Blue grit

$7/hour, not $70 million

When Frank McCourt took over the Dodgers, he said the three greatest concerns were the quality of the seats, the parking congestion, and long lines at the concession stands. After “fixing”—and by fixing I mean jacking up the price of parking and tickets—the first two items on the list, he’s turned his attention to the third. But his solution, like the two previous efforts, only promise to raise prices for the average fan yet again.

McCourt will spend $70 million this winter expanding the field level concourses to include stadium clubs for the swells who sit in the luxurious box seats behind the dugouts. That’s where the money is and always will be.

But the biggest problem with the concessions is not the lack of grilled Dodger Dogs or the shortage of fancy restaurants where you can go to watch the game on tv. It’s the lack of skilled employees working behind the counters. Dodger Stadium averages more than 40,000 fans per game, but the concession stands that are already in existence are not always staffed to capacity. At some stands, a single employee is taking the orders, making the food, handling money, and making change. And changing rubber gloves with each purchase.

The situation is even worse when the joint is sold out, especially when the team know the game is going to be sold out far in advance. Like Opening Day. If you know there are going to be 56,000 fans in attendance, it only stands to reason that you need to bump up the number of people on hand to quench their thirst. But somehow, this eludes them, like on Opening Day this year.

A simple increase in the number of $7/hour concessions employees (or $8, or whatever it costs) would go a lot farther toward fan satisfaction than a $70 million renovation. And it would pay for itself. When you’ve got people lined up two innings deep to pay $8 per beer, you’re losing money by not having more staff around to collect that cash. I’ve given up on a beer more than once because I didn’t want to miss more of the game standing in line.

So how about it, Mr. McCourt? Are you willing to hire more people to collect more money for you? It’s a win-win for everyone. So what’s the holdup?

At the press conference, McCourt outlined “our three core values: championship-caliber baseball, giving back to the community and providing our fans with the best experience in all of sports."

Hmmm. Championship caliber? Wouldn’t that mean a team that wins a championship every now and then?

Giving back to the community? Would that include creating parking nightmares that cause traffic to back up throughout the Los Angeles area? Raising ticket prices, and heisting parking fees by 50 percent?

Providing our fans with the best experience in all of sports? I don’t think so. Dodger Stadium is one of the most beautiful ballparks in baseball by virtue of its wonderful natural setting. But traffic jams, high parking fees, expensive concessions and long lines make it less than ideal. If Mr. McCourt wants to provide a great fan experience, I suggest he take a trip south to Anaheim and see how the Angels do it. They play in a shopping mall of a stadium, but the overall fan experience is so much better that it almost makes you forget the rats.

SaMo,

I want to follow up on something you wrote concerning opening day. Since you are aware that it is truly "sold out" (not like the fake, 49,000 tickets sold we're being told from games like last night's) and it is possible to set the impression for the whole year, wouldn't you hire extra, extra workers that first night? It is kind of like when a new store opens (as in the new Ralph's downtown)--management brings in lots of help, top-notch people from other stores and really caters to the customer's every need.

Instead, we got a horrible parking situation (slightly better now) and continued long lines at the concession stands. This year, I've been to Petco, AT&T and Anaheim, as well as Dodger Stadium. I'm afraid you're right. Those parks put our "fan experience" to shame.

McCourt is one of those guys who comes in, promising to fix things, but when he offers his solutions, our reaction is generally, "No, that's not what we meant or need."

Kevin,

The Loaiza move is not a bad one. Maybe he will be more effective than Stults down the stretch. But pretty expensive for next year. At least this gives us more options for decent starting pitchers. Nice to see that Coletti hasn't given up on making the playoffs this year.

I'm loving this Loaiza thing. Beane just let Colletti claim him without asking for anything in return? $7.5 mil for a potentially decent SP is not bad at all, considering the FA market next winter and the lack of ready talent in the minors.

Aryan,

He has to stop running the bases like a little leaguer and swinging at breaking balls two feet outside the strike zone. Granted he's been slowly improving in these areas, and that's why he's getting more starts than before. He's already getting more playing time in the heat of a pennant race than anybody with a ton of raw talent but AAA-level fundamentals can rightfully expect. You'll just have to be happy with that.

Of course, I have a feeling you won't be happy until he's been cloned and starting at all nine positions at once.

I see everyone is agreement the the Blue Crew has to play better if they want to beat the Pod People. It is a huge series for making up ground. And I hope they are not looking past this game today.
Winning records (barely) at home and on the road. Optimism is running rampant!