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).