Regions Field – page 3

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The Essentials

So what is it like to attend a game at the newest facility in Minor League baseball?

First, let’s look at what it costs. While you might get lucky and find a parking space on one of the neighborhood streets, you’re more likely to have to park in one of the lots set up by the team or the City. Parking is typically $5, and keep in mind you’ll have a walk of a couple of blocks to get to the ballpark.

The Barons do something interesting with the ticket prices. Most places, the highest-priced seats are right behind home plate. Here, the seats behind the home dugout are $14 ($13 for active military, those 12 and under or those 60 or older), while the boxes behind home and the visitors’ dugout are $12/$11. The Baseline Boxes just beyond the dugouts are $9/$8. The seats beyond the Baseline Boxes down the first-base line actually go up in price, as they cost $12/$11. These are the aforementioned Magic City View seats, and they provide the best view of the skyline in the ballpark. A general admission ticket ($7/$6) will let you sit in the right-field bleachers (also a pretty nice view) or on the berm.

Another unique aspect of Regions Field is that the more expensive seats aren’t always where you’d expect them to be. On the right are the Batters Box seats, which are only sold on a season-ticket basis. Most of the seats provide some counter space. Also, note the varying colors of the bricks in the backstop (that has no padding, by the way), which is the special “blend” selected for Regions Field.

The Batters Box seats are those where you can almost reach out and touch the backstop, and they cost $850 for a season. They, like the Club Lounge seats, are sold out as season tickets. The latter go for $1,200 for the season, and also give you access to the upscale lounge on the second level behind home.

Accommodating groups is one of the real strengths of Regions Field. The Concourse Suites on the first-base side can be rented for $750, which includes food for up to 25 fans. Each of the suites available for single-game rentals can accommodate 30 people, and if you string them together and add the party deck at the end of the third level, a group of up to 125 can hold an event during a game. The cost including food is $26 for each adult. The 20,000-square-foot Parkside Picnic Area can hold up to 1,000 people. The cost is $23 per adult for a menu that includes burgers, dogs, sides and drinks. The same price applies for groups using the Home Run Porch seats just beyond the left-field wall and a cordoned-off area of the right-field berm.

The most spectacular group space, of course, is the glass-enclosed Banquet Hall. If a group wants to book both the hall and the patio that extends from its outfield end, it can accommodate up to 1,000 people. It’s hard to imagine a Minor League facility offering groups more options.

The Barons can accommodate groups exceptionally well.

If you’re not lucky enough to be part of an event that includes the food, you still have a staggering number of concession choices. That’s because Parkview Catering, owned by the Barons’ ownership, handles the food operations and facility rentals at Regions Field. They made a lot of improvements over Regions Park in Hoover. “We had ten permanent points of purchase in Hoover, and now here we have 27 plus six mobile carts,” explained Parkview’s GM Eric Crook. “When all of the construction is done in center field, we’ll add another 25 on top of that.”

And it’s not just the number of cash registers that is impressive. It’s the quality and selection. “We’ve really tried hard to have a great local flair here, working with as many local businesses as possible,” Crook continued. “For instance, the peanuts we sell come from a company called Peanut Depot, and they roast the nuts about six blocks from here in an old fashion roaster.”

The emphasis on local businesses means, thankfully, that you won’t see national fast-food chains with booths at Regions Field. Until the Dreamland BBQ concession area opens in center field, the most intriguing stands are in the right-field corner. Tito’s Cantina is named in honor of former Barons’ skipper Terry “Tito” Francona. Here you’ll find a huge Supreme Nachos for $8.00 and a Giant Burrito for $7.75. Right next door is Piper’s Pub & Grill, which is named for Birmingham’s own Piper Davis, who was a star for the Black Barons in the 1940s. This is the stand where the magic happens, as they feature a New York Dog with sauerkraut on a steamed bun ($7), a Southwestern Dog with chili, nacho cheese and jalapeños ($7) and the undisputed star of the concession lineup: The Magic City Dog.

Without a doubt, the signature food item at Regions Field is The Magic City Dog. Until the Dreamland BBQ stand is finished in the outfield at the ballpark, you can visit their one and only location in Birmingham, just south of the UAB campus at the base of Red Mountain. Their BBQ is simply fantastic.

“A couple of months ago, we started kicking around the idea that we should have a signature food item, something that has a local tie-in,” recalled Crook. They started with a large Dreamland smoked sausage, then added cole slaw (the Southern vinegar-y kind), BBQ sauce and spicy brown mustard. The $7 masterpiece is The Magic City Dog. “After we came out with it, the marketing guy from Dreamland asked me what I would think if they added it to the menu at their restaurant,” said Crook with a grin. Yes, it is that special.

When the Dreamland stand does indeed open beyond the batter’s eye in center field, they will feature a garden salad topped with BBQ chicken for $6, smoked sausage for $5.50 and a half slab of their famous pork ribs for $11.50. No doubt, this will be the most popular concession stop in the ballpark.

