Quote:
Originally Posted by phxSUNSfan
A 10,000 seat reduction is too much but a few thousand would be wise. Expanded seats to include larger, luxury seats like in Dodger and Yankee Stadiums would be a good thing for higher priced seats behind home plate; that would require reducing capacity. I'm sure this is what the Dbacks have in mind
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Why would 10K be too much? I don't even know if knocking the capacity by 10K is possible, but I really think a capacity around 39-40K would much better suit this market than 49K. Look at the stadiums that have been built since Chase, they're for the most part much smaller.
The White Sox, Twins, Pirates, Royals, Red Sox, Marlins, A's and Rays all have stadiums in the neighborhood of 10K fewer than Chase. Most of the league has stadium around 42K, instead of Chase's 49K, so we could likely drop by at least 7K.
Its not like the D'backs need 49K seats. Lets look at their average attendance:
2012: 27K
2011: 26K
2010: 25K
2009: 26K
2008: 31K
2007: 29K
2006: 26K
2005: 25K
2004: 31K
2003: 35K
2002: 39.5K
2001: 33K
D'backs games are usually 50-55% full, it makes the stadium atmosphere awful. Even the year after they won the first/only Championship in State history, they averaged about 9K empty seats per night. Drop 10K seats and the stadium would feel a lot better on a 25K person night.
I agree that they should make the seats wider/more luxurious and that would help reduce capacity. Additionally, they could/should rework the upper deck. If you look at Chase's upper deck, it juts UP as it goes down the basepaths, it should do the opposite and tapper down, like Kauffman Stadium in KC:
If the upper level in Chase tapered down like that, they could likely put very large windows into the walls behind. This would help create a more 'open' feel, even with the roof and panels closed. It would also give views of Downtown, behind the 3rd baseline which would be nice. Additionally, more sunlight would penetrate the stadium and it may well help with the grass issues they have every year in Right and Left field.
Its silly to have the 6th largest stadium in Phoenix, a tough sports market and a place where lots of people leave town in the baseball season.