Washington Nationals finally have new $611M baseball stadium

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Mar 31, 2008 by Liz Farmer

About 40 miles south of Camden Yards, another baseball team finally got its wish after two years of waiting: a brand new, $611 million, state-of-the art ballpark for its 2008 season.

No longer at the outdated Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, the Washington Nationals' new home at the city's Southeast waterfront looks to be one of the hottest tickets in town for Washingtonians.

It's flashy, luxurious -- if you're willing to shell out the money -- and it's the only stadium in America that has a view of the Capitol dome from the cheap seats. It seems for the first time since it opened in 1992, Oriole Park at Camden Yards has some serious competition.

Those who oversee the sports complex hope to remind those who might be distracted by a new stadium that Camden Yards offers more than a ball game.

"I don't know what any 16-year-old ballpark has over a new one," said Frederick W. Puddester, chair of the Maryland Stadium Authority, when asked how an older ballpark could still draw crowds. "But I'll tell you what Camden Yards has: It's the total experience when you walk in that stadium.

"It's not just the lush green grass but it's looking out and seeing the warehouse as the backdrop, it's seeing the plum of smoke from Boog's Barbecue, it's the beginning of walking down Eutaw Street with the throng of vendors there."

In some ways, the two ballparks couldn't be more different. Nationals Park's shiny, angular look is modeled after architect I. M. Pei's design of the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, while Camden Yards' "retro," brick-laden look pays homage to the ballparks of old.

But after stripping away the fancy suites -- D.C.'s stadium offers three types that give the premium suite holders a view of the player batting cages and the post-game press conference area -- and different skylines, at both parks the average Joe can buy $10 tickets on game day, spend about twice that amount on a couple of hot dogs and a soda, and settle down in a seat with a decent view to watch a team that finished second-to-last in its division last year.

Lee Corrigan, president of Baltimore-based Corrigan Sports Enterprises, said the new ballpark could play a role in attendance of residents between the two beltways who are not fans of one team over the other.

"That whole thing is going to boil down to winning and convenience," he said. "The Howard County [residents] might be swayed because either way you're going to watch a losing team so you'll have some folks that'll say, 'Hey let's go check out the new stadium instead.' It's definitely going to be a factor."

But Corrigan added Camden Yards probably had a leg up on Nationals Park by being a well-established entertainment venue, and that focusing on that was a good strategy.

"More and more, sports is about the whole thing," he said. "It's an entertainment vehicle. I think they're doing a smart thing, given that they've had a number of tough years here."

Those looking to sell one ballpark's features over the other note that D.C. still has a few kinks to iron out -- most notably the venue's lack of on-site parking, now only available to premium and season ticket holders.

The Nationals are attempting to buy street lots in the area to provide about 6,000 more spaces, but team spokeswoman Chartese Burnett would not give a timeline on when that might happen. Instead, team and city officials are strongly encouraging fans to take the Metro; a free shuttle will be available to those who park at RFK Stadium. But funneling the projected 25,000 fans per game in and out of the relatively undeveloped area -- officials hope it will sport more retail and entertainment establishments in the next few years -- could prove to be a tricky task.

Meanwhile, Camden Yards' location at the Inner Harbor offers up more than three times as many parking spaces within a 20-minute walk plus several mass transit options. Puddester noted Camden Yards' proximity to Inner Harbor museums and restaurants allows visitors to fit in a ball game while spending a whole afternoon and evening downtown.

"We've also now got the [Hilton] hotel [next to the convention center] going up ... which is only going to create more excitement," Puddester said. "You have conventioneers coming in for a convention, tourists -- it's going to be fantastic. And frankly, that's what folks had in mind when they put a stadium in a downtown setting."

The ballpark itself has also been tweaked since last fall. Most notably, the stadium authority installed a high-definition scoreboard to replace the original JumboTron in center field. But while the graphics will be fancier, actual game footage will still be replayed in standard definition until the stadium's control room and sound system is upgraded in the next offseason to broadcast in high-definition.

Visitors to Nationals Park might be more wowed by its fully HD- capable scoreboard -- about two times the square footage of the boards at Camden Yards and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia -- and second only in Major League Baseball to Atlanta's BravesVision scoreboard at Turner Field.