After returning late last night from a weekend at Camelback Ranch and having a chance to reflect on the Dodgers new Spring Training home, I wanted to share a quick list of the “best of the best” of the new stadium, as well as a few tips to keep in mind before you go:
- There’s no bad seat in the house! While Camelback Ranch is the largest stadium in Arizona with 10,000 fixed seats and 3,00 seats on the grass berm, it’s very easy to navigate and you can easily see the action on the field no matter where you are (although it seemed to us that the only way 3,000 people would fit on the grass was if they were standing up – something that just doesn’t happen as families are spread out on blankets and chasing after kids while watching the game).
view from section 118 at Camelback Ranch
- If you want to work on your tan, make sure you sit on the third base side of the stadium. We sat on the third base side on Friday and were in the sun the entire day, and in Arizona you better be packing that SPF 50 sunscreen. I found the first base side to be the perfect mix of early sun, followed by shade for the last five innings.
- There’s ample parking at the Ranch, and freeway access was a breeze. We drove by Peoria, Ariz. on the way to Glendale, and the line for the Mariners stadium was really, really long. I felt like I was looking at rush hour traffic in downtown LA! We were naturally apprehensive about the traffic experience at Camelback Ranch, but we sailed right in with limited delays. The parking staff was fantastic as well and parking was $5 (note: we also went to a game at the Giants spring training complex and found that parking next to the stadium was $10, so the Dodgers and White Sox are keeping the cost reasonable).
- One parking tip: make sure you get there slightly early and park at the lot near the main entrance. The first lot you come to off the freeway is a dirt lot, and it’s a bit of a walk especially if you’re pushing a stroller or have older people with you. There are plenty of peddle cabs on hand though. In the future, this walk is going to be really something, as the Dodgers will be adding a local Walk of Fame along the banks of a meandering river (of sorts). I’m guessing this will be done by the beginning of next season.
- On to the important stuff: the food! On our first day, both Alex and I stumbled upon the Polish sausage with sauerkraut and never looked back. Sure, it’s no Dodger Dog (and I’m sure you know, Dodger Dogs are NOT sold at the Ranch), but it was damn good. It’s worth noting that the Dodgers and White Sox don’t control the concessions stands. Plus, would you really want Dodger Dogs being sold at White Sox home games? No way! The Dodger Dog is ours, and those Chicago fans will have to go to Chavez Ravine of they want one. Oh, I also heard the Vienna hot dog was also really good as well, so there’s something for you hot dog traditionalists out there.
- Camelback Ranch also boasts an impressive array of beers, with about 15-18 different varieties available on draft or in the bottle. As with the food, everything was reasonably priced at about $6.50 for a beer and they were damn cold (a concessions worker told me that the kegs are cooled to 35 degrees and I believe it).
- The campus itself: while I never had the opportunity to go to Vero Beach, Josh Rawitch told us that many of the little things that made Vero special have made their way to Camelback Ranch. For example, you know that the old street signs made their way to Arizona, as did the yellow ropes guiding fans from practice field to practice field. There’s a respect given to the fans that is understated, yet appreciated. Interestingly, there seemed to be a lot more fences on the White Sox side of the complex, while the Dodgers had a more laid-back, relaxed atmosphere. The famous golf carts also made the trip west, but the staff and players tend to walk, making them a bit obsolete.
Camelback Ranch Campus
- Tip for navigating Camelback Ranch: ask for directions frequently. The complex is brand new and while the general layout outside the stadium is fairly intuitive, there needs to be more signs alerting you where to go (we walked around the entire stadium just trying to enter the Dodgers offices which were not marked). Fortunately, the security staff is everywhere and very helpful (although they do take their job VERY seriously). Josh tells us that this is on the list to be remedied for year two.
- Finally, let’s talk about the fans: They’re fantastic. Everyone we ran into was so psyched to be out there and the stadium received nothing but rave reviews from everyone we talked to. Saturday’s game was billed as a “road game” against the White Sox, but Dodger fans clearly outnumbered the White Sox fans by about three to one. My flight home was packed with Dodger fans sporting shirts, hats and jerseys, all telling tales of their weekend at Camelback Ranch.
