The Condron Conundrum - (How) Can we make our Very Good ballpark Awesome?

Respectfully, NOOOOOOOO! They did that during the COVID year ('21), and it was obnoxious (and that was with FAR fewer people). So glad they stopped doing that. Assistance is always available on request. Nobody wants to have to pull their phones out every time they return to their section, especially when you're carrying food/beverage/souvenirs, etc. The ushers do a great job and you barely notice they are there (how it should be). I do like how in Omaha, the ushers respectfully asked patrons to wait until between batters to return to their seats. I'd love to see that implemented for baseball and football games (well, not between "batters" for football, but you get the idea), but not a big deal if they don't.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

I like Con-dron just the way it is

 

Thanks for starting this thread. I've commented a few times before and thanks for representing them again. I also like the thread title.

Mine are (1)adding parking South of the stadium so more cars can use Ballpark Way and not have to park in the overflow lots like Fifield to the north, and (2)bleacher seating for GA as extensions built next to the existing chairbacks down the first and third baselines. I do like the announced move up policy although many season ticket holders might not go for that. As Wes points out they might not like ushers checking tickets either so perhaps its a problem better left alone. I do think if they added GA concrete based bleacher seating down the baselines then the seat piranhas would be minimized greatly.

 

Cheaper beer.

Easier access to food trucks for folks with seats behind home plate.

Thread over.

 

Very good post on a topic I like. I think the listing of the issues is well written, although my priorities are somewhat different, and fewer.

My top priority is building long term fan support that will make every game more fun for every fan. The crowds for Regionals and Supers were great. A lot of seats are owned by people who seldom attend, but those seats were full for those big games. I would be ok with UAA requiring tix be used for a small minimum number of games for their owners to retain season ticket privileges.

I like the berms, but I strongly dislike that they are the only general admission seating area. I believe that one of the best ways to generate season ticket buyers is to generate more single game ticket buyers. The Gators provide a high quality product at modest prices (for admission, not food), but many people have not yet experienced that great product. I myself started out attending free games at the old pre-Mac wooden bleacher seat park. 100 people was a good crowd. In the early '80s, when they started charging admission, I started buying the $75 family pass. I didn't think about it at the time, but that gave me priority to get front row tix when they built the Mac and top ten priority at the new ballpark. My point is that season tix are an investment in a life of happiness. I attached a pic of me with my then 18-month old son at a COLD game in February '85 in the rickety left field bleachers. It was on the Sun front page the next day. He's now 40 and flew in for Miami and the Supers.

Back to the topic. Getting families into the ballpark will let them see what a fun bargain Gator baseball is. While kids love the berm, moms and dads likely aren't excited on sitting on damp grass. The OF chairs are cute, but they're all claimed early. Some sort of GA bleachers will be very popular and will draw new GA season ticket holders, some of home will become chairback season ticket holders and boosters.

My second priority is parking. UF history is that expanding campus parking is a priority for a huge number of people who don't care about sports. Future multistory garages already are on planning lists and the orange grove south of the ballpark is a great place for a garage. In another thread, someone made a smart post about UF agriculture areas existing for academic purposes, not merely the reasons I have citrus in my backyard. However, IFAS has known for decades that what once was valuable research areas on the old campus are doomed to replacement by sprawl. When the ballpark was built, I feel certain there was a plan for dealing with parking sprawl. Something that never came up at the Mac was the concept of PAID parking. There must be some sort of access to free parking, but charging for prime parking needs to be an option.

Neutrino is more concerned about moderately rude behavior by young fans than I am. I never once have yelled, "You kids get off my lawn," but I know people who would. I'm ok with the kid ushers' performance in my area, but I don't object to anyone else having concerns. Attention to parking and building attendance are enough for me.

 

Add beer fountain

 

I like the stadium. I have pretty much no issues parking, leaving, or finding my seat. I have little interest in the between inning sideshows and found the announcer guy in Omaha to be, by far, the worst thing in that stadium, aside from LSU fans.

It was built with expansion in mind. If attendance numbers continue to increase, I’m sure more seating will be added. I don’t think it’s necessary yet.

 

I would have liked a more “enclosed” feeling. One of the big selling points of Condron was the increased amount of shade… and while certainly better than McKethan/Perry, it’s sorta lacking in that regard. Why not build the seating on a steeper slope, creating a taller structure overall, with more height for the setting sun to get behind? Didn’t have to be Swamp level of steep, of course. Why not more awnings/roof structure/etc for more shade? Obviously cost factored in, and it’s too late now…

I liked what they did with the Dizney area, food trucks, etc. Just seems like they could expand that. Most games I’ve been to, there’s been maybe 3 total food trucks with really long lines. Why not allow 5? 6? More? Is it because the local food truck scene isn’t interested? Why not publish which trucks at which games (if they do this, it’s hard to find).

Finally, re: enclosing… being able to see right beyond the outfield wall onto cheap metal roofs and passing traffic just feels… well, cheap. A higher wall along the perimeter, matched to UF architecture brick on the outside with an “ode to our amazingness” tribute wall on the inside would be cool visually. Remind anyone and everyone watching on TV or in attendance our championships, CWS history, players on MLB rosters, Top 5 public, etc etc.

