TXAggie2011 said:
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And the new renovation can be a win-win if they make the 3rd base berm into the premium section and connect it to the luxury area below the stands. Despite what TexasAggie2011 says, those would be very good seats and would attract a premium demand w proper amenities.
I think they'll have some sort of premium demand, as I said, but I do think everyone pushes for and stadiums all around try to get their suites and clubs in good viewing spots because "a 50 yard line suite" is still preferred to an "endzone suite."
I'm not sure that the view is the biggest selling point of the Diamond Club, or was. Back before they extended the netting, I really enjoyed the fact that my seats behind the first base dugout had an unobstructed view of (most of) the field, and wouldn't have been interested in Diamond Club seats simply because they were behind the net, and I suspect that there were some folks who bought club seats who might not have been enamored of the net, but took them anyway because that's where the club is. Now, there are folks who want in the club, partly because that's where their friends are, but simply have no shot at getting in unless the club is expanded.
I think there will be pretty strong interest in the outfield club membership not tied to a seat from current reserved seat ticket holders--it seems that a lot of Diamond Club members spend a considerable part of the game in the Club, so I can't see walking down to the LF corner to get a drink (with a view of the field) being off putting. Maybe a few existing reserved seat ticket holders will opt for seats out there (as opposed to membership not tied to a seat), but my guess is it will be a small number. But, that's just a guess; hence the survey. It will be good for them to have some real feedback upon which to base decisions.
I really just have a hard time seeing a Diamond Club expansion being worth the pain of a complete stadium reseating, which is what they suggest will happen in the survey. To go through the reseating process in order to squeeze in 150-200 more club seats behind home plate seems suicidal to me, particularly since there is no really good way to do it. With football, we had the advantage of having a totally new seating configuration to parcel out using a priority point system which had been in place for a decade. With baseball, we don't have either of those factors in play. Let say you get 100 lower reserved seat ticket holder to take outfield club seats (wildly optimistic, IMO). If you end up having a few lower reserved folks relocated to the club, you're still going to have to reseat the entire park in order to account for 50 current season ticket holders being displaced. That would be crazy. So, I would assume that they will do something else to try to minimize the movement, like, perhaps, raising ticket prices everywhere (requiring a per seat donation would be one