Other opinions about Hops Ballpark
Matt Nelson from Iowa visited. Here are his pros and cons:
PROS
- Clean, quiet overall look with relatively little advertising.
- Attractive wooden standing-room areas near concessions on the third-base side and down the left-field line.
- Solid food options in the $12–16 range beyond basic burgers; the $14 Mahi Mahi sandwich was excellent and worth ordering again.
- Pager system for concessions worked well.
- Ballpark functions well overall; an average baseball fan should have few complaints and a nice time.
CONS
- Location is inconvenient for someone staying in downtown Portland (requires a long walk from MAX or an Uber); much more convenient for drivers from the western suburbs.
- Not a fan of artificial turf.
- Seats along the outfield lines beyond the bases are angled toward the outfield (likely for soccer compatibility), which weakens the view of home plate.
- Clubhouse access tunnels at the home-plate ends of the dugouts eliminate a significant number of good seats; combined with the high-end seating, this removes a lot of desirable “normal” seats between first and third base.
Brian Moore, who has attended games at over 1,000 different ballparks around the world, thought this:
PROS
- It’s a tremendous step up from the previous park.
- The fans and ushers were very friendly and helpful.
CONS
- Didn’t like the long walk from the parking beyond the outfield all the way to the home plate entry, and then back up the first-base line to his seat. He wished the gates in the right-field corner would be used before games, not just after.
- He felt like he was baked by the sun in his seat.
- Prefers real grass.
- Didn’t like that both teams’ bullpens were beyond the right-field fence. Felt the bullpens should be separated, with one on each team’s side of the outfield.
- Didn’t like the elevated concrete deck down the first-base line because it made balls hit into the corner hard to follow.