And build a swimming pool with infinity wall right above the visitor bullpen that only UF students can use, and pray it’s a certain demographic that shows up en masse to use it and not, say, the LARP crowd. Unless there are hot LARPers, then bring em on.

 

Could not agree more!!!

 

Good on everything but #3. Already tough getting in some times with phones not working pulling tickets up due to bad reception. By the way I have seen this happen at football too and cause delays with lines. Isn’t there a better way? Have we outthought ourselves? Seems like handing a ticket to the ticket taker is so much easier.
Not sure any of you have experienced that feeling where your phone is not getting reception and can’t pull tickets up or having some technology issue. I’ve seen others beside myself and I continue to think has to be an easier way.

 

As for parking, make sure that baseball always starts after softball when they are both scheduled for the same night.

-- Johnny "attends all softball games, no baseball games" Cakes

 

Add the ticket to your wallet, then you don’t need internet and you don’t have to scan, just get close to the scanner.

 

Personally I prefer it the other way around, baseball start before softball, so there's more parking left for baseball. HA I'm sure you differ. I'm sure we both agree starting them within 30 minutes of each other is terrible which happened once or twice if I recall. Actually I'd like to see softball get their own parking upgrade somehow instead of many of you parking in the "drainage zone".

 

Done that too and reader didn’t read it. That only happened once.

 

Organized and dedicated buses (several) directly to baseball stadium and directly back after game from dorms for students. Too far to walk and no parking for students. Affordable food and drink for students.

 

I went to a Shrimp game in Jax today and had this thread in mind the whole game. I never have made it to the Gators-noles games there and only have looked into the place while walking to the football games. The place is similar to the Con in many ways and gives an idea of how the Con would look with bleachers replacing a berm.

The atmosphere was very different. The crowd on a beautiful Sunday/holiday weekend was a bit bigger than that for the non-Gator Regional games, but much less engaged. The Gator-nole games are the only times the place gets crowded, so it was pretty close to dead. It also is a bit shop-worn at less than 20 years old. There are about twice as many home games there, but with less than half the attendance. The Mac held up much better over its 31 years.The atmosphere was weak, but overall, it was a nice ballpark and a good comparison.

One good thing was plenty of close parking at 10 bucks in the city lots. Paid parking at half that price would by fine with me, season parking passes for under $200 would be a lot, but an incentive for fewer cars.

The concessions situation was 100% better than the Con. There were a couple of big concession stands similar to those at the Con, but most food was sold at small stands lining the concourse, which BTW was similar to the Con. There were about 5 stands with a variety of hotdogs and several types of sausages for $6, plus at least twice as many more stands selling drinks and other food items. I got some tasty Cajun boiled peanuts for $6 that were well worth it, I also got a very good lemonade that they squeezed when I ordered it. Bottled water was a dollar less than the Con and bottled soft drinks were $5. It appeared the small stands were each operated by independent owners in the way food trucks are operated at the Con and similar to, but much smaller than, the BBQ stand at the Mac. They weren't cheap, but I didn't expect cheap. They were much more moderate than Con concessions with a much better variety. The souvenir shop was Very nice, somewhat smaller than the shops at the Swamp with a huge selection.

The video board was smaller than the Con, but there were two additional boards built into the outfield fence. One was useless ads, the other was the game linescore. The main board was not as clear to see as the Con board, but they had more stats for each player. I very much like the scorecard images displayed at the Con.

The Jax ballpark has a bigger roof, but the upper deck is much higher and set further back than the upper at the Con, I felt that hurt the view for the rich folks there and it meant there was less shade for the lower level. There was less foul ground in the outfield, but much more space between homeplate and the stands directly behind it.

There were silly contests at every inning break that were pretty useless. It seems that on Sundays, they have kids announce home team batters for every inning, meaning I could know who was batting for the Shrimp only by checking the scoreboard. I normally know the Gator batting order already so I don't miss out if the kid announcers at the Con don't speak clearly.

Overall, the two stadia are generally similar, but when seating is expanded at the Con over the next ten years, it will surpass everything about the physical plant in Jax. As of today, the Con is a much more fun place to watch a game because of the atmosphere. The AAA players are one step below the majors, but the quality of the product was not better than the top level college games we get to watch.

 

Thanks for this. My son and i are thinking of either going to a Jax AAA game or a Daytona A game this summer.

We have been to Tropicana and that venue is a dump. The Rays deserve a much better place to play. It seems like most every year they have a good team that plays great baseball and they have a dreadful place to play.

We have even gone down to Miami to see some Marlins games when they were horrible and tickets were dirt cheap. 10 rows up from the dugout and $10 a ticket and we thought that was good. The people sitting in front of us got their tickets for free and laughed at us.

MANY years ago Gainesville had a minor league team and I recall talking to an oldster about it. He asked me if I knew who Jungle Jim Rivera was as he played here and as an old White Sox fan I knew exactly who he was talking about.