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55 Days and Counting...
Certainly there still is a ton to cleanup, a few things to build and a bevy of other questions related to parking, pitching and more parking, but the Nationals Stadium, built on the banks of the Anacostia River in Southeast, D.C., is just about done.
In a comprehensive media tour Monday, Nationals President Stan Kasten led the media on a 2-hour journey throughout the stadium the Nationals will open at the end of March vs. the Atlanta Braves on national television.
"We're 55 days away, but we're gonna make it all happen," the 56-year-old Kasten told reporters, "and I'm excited."
A few gems:
"The Strike Zone" - A baseball Xanadu complete with game centers, Playstations (and other arcade stuff), baseball-themed jungle gyms for kids and huge, sprawling bars that allow patrons to watch the game from underneath the scoreboard.
(For those Baltimoreans: think Camden, but with more space and a better sightline of the game.)
The Art/Statues/Cherry Trees - Although not all of them will be completed for Opening Day, the $50 million dollars worth of extra investments from the Lerners and others appear to be helping tremendously.
Great accents (like the cherry trees and statues) certainly strengthen the ballpark experience like the ivy at Wrigley and Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.
The much-ballyhooed Cherry Trees are still not installed yet (early March) and the huge statues of Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson and Frank Howard won't hit D.C. until 2009.
Food - Not a ton of specifics here, but the Nats are actively pursuing local food outlets (not necessarily chains) to have interesting and good food at the games.
What they decided to do was bring NONE OF THE SAME contracts from RFK over here and as a result there is 100% new contracts--with new expectations and new food.
The views - I hope the pictures do a justice, but there really isn't a bad seat in the place. Seriously.
Gameday - Looks like you will be able to get into the stadium up to 2.5 hours before first pitch to see batting practice, hang out and enjoy the amenties. The seating bowl, however, won't open up until an hour before the game.
The team - Kasten is super excited about the team and the franchise's assets. He addressed questions about the upcoming battle at first base and basically said having two guys in the top-5 in on-base percentage on your team at the same position is a good problem to have.
He also addressed the Johnny Estrada signing and said, "it came out of nowhere...but Johnny can swing the bat and we're excited about [Jesus] Flores in the future--but it was a move we wanted to make."
Overall, this place looks fabulous. Fans are certainly going to be flocking to this place to enjoy the atmosphere, the feel and the vitality of the venue.
It remains to be seen how the parking situation will pan out, but the Nationals executives do realize how important it is to some fans and I think they are taking that seriously.
For the rest of us...
Grab a cab or take the Metro...
Comments? News? Matt Perl can be reached at mperl@masnsports.com
Matt Perl is a Producer with MASN. Prior to his time with MASN, Matt spent 4 years with ESPN in Bristol, CT. He is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University.
Do you know any of the vendors that are going to be available their? Is it going to be just fast food?