MLB Stadium #37!

As I've shared before, C and I attended a game in all 30 MLB stadiums - we completed that first go-round in 2004. Obviously since we've been to certain cities, teams have built new stadiums, so we are making our way to these new stadiums when it works out for our schedule. We've been in no rush to get to these new stadiums, as evidenced by the fact that our last game was in 2016 when we went to a Phillies game!

As of 2021, we had six new stadiums to visit, so when we were planning this road trip, we were anxious for the MLB schedule to be released. Not only did dates need to work out in our favor, but inclement weather can throw a wrench into the most carefully crafted plans with games being delayed or rescheduled. However, we were fortunate that three of the stadiums we need because the teams' schedules lined up nicely with our itinerary, so we just have to hope that the weather cooperates on each of the game days! As you can see from the photos, the weather tonight was beyond perfect, with a temperature of 75 and cool breeze!

Today we went to The Great American Ballpark, which is MLB stadium NUMBER 37 on our list!

The Pros:

- Cincinnati has a beautiful downtown/waterfront area

- the stadium itself was super nice in terms of the details and its general design

The Cons:

- not well managed

- lack of security or stadium personnel

- poorly behaved fans

- seating/stairwells/signage all need improvements

Overall, we thought everything looked great, but in terms of practicality and function, we were not impressed.

The lack of security and stadium personnel was the most glaring issue. Had there been more employees to assist the guests and keep an eye on behavior, I have no doubt it would have been a better experience.

Having been to 37 different MLB stadiums, we've seen the good and the bad.

Yankee Stadium and how it is managed is the absolute gold standard. I guarantee many "fans" at the game tonight would have been warned and likely removed had the game been at Yankee Stadium. They run a tight ship there and it makes for such a pleasant and safe environment for everyone.

Probably the worst run stadium we've been to was in Oakland. Cincinnati was nowhere near as bad as Oakland, but the fan behavior was less than ideal and it got worse as the game went on. Not an employee in sight to tell obnoxious people to knock it off. Very disappointing.

I'll focus on the fact that even though it opened in 2003, meaning it's far from a new building, it looks great. We were happy to wander around and we're glad we went, but as we were leaving (early, I might add, because we'd had enough), an employee at the exit wished us a good night and said, "Come back again, folks!" and I wanted to laugh. No thank you! We would definitely come back to Cincinnati, but it's unlikely we'd ever go to another game at The Great American Ballpark!

Five more new stadiums to go!

Happy Tails to you!