Nats Get Complaints, Disappointing Turnout On Opening Day
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Some Nationals Fans Upset With
Long Lines At Season Opener |
During the Nationals’ Opening Day at RFK Stadium yesterday, some fans “complained ... about parking-lot traffic, snack booths and long lines for just about everything,” according to David Fahrenthold of the WASHINGTON POST. The opener, which the Nationals lost 9-2 to the Marlins, was the team’s first under the Lerner family’s ownership. When the Lerners took over last May, Nationals President Stan Kasten indicated that he instructed Aramark, RFK Stadium’s concessionaire, “to improve its speed and efficiency.” Fahrenthold notes the official attendance was 40,389, “more than 4,000 short of the stadium’s capacity,” and sections of the upper decks were “largely empty, and there were even empty seats in the lower areas.” Still, Aramark and team officials said that the “size of the crowd had strained their capacity.” Aramark Senior PR Manager Dave Freireich said, “You’re going to have lines at any stadium on Opening Day. By and large, I think that we did a very good job” (WASHINGTON POST, 4/3). Also in DC, Tim Lemke writes the Nationals “injected history into pre-game activities” that included ceremonial first pitches by former Washington Senators Mickey Vernon and Chuck Hinton, as well as Hank Thomas, the grandson of Senators HOFer Walter Johnson (WASHINGTON TIMES, 4/3).
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Nationals Fall Short Of Sellout Crowd In
First Season Opener Under Lerner Ownership |
OPENING DAY FEEL? The WASHINGTON TIMES’ Dick Heller writes while it was Opening Day, it “didn’t seem at all like the real thing. Where was the sellout crowd?” President Bush was not in attendance for the second-straight Opening Day, and Heller adds, “On Opening Day, the president belongs at the ballpark” (WASHINGTON TIMES, 4/3). Also in DC, Argetsinger & Roberts note the game was originally scheduled for Monday night, but was switched at the request of the Lerners “to accommodate Jewish fans celebrating Passover.” Meanwhile, luminaries in attendance included DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, columnist George Will, Democratic strategist James Carville, Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis and U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA). Fenty joked, “Opening day for a mayor is part of the job description” (WASHINGTON POST, 4/3).
THIS COULD BE THE LAST TIME: MLB plans to start the Nationals on the road next season “to give the city extra time to complete” the new ballpark (Baltimore SUN, 4/3).
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