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Whitecaps Downtown GR

dtsd

By dtsd
in Grand Rapids

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dtsd Crossroads

dtsd

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OKP was just renovated to the tune of $1 million dollars, I have a feeling we wont be seeing the whitecaps come downtown anytime soon.

Hmm, that's too bad. Though given minor league ballparks run in the $10s of millions, a $1m update doesn't seem too material, though it indicates they're hanging around for awhile.

Parking isn't too big a deal as long as enough structures are built to support the demand.

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Picture Michigan Unincorporated Area

Picture Michigan

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BFE?

Ren Cen to Fisher Theatre in Detroit is about 4 miles.

Bridgewater Place to 5/3 Park is about 5 miles.

Comstock Park has a long history of regional sports, including harness racing and auro racing (auto-rama?).

Good infrastructure, having an exit ramp feeding the park off US-131.

When the talk of minor league baseball coming to GR first started, I was hoping for something downtown, but as I recall, GR rejected it. I was ultimately happy about its decided location. Perhaps I was a bit of a PYIMBY (please, yes in my back yard)!

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Phizzy Hamlet

Phizzy

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I wish there was a AAA team here but thats a little off topic.
Of the metros with a Triple-A team, the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland metro is smaller than 14 of them and larger than 14 of them. (I'm not including Tacoma, which is part of the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro, because it is a metro that also has a larger MLB team.)

Of the metros with a Double-A team, the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland metro is smaller than just 1 of them and larger than 23 of them. (I'm not including Trenton, Bowie, Frisco, New Hampshire, Akron, and Carolina, because those teams are in metros that also have larger MLB teams or Triple-A teams.)

Of the metros with a Single-A team, the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland metro is smaller than just 1 of them and larger than 39 of them. (I'm not including Lakewood, Kane County, Lake County, and Kannapolis, because those teams are in metros that also have larger MLB teams or Triple-A teams or Double-A teams.) The one metro that is larger, Greensboro--Winston-Salem--High Point, is only marginally larger and it actually has two Single-A teams.

Conclusion: the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland metro is really short-changed when it comes to minor league baseball.

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localtalent Hamlet

localtalent

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Conclusion: the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland metro is really short-changed when it comes to minor league baseball.

Demand for actual tickets contradicts this conclusion.

I know everyone's romantically attached to the "If you build it, they will come" philosophy since it's baseball and all....but reality says that interest just isn't there. They had 6,000 for the home opener, but only 2,000 the following night.

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snoogit Town

snoogit

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Demand for actual tickets contradicts this conclusion.

I know everyone's romantically attached to the "If you build it, they will come" philosophy since it's baseball and all....but reality says that interest just isn't there. They had 6,000 for the home opener, but only 2,000 the following night.

Im surprised there isnt more interest in the whitecaps since the Tigers' #1 draft pick is playing for them this year.

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Phizzy Hamlet

Phizzy

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Demand for actual tickets contradicts this conclusion.

I know everyone's romantically attached to the "If you build it, they will come" philosophy since it's baseball and all....but reality says that interest just isn't there. They had 6,000 for the home opener, but only 2,000 the following night.

2005 was the Whitecaps worst year attendance-wise, with a total attendance of 370,153 for 68 games. This is an average of 5,443 per game. However, this average beat many Triple A teams, including the Syracuse SkyChiefs (5,301), Portland Beavers (5,228), Richmond Braves (5,213), New Orleans Zephyrs (5,084), Tacoma Rainiers (4,786), Las Vegas 51s (4,645), Charlotte Knights (4,320), Omaha Royals (4,278), Tucson Sidewinders (4,101), Colorado Springs Sky Sox (3,623), and Ottawa Lynx (2,396), plus fifteen Triple A teams based in Mexico.

In fact, just looking at the Triple A teams based in the US and Canada, the Whitecaps attendance is better than 37% of the Triple A teams. Including the Triple A teams based in Mexico, the Whitecaps attendance is better than 57% of the Triple A teams.