After eating, you might want to do some shopping for Barons merchandise. Unlike some of the stores in the Southern League, the Sports Depot Team Shop is spacious, and its prices are quite fair. While they lacked my favorite souvenir item (lapel pins), they do offer a wide assortment of adult ballcaps (fitted $30, adjustable $25), adult T-shirts ($17, $18 and $20) and kids’ Tees ($14, $17 and $20). Men’s polo shirts are $35 and $50.

The Barons have one of the better merchandise stores in Double A. Unlike most such retail spaces, there’s actually room to move around in here — plus the pries are reasonable. Playground equipment and inflatables are like magnets for the younger fans.

At some new parks, play areas for kids are somewhat of an afterthought. Not here. The Bright House Family Fun Park is in the northern corner of the park’s footprint, right next to the one business (B&A Warehouse Catering) in the four-block parcel that refused to sell to the City. The Fun Park has a variety of inflatable attractions. When the construction in center field is completed, there will also be the PowerForce Youth Sports Zone with a wiffle-ball field.

After exploring the endless features of Regions Field, you can settle into your seat and watch the Barons play. Adding to your enjoyment is the high-resolution video screen in left field. The 42′ by 25′ board is manufactured by TS Sports, and it employs something called “HD10” technology that produces “exceptional image resolution and remarkable brightness,” according to TS. Not only that, the technology is very environmentally friendly because of its decreased carbon footprint and lower power consumption.

In addition to the left-field scoreboard, there are two ribbon boards and an auxiliary scoreboard (that TS refers to as a “fascia”) on the first-base side for fans sitting in left field. All told, there are 1,179,648 LEDs in the four displays.

By the way, it only took four games to uncover a programming glitch in both the main scoreboard and the fascia. When the Barons scored 11 runs in the first inning of the fourth game at Regions Field, there was no room to list the double-digit run total for that inning, so on both displays, it simply listed that one run had scored.

The 42-foot-wide, high-def video screen in left field is excellent, except for the fact that it can’t display a double-digit number when a team scores ten or more runs in an inning. Michael Jordan is remembered fondly for his one season in Birmingham.

Finally, I love to see “special touches” at ballparks, and Regions Field certainly comes through in this regard. Birmingham’s baseball heritage is very rich, and it is reflected in the photos next to the section numbers above the concourse. The signs for each luxury suite are this way, too. Of course, one of the most noteworthy seasons in Barons’ history was 1994, the only year that Michael Jordan played pro baseball. His photo is one of the many on the concourse. Keep in mind that when the center field area is complete, there will also be displays showing scenes from Barons history on the unique three-part batter’s eye.

Indeed, everything about Regions Field is a special touch. That’s what creates the magic.

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Summary

Before I traveled to Birmingham to scrutinize their new park, I knew I would be writing a review of Regions Field for USA Today Sports Weekly. What I didn’t know, though, was how I was going to be blown away by what I found across the street from Railroad Park. As I was assessing the ballpark, I was typing messages into my phone to the editor at USA Today, using phrases like “ground breaking” and “game changing.”

By no means am I the only one to be swept away by this place — a facility that reflects the Magic City in a, well, magical way. Here’s what some others think of Regions Field:

I loved every bit of it. It will be successful in keeping local folks coming back … It elevates Minor League Baseball to a new level. Fans will really like going there, even out-of-towners. They’ll remember Birmingham! … I said Pensacola [Baseballparks.com’s Ballpark of the Year for 2012] was the crown of our league last year, and now we have another jewel in that crown. Lori Webb, President of the Southern League

My favorite feature of Regions Field has to be the inclusiveness the ballpark offers to our community. During a game, you see many different people enjoying the game together, families on the grass areas with their blankets spread out and people that simply enjoy walking around the stadium to visit with friends. This facility is a great addition to what Birmingham already had to offer. Birmingham Mayor William A. Bell, Sr.

The opening of Regions Field is a symbol of progress. It becomes the crown jewel in Birmingham’s revitalization efforts in the city’s center and serves as sweet satisfaction over doubters who said it would never happen … Time will tell if Regions Field is truly a success story. But at least for one night, it wasn’t about what could go wrong; we celebrated what went right. We were united. We were strong. We loved our stadium, and we loved our city. Editorial in the Birmingham News

The overwhelming reaction of our fans is that they are blown away. When they come in here, they feel like it’s a big league ballpark in a minor league atmosphere. Barons GM Jonathan Nelson

A ballpark in an intriguing neighborhood with a design that is custom-made for the City of Birmingham. Food, fun, reasonable prices and fantastic views are greeting fans who come to the City of Birmingham. You should come to the Magic City, too, to see this magical place … and if you do, make sure you visit America’s Oldest Ballpark, Rickwood Field. They started creating magic there in 1910.

If you’ve visited Regions Field, please provide a comment below with your thoughts about it.