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The Essentials
While it’s hardly fair to compare the fan amenities of Bowling Green Ballpark with, say, 2009’s new Major League or Triple-A parks, it does seem reasonable to compare them with the other new low-A park, Fort Wayne’s Parkview Field.
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Up in Indiana, the new park features food, drink, seating sections, fountains and concert seating seemingly in a 360-degree path around the park. Not so in Bowling Green, where the concourse doesn’t even go all the way around the field.
To be fair, Parkview Field cost a little more to build, took longer to design and construct and is meant to accommodate much bigger crowds. It also anchors an even more ambitious urban-renewal project than in Bowling Green.
Still, the Hot Rods offer their fans no shortage of amenities, and attending games is quite affordable. There isn’t a team-operated parking lot adjacent to the field, but there is a variety of private lots within a couple of blocks, especially to the park’s west and south. Most of those lots charge either $5 or $3.
Unlike Citi Field’s 190 different ticket prices (38 seat prices and five different categories of games), single-game ticket prices in Bowling Green couldn’t be simpler: $10 for reserved seats and $5 for general admission. That’s it! And for a brand-new park, I’d say those amounts are reasonable, especially for seating that is so close to the action. Groups will enjoy the picnic area in left field where $21 per person buys you an all-you-can-eat buffet and the Party Deck (below left) above first base features a great vantage point and its own buffet for $26.
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Scorecards, while not robust, are free. The food offerings are excellent, but they aren’t as varied as at most new parks. Catching my eye (and taste buds) was a delicious, but tomato-y, BBQ sandwich (above right) for $5, and a great jumbo dog for only $3. Draft beers are $5 and bottles of water are $3.
In keeping with the automotive theme, the souvenir store is cleverly called The Body Shop (below left). The spacious retail outlet had opened only days before my visit in July. It contains novel displays (where else can you find a spare tire used as a display stand? See below right) but it does not offer my favorite souvenir item — lapel pins. With a new park and cute new logo, that’s something that a store should carry. They have the logo on earrings, bracelets and necklaces, but not on pins, which really disappointed me.
I was not disappointed by their prices on the other merchandise, though. Adult T-shirts were all $17 or $19. Adjustable caps were $17 and $22, and fitted caps were $26. There are cute designs throughout (although not as much children’s apparel as I would’ve thought), much of it in bright NASCAR-esque yellows and reds.
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In addition to a fairly tall ribbon board on the left-field wall, the main scoreboard in right field has a high-res video screen over a standard three-line game-action linescore (below left). This is pretty much the minimum you have to ante up to play in a new ballpark these days, although the scoreboard in Fort Wayne is definitely more sophisticated and attractive than the one here.
While there is a speed-pitch concession in the left-field corner, the really fun spot for kids is the playground in right field (below center). I’m happy to say that it is fully covered with netting to protect the youngsters from foul balls (not all new parks have taken this precaution), but I’m not so happy to report that there’s a $5 admission charge to enter the area. Also entertaining the younger set is a furry mascot with the cute name of Axle (below right).
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Summary
I asked Brad Taylor about the response from the residents of Bowling Green toward the ballpark. “Before it was built, a lot of folks weren’t for it,” he recalled. “But now that it’s finished, a lot of fans are telling me, ‘I come here all the time. I can’t believe this park is really in Bowling Green!'”
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While any crowds would be better than the empty stands the franchise played in front of in Columbus, GA, the team was pleasantly surprised by the number of ticket buyers in its inaugural season. After drawing a meager 61,290 in their lame-duck year of 2008 in Georgia — a figure that trailed all other teams in the Sally League — the team zoomed to 232,987 for 2009 in Kentucky. While that only puts them in the middle of the 16-team league, that’s still a pretty impressive number for a city with a population of only 55,000 and a Metropolitan Statistical Area total of about 116,000.
Of course, the way the team’s ownership looks at it, this Hot Rod is only getting revved up.