark "traditional," but adds that behind the
     stands "it becomes a carnival of fun, featuring ferris
     wheels, carousels and merry-go-rounds"  Overall, Griffin
     ranks Comerica in his Top five ballparks (TOR. STAR, 4/12).
          LAP OF LUXURY FOR FSN: FSN GM Tom McClain, on FSN's
     luxury suite at Comerica Park: "I think [it's] very
     important.  Obviously, we have a lot of our cable operators
     and our advertisers up here that do business with us
     throughout the course of the year.  It's a nice place to be
     able to come and talk about different things and take in a
     game and have the entertainment faction of our business take
     over" ("Mariners-Tigers," FSN, 4/11).

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