OK, perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration, but the New York Times’ Ken Belson points out that for all of the improved creature comforts of NYC’s two new baseball stadiums, “fans on tighter budgets, though, will have to settle for seats in far-off sections, some of which have obstructed views of the field.“
Mets fans learned this the hard way on Sunday, when St. John™s and Georgetown played the first game at Citi Field. Steven Gottesman, who has a 15-game ticket plan, went to see his four seats in Section 533, Row 15, near the top of the upper deck down the left-field line. To his œshock and horror, he could not see the warning track or about 20 feet of the outfield from the left-field line to center field.
œIn other words, I will only know if a home run is hit if I am listening to a radio at the game or I wait to see the sign from the umpire, Gottesman, 45, said in an e-mail message. œIf Endy Chávez made his catch in this new stadium and I had been there, I would not have seen it.
Some Yankee fans will have it even worse. That is because the 1,048 bleacher seats in Sections 201 and 239 have views partly blocked by the walls of the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar, which sits above Monument Park behind the center-field fence. Fans in Section 201, for instance, will not be able to see left field and, in some cases, even third base.
A more detailed description of additional obstructed views at Citi Field can be found here.
The Yankees say that beer and flat screens and $5 tix will make it all OK.
Sounds like my seats for the Jeffrey Meier game. Until the Orioles dugout went bananas, I had no idea that pop fly was a home run.
Yeah, I get the part about the obstructions created by the club and whatnot, but since when do you get to see the warning track if you sit in the outfield, or a huge chunk of LF if you sit far down that line? Not in most stadiums I’ve been in.
indeed, there were more than a few obstructed view seats at Shea Stadium. The problem comes when the Mets insist there’s no such thing as a bad seat at their glittering new ballpark. Or when someone previously accustomed to sitting in the loge or mezz of Shea Stadium suddenly finds themselves in the back rows of section 533, either for financial or logistical reasons. The Wilpons promised intimacy and an improved ballpark experience. While I’m sure that will be the case for the majority of those fortunate enough to score tickets, higher prices don’t necessarily mean better sightlines for all.
Parts of Shea were exactly the same as that guy was complaining about in Citi. He probably never suffered the “indignity” of sitting in the deck at Shea, but anywhere past 1st base and you lost some of the RF corner.
And there was a lot more lost than any of the sightlines at Citi.