The Rangers’ Globe Life Field and MLB welcomed fans for the first time this season in last night's Braves-Dodgers NLCS Game 1, going so far as to zip tie seats to ensure compliance with CDC social-distancing guidelines. The nearly 11,000 fans in attendance had to sign a waiver that protects the team from legal action if they suspect they contracted the virus at the ballpark, but according to Rangers Senior VP/Ticket Sales & Service Paige Farragut, “People are ready.” On the latest episode of “SBJ Unpacks: The Road Ahead,” our Andrew Levin talks about the logistics of moving fans in and out of the ballpark, how this all came together, early sales results and more with Farragut and Rangers Exec VP/Business Operations Rob Matwick.
On how MLB and the Rangers arrived at a deal to host fans this October:
Matwick: The process in terms of inviting fans into this building actually started back in May. We were able to host 61 high school graduations in the building from May to early July, just before we started our summer camp and our resumption of workouts before our abbreviated season started. That gave us an opportunity to welcome people into the building, have them in a socially distanced environment, both families and graduates, and to begin to get our staff familiar with the building. … Our ownership, (co-Chair & Managing Partner) Ray Davis and (COO) Neil Leibman specifically, lobbied (MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred) to allow us to welcome fans. State government had given approval at that time for people to be in stadiums as long as they followed health-and-safety protocols. That went a long way, our wanting to have fans even during the regular season, went a long way to MLB’s decision-making process.
On sales results:
Farragut: Ticket sales have been great. The first day we went on sale, we sold 37,000 tickets to our season-ticket members, and those are the people who are waiting to get in here. We also allowed them to buy tickets to every game. We thought that was the fairest way to treat them because they haven’t been able to come out in the regular season. After that, we went on sale to our registered users, and then we went on sale to the general public. I have no doubt that we’ll get to full sellouts for all of these games.
On managing fans exiting the ballpark:
Matwick: We’ve looked at these ordered egress by section. We’re not going to do that (for Game 1). Remember, we have 11,000 people spread across five different levels of the building. The reality is, we saw this during graduations, so we have some practical experience with this. The challenge becomes … people move in different speeds. When people get to the top of the aisle, the assumption is people are moving in the same direction at the same speed, and that’s just not reality. ... So, it’s logical that there’s a little bit of a lag when you get up to the concourse.
