Attempts by Washington management to make their lovely new ballpark accessible to rooters of the opposition have been noted in this space on previous occasions, but after a disastrous Opening Day in DC Monday, Nats fans (all 3 dozen of ’em) can no longer ignore the preponderance of enemy forces. From Nats Insider’s Mark Zuckerman :
At least one organization in Philadelphia took advantage of the opportunity to buy tickets in bulk long before they were on sale to individuals. A website called Phillytailgate.com, founded by a Philadelphia sports fan who wanted to organize large outings with other fans, bought a huge block of seats over the winter and then offered $109 ticket packages that included bus transportation from Philadelphia, unlimited food and beverages and a tailgate outside Nationals Park featuring a DJ, a string band and parade.
According to Philadelphia television station KYW, about 1,500 fans boarded more than 20 buses yesterday morning near Citizens Bank Park and made the trip down to Washington for the game.
Obviously, there were far more than 1,500 Phillies fans in attendance, so this one outing didn’t account for the entire invasion. But it would appear plenty of other fans in Philadelphia got together and purchased group packages (minimum 25 seats) over the winter once they became available.
Asked if the Nationals discussed an attempt to restrict Philadelphia fans from buying seats to yesterday’s game, Stan Kasten (above) wrote: “We tried to limit it, but not cut it off completely.”