Overall, the Dodgers and White Sox have done a tremendous job in getting Camelback Ranch open for business. Keep in mind that construction only began on April 1, 2008 and the fact that they were able to pull off their inaugural season is a testament to the vision of Frank McCourt and the Dodgers. This is a Dodgers facility through and through, and the White Sox are just along for the ride.
In the coming days, we’ll share our thoughts on some of the coolest behind the scenes elements of Camelback Ranch, but we wanted to start things off with taking a good look at the fan experience at the Dodgers new spring home. Congratulations Dodgers, you’ve hit a home run – hard to believe that construction only began on April 1, 2008. To complete as much as they’ve done in under a year is truly a hurculean task and Frank McCourt and the organization deserve a lot of credit for taking Frank’s vision and turning it into reality for Dodger fans.
Tunnel to Dugout at Camelback Ranch
March 28: 10,757
March 29: 10,561
So I would be curious: where did you end up parking? Maybe it’s a case of differing expectations, but my experience was vastly different.
Thanks for the report. Man, that’s insane!! Under a year!!
That has to be some kind or recornd man. Contact guinness!
Yeah, it’s crazy how fast the complex went up. Add they managed the construction in the right way. For example, there’s still a ton of work to be done on the facility, but the elements that relate the most to the fan experience were given the highest priority. Smart stuff.
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the link to your experience. What’s interesting is that we didn’t experience nearly as many problems as you did with parking. While traffic started building after we got on street after the freeway exit, it kept moving so we didn’t get stuck in a backlog. We did get funnelled into the dirt lot with the long walk on day one. As I mentioned in the post, the walk was long and fine for me, but would have been trouble if I had my two year-old nephew or pregnant sister-in-law with me. We arrived super early for the second game (10:00 a.m.), so didn’t experience any parking issues, but I was still pretty surprised to see a steady flow of cars going into the primary parking lot. Based on my experience, the biggest parking issue is that walk from the dirt lot to the stadium. If you’re not expecting it, you could pass up the bicycle cabs (and their fee) and then feel you made the wrong choice about 10 minutes into the walk. In hindsight, that was a really long walk! Maybe it didn’t seem as long to us as we were amped up on our first visit. Not sure what the Dodgers can do about this other than alert people to the length of the walk when they leave their cars.
Hmmm, how much are they paying you for this glowing review? Oh right, they bribed you with the VIP access. Haha! The place is like a new high school campus, and the player access is nothing like Vero. Everyone is really friendly there, I’ll give you that one. But I have to argue with this comment: “This is a Dodgers facility through and through, and the White Sox are just along for the ride.” I can’t disagree more. That’s the entire problem with the place, it’s not the Dodgers. Nothing is Dodger blue. No hint of anything Dodgers except for an LA logo on the scoreboard–right next to the Sox logo. It’s just a bunch of generic fields, with one big generic field with limited access to the players. Vero was an experience, this is just blah.
I guess everyone looks at their experience differently.
We went to a couple games at the stadium, and the overwhelming focus was on the Dodgers. At the Dodgers – White Sox game, there were roughly 3x more people watching Dodgers workouts.
The Dodgers still carted out Tommy in his jersey to meet the fans and sign autographs, and players were stopping and interacting with fans on their way to/from the clubhouse before the game. I saw the same string barriers that existed in Vero Beach – something almost nonexistant anywhere in Arizona.
To me, it’s not about what’s plastered on the wall or what the place looks like when the team isn’t there – on the contrary, it’s about what the team transforms the facility into while they are there. The fact that the Dodgers can pull that off here and make it a real Dodger experience is what I appreciated most.
Finally, I think everyone has to accept that most new spring training facilities that are built with public funds are going to have to be two-team venues. The economics just don’t work otherwise.