Attendance by year:

Year Attendance Games Average

2005 370,153 68 5,443

2004 390,033 70 5,572

2003 361,545 65 5,562

2002 400,166 70 5,717

2001 422,892 68 6,219

2000 436,751 66 6,617

1999 457,350 69 6,628

1998 500,083 70 7,144

1997 536,029 67 8,000

1996 547,401 69 7,933

1995 507,989 67 7,582

1994 475,212 68 6,988

Total 5,405,604 817 6,616

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Par75 Whistle-Stop

Par75

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Demand for actual tickets contradicts this conclusion.

I know everyone's romantically attached to the "If you build it, they will come" philosophy since it's baseball and all....but reality says that interest just isn't there. They had 6,000 for the home opener, but only 2,000 the following night.

It's not uncommon for the early season games to have smaller attendance (not unlike many other baseball franchises). The larger crowds don't start until the weather warms up and school is out for the season. I was at the game on Thursday, and the crowd was very small...however, on a warm Friday or Saturday night in July, the place is packed (10k+)

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Thrillhouse Whistle-Stop

Thrillhouse

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Demand for actual tickets contradicts this conclusion.

I know everyone's romantically attached to the "If you build it, they will come" philosophy since it's baseball and all....but reality says that interest just isn't there. They had 6,000 for the home opener, but only 2,000 the following night.

I know of quite a few people, myself included, who would go if there was an "AAA" or "AA" team here. I am not interested in seeing players a step or two out of high school.

I catch a couple of games a year but would go more to see some of the prospects start to prove themselves on a level close to the bigs.

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snoogit Town

snoogit

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If you were in the batters box looking out, you'd be looking North/NorthEast, IIRC.

I think its northwest actually.

nope, nm its so slightly NE. From the sattellite photos it looks like the 1st base line is slightly parallel to the river (as parallel as it can be I imagine)

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

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NCAA recommends an East/NE direction to maximize sun exposure for the design specs.. I was thinking that was the direction home plate was facing. I mentioned this because that direction can attribute to (+/-) fans filling the seats. Also the scheduling patterns of the season can greatly maximize the chances of more fans coming to a game.

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torgo Town

torgo

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Did anyone here about the debacle last weekend? Apparently they got a bunch of kids on the field and dropped money from a helicopter and let the kids run around and grab it. One kid got trampled, and it was pretty much a disaster. What were they thinking?!

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GRGyp Whistle-Stop

GRGyp

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I always wondered why they put it in BFE off the 131 instead of putting it somewhere downtown GR.

Because Grand Rapids didn't want it. It's just that simple

The Whitecaps came into town as a purely private venture. They wanted to play ball closer to downtown, but were spurred on numerous occassion by the city. The common thought from officials, was that no one would go to watch minor league baseball in Grand Rapids.

After that, talk started focusing on Lamar Park in Wyoming, but parking was the main issue that came up there. Wyoming really didn't want to convert a majority of that park into the parking necessary to have a minor league team there. Plus noise and traffic issues on the residential areas surrounding the park were major concerns as well with regards to night games.

Finally Comstock Park stepped up and got the franchise to move in to it's current location.

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Par75 Whistle-Stop

Par75

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Did anyone here about the debacle last weekend? Apparently they got a bunch of kids on the field and dropped money from a helicopter and let the kids run around and grab it. One kid got trampled, and it was pretty much a disaster. What were they thinking?!

Yes....it has even made the national news. Both espn.com and cnnsi.com had the story on the front page of their website this weekend. I'm guessing they won't have this event again.... Linky

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lstmk Unincorporated Area

lstmk

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Because Grand Rapids didn't want it. It's just that simple

The Whitecaps came into town as a purely private venture. They wanted to play ball closer to downtown, but were spurred on numerous occassion by the city. The common thought from officials, was that no one would go to watch minor league baseball in Grand Rapids.

After that, talk started focusing on Lamar Park in Wyoming, but parking was the main issue that came up there. Wyoming really didn't want to convert a majority of that park into the parking necessary to have a minor league team there. Plus noise and traffic issues on the residential areas surrounding the park were major concerns as well with regards to night games.

Finally Comstock Park stepped up and got the franchise to move in to it's current location.

While there will be debate about where the best location for the ball park was/is I must say I feel the park is definitely the right fit for that piece of property along the river and highway.

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