Plaschke: Attending a game at marvelous Dodger Stadium is a maddening experience (2024)

For one shining night it will be baseball’s national treasure, a temple filled with history and beauty and stars.

But what are they going to do about that filthy bathroom floor?

For four memorable hours, a national television audience will be constantly reminded how the league’s most uniquely remodeled monument sparkles with statues and exhibits and community.

But what happens when that concession stand runs out of relish and ketchup?

Truly, it’s really cool that for the first time in 42 years, Dodger Stadium is again hosting baseball’s All-Star Game.

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But how on Earth are they going to prevent the gridlock?

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While the rest of the country will surely watch Tuesday’s festivities in jealous awe — the pristine seats rising from the parklands of Chavez Ravine, the San Gabriel Mountains looming in the distance — the locals know a harsher truth.

Dodger Stadium is a distinctly wonderful place to watch a baseball game, but a most difficult place to attend a baseball game.

Dodger Stadium makes you work. It makes you sweat. It brings you stress. It drives you nuts.

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Once you are there, in your seat, watching baseball’s most consistently great product play a baseball game, it’s heaven. But everything else about it can be hell.

“Going to the stadium used to be such a joy, now it’s just an effort, it’s almost drudgery,” said Drew Pomerance, a partial season ticket holder who said he has been to at least one game at Dodger Stadium every year since 1963. “The seats are great, the play is great, but the fan experience is minor league.”

Like many fans over the years, Pomerance reached out to this columnist about a recent trip to Dodger Stadium that became a perfect storm of discomfort and disappointment. But while most of those fans are generally reluctant to elaborate on the record because they feel the team is playing too well to complain, Pomerance was willing to tell his story because he believes several disparate things can be true.

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You can love going to the games yet hate going to the games. You can love the product yet hate the delivery of the product. You can be a die-hard Dodgers fan yet acknowledge that it gets a little harder every time you go to Dodger Stadium.

“I love this team, and all those things they’ve done to the stadium are great,” said Pomerance, 65, a lawyer from Tarzana. “But it’s a real hassle to get into your seats and take a breath and relax.”

His saga occurred June 30, a Thursday night, the opener of a four-game series against the San Diego Padres. It is one of nine games he buys with a group, four tickets per game, Loge level, aisle 120, Row B.

Driving in from Tarzana with his wife, Pauline, he decided to leave at 5:30 p.m. for the 7:10 start so they could beat the crowd and wander around the various eateries in the renovated outfield plaza. The plan was working great when they exited the 5 Freeway at Stadium Way at 6:10 p.m., just a short trek from the entrance at Vin Scully Avenue.

But once they left the freeway, traffic was at a complete stop, and it took them an hour to travel what should have taken 10 minutes.

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“Traffic was just stopped, everybody jammed together even though there were wide-open lanes going the other direction,” Pomerance said. “It’s crazy that they can’t use cones and fix the traffic flow.”

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Once they entered the parking lot — a slower and painstaking exercise for many since all passes became digital — Pomerance drove to Lot L, for which he had purchased a spot for $50.

But there was no spot. There was no room. The lot was full and even an expensive parking pass couldn’t create space.

“I drove over to the attendant and asked, what should I do?” he recalled. “The attendant said they were sold out. How could they be sold out? I had a pass!”

Pomerance finally pulled in front of a guard rail and parked. It wasn’t a space. He spent the entire game worried he would be towed. He had no choice.

“There was nowhere to park, so my $50 parking pass was a complete rip-off,” he said.

And his evening was just getting started.

Plaschke: Attending a game at marvelous Dodger Stadium is a maddening experience (4)

Dodgers fans walk through the stadium during the team’s home opener against the Cincinnati Reds in April.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

By the time he and his wife had entered the stadium, they had already missed the first pitch. They hurried to their aisle but, before walking down to their seats, he excused himself to use the bathroom.

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Another ordeal.

Pomerance walked into a scene that too many Dodgers fans experience — a soiled and littered bathroom with no soap in the dispenser, no paper towels, and used wet paper all over the floor.

“The bathroom was already totally trashed out, and it was only the first inning,” he said. “I can’t imagine what it looked like later.”

He eventually found his seat and proceeded to sit back and enjoy a compelling and entertaining game. That is, until he left his seat again in the top of the third inning to buy a hot dog.

Strike three.

No, he didn’t have to endure the usual long concession lines. He was, instead, irked by something seemingly much smaller but equally as important, the sort of minute detail that the analytics-driven baseball team incorporates on the field but has apparently forgotten in the stands.

After Pomerance bought his hot dog, he couldn’t find a simple packet of relish and there was no ketchup in the dispenser. They were apparently out of both. All that was left was the multicolored messy remains. And it was only the third inning.

“The condiments stand looked like somebody had dropped a bomb on it,” he said. “It was a small thing, but those things matter.”

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After enjoying a Dodgers victory, Pomerance and his wife were soon reminded about the perils of being a good fan and staying for the entire game. It took them 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot.

“People walking everywhere, between cars, in front of cars, totally disorganized, chaotic, no flow,” he said. “They could fix it if they put in walkways. I just don’t understand why they won’t fix it.”

By the time Pomerance returned home, he felt like he had been the one playing nine innings.

“I was exhausted, I was frustrated and I said to my wife, ‘I don’t think this is worth it anymore,’” he said.

This is a man who was 6 when he first saw Sandy Koufax pitch and later sent him newspaper clippings that Koufax autographed and returned. This is a man who wore Wes Parker’s No. 28 in youth league, a man who used to hang out with high school buddies in the left-field pavilion, a man who was at Dodger Stadium for the 1981 and 2017 World Series, for the 1988 National League Championship Series, for every great sports memory of a life spent loving blue.

“I’m a die-hard Lakers fan, a big Rams fan, but there’s something about the Dodgers that holds a historical connection to the community, something iconic, it makes me emotional,” he said.

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But he’s also a man now paying $118 per seat for tickets, parking and access to the Stadium Club. And for the first time, he’s wondering if it’s worth it.

“I haven’t made a decision for next year,” Pomerance said. “Every game for me this year has had some kind of hassle, some kind of parking, traffic or food disaster ... or the perfect storm of all of them.”

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Pomerance said he complains to his daughter Alexandra, 33, but her response probably mirrors that of many of the fans who buy nearly 4 million tickets a year for a team that has led the league in attendance for eight consecutive years.

“She’s like, ‘That’s just how it is, Dad,’” he said. “People expect the hassles because it’s all they’ve known.”

That’s just how it is…

But does it really have to be that way? Shouldn’t Dodgers fans demand more for their blind loyalty? Shouldn’t the Dodgers work even harder to repay that loyalty?

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When contacted for this column, Dodgers officials declined to comment, but their stance on all these issues has been often stated and is well known.

They say they can’t fix the ancient freeways that surround Chavez Ravine, and there’s only so much they can do with parking lots that stack up because of limited access to those freeways. They also note that increased public transportation is one of the only real solutions, but fewer people are taking public transportation because of COVID.

As for the stadium maintenance and concession workers, the Dodgers have long claimed they are not understaffed and that it simply takes time to service the needs of 53,000 fans. The union representing the stadium concession workers threatened a strike this week and talks are ongoing between the union and its employer, Levy Restaurants.

“No matter what they say, you wonder how much they really care, because they will fill the place with three-and-a-half million people every summer no matter what they do,” said Pomerance. “You give up your tickets, there are 10 people in line to take your place.”

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Their shining moment quickly faded. The story of the 1980 All-Star Game starting pitchers

Steve Stone and J.R. Richard were the starting pitchers in the 1980 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium. By the end of the 1981 season, their careers were over.

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Despite this increased lack of faith, Pomerance sent the Dodgers an email detailing his bad night, and the Dodgers responded, apologizing for his disappointment and providing him with hotlines to phone or text if he’s having concession or restroom cleanliness issues.

“That was nice but, I mean, I’m not going to take the time to call someone when I’m trying to dry my hands,” he said. “Not once in their response did they express worry about losing me as a ticket holder, and that bothered me.”

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That’s because they’re not worried. Not as long as the team is winning and fans are roaring and history is happening.

Face it. Since Guggenheim bought the team and Andrew Friedman saved the team and eight straight West Division championships defined the team, most of you love the Dodgers more than you hate the stadium experience.

You’ll endure because you enjoy. You’ll accept the loss of comfort for the winning on the field. Dodger Stadium will make you work, but it’s a job you’ll gladly accept.

For now.

“You have to think at some point people are going to throw up their hands and say it’s easier to sit at home and watch on TV, they’re still just as great,” said Pomerance.

At some point.

Just keep winning, baby.

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    Feb. 24, 2024

Plaschke: Attending a game at marvelous Dodger Stadium is a maddening experience (2024)

FAQs

Is it worth going to a Dodgers game? ›

As a lifelong Dodger fan, I've attended games at Dodger Stadium for over 25 years, so I'm a little biased, but it's a really wonderful ballpark in a beautiful setting with lots of history and a great team on the field. The recent renovations are really fantastic.

How many people get bobbleheads at Dodger Stadium? ›

Promotional items will be given out to the first 40,000 ticketed fans in attendance, while supplies last, at the guest's point of entry, unless otherwise noted. For the full promotional schedule, head over to Dodgers.com/Promotions.

What makes Dodger Stadium special? ›

It is the largest seating baseball stadium in the country holding 56,000. It is the third oldest stadium in baseball, behind Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. It is home to the world famous Dodger Dog. Originally they were served grilled, but in a cost cutting measure in the nineties they were steamed.

How many baseball fans can attend game at Dodger Stadium during any given day? ›

Dodger Stadium
OwnerGuggenheim Baseball Management
OperatorLos Angeles Dodgers
TypeStadium
Capacity56,000
Construction
22 more rows

How early should I arrive to a Dodgers game? ›

Parking gates open 2.5 hours before game time. Stadium gates open 2 hours before game time.

Why are Dodger tickets so expensive now? ›

That goes beyond the tickets sold in packages by Japan's largest travel agency. The Dodgers have led the major leagues in attendance for 10 consecutive years, but the signing of Ohtani amid his emergence as a global star has wildly accelerated sales — and prices — of tickets to see the Dodgers this year.

How much is parking at Dodgers stadium? ›

How much is parking at Dodger Stadium? Dodger Stadium offers several lots for on-site parking that ranges in price from $17 - $50 and is first-come, first-serve. SpotHero partners with nearby facilities to offer parking for special events to help customers secure reserved spots that are typically between $10 - $20.

Is there only one entrance to Dodger Stadium? ›

There are 5 entrances to Dodger Stadium Parking Lots: Sunset Gate A - Stadium Way / Elysian Park Ave. Stadium Way Gate B- Stadium Way/ Scott Ave. Golden State Gate C Academy Rd/ Academy Rd.

How many people fit in a suite at Dodger Stadium? ›

Dodger Stadium has 86 suites options that allow for 6-70 guests. There is a Dodgers suite option for all of your entertainment needs.

What stadium is bigger Dodgers or Angels? ›

Dodger Stadium is the largest stadium in baseball with a maximum capacity of 56,000.

Why are the seats at the Dodger Stadium yellow? ›

Reserve Level represents the landscape all around the stadium with a sea foam green. Loge Level represents the sandy beaches of Southern California with it's light orange. Field Level represents the bright sunny days in Los Angeles with its yellow seats.

What should I bring to the Dodgers game? ›

Food is permitted from outside the stadium provided it is in a clear bag smaller than 12"X12"X6" and not in glass bottles, cans, coolers, glass containers or thermoses. Unbroken, factory-sealed plastic bottles of non-alcoholic beverages of 1 liter or less are permitted.

Can you take a water bottle into Dodgers stadium? ›

Outside non-alcoholic beverages, such as water, soda, tea, juice, etc. of one liter or less, contained in factory-sealed plastic bottles, are permitted to be brought into Dodger Stadium. Refillable water bottles are permitted provided they do not exceed 1 liter, are empty, and do not have any glass components.

What section is all you can eat at Dodgers stadium? ›

Dodger Stadium All-You-Can-Eat Right Field Pavilion.

Is Dodgers stadium cashless? ›

Dodger Stadium is a fully cashless facility. As of the 2023 season, there are five Cash-to-Card kiosks available on the stadium concourses. The kiosks convert cash to prepaid debit cards which can be used anywhere inside and outside of Dodger Stadium. Note: Kiosks only accept US currency.

Is it safe to go to a Dodgers game? ›

Here at Dodger Stadium, fan safety is our top priority as we've worked closely with MLB, top health experts and local officials to ensure your experience here at the stadium meets the highest standards of health and safety protocols: ✓ Touchless screening process. ✓ Mobile tickets. ✓ Cashless retail and concessions.

Is it better to Uber or drive to Dodgers stadium? ›

Uber is the preferred ride of the Dodgers. Don't worry about driving on game days - get a safe, affordable ride to and from the stadium at the tap of a button. Uber drop-offs are permitted at any of Dodger Stadium's three (3) open entry gates.

Is it worth going to baseball game? ›

Absolutely. I have many friends who hate baseball, but still come with me to games. The reason being that the ballpark atmosphere more than makes up for the sport not appealing to them. Have a good time!

How long do Dodger games usually last? ›

This spring, Dodgers games averaged two hours, 37 minutes, and only three of 30 games lasted three hours. “How fast was that game today, crazy,” Clayton Kershaw said after Sunday's Freeway Series game against the Angels, which was completed in two hours, eight minutes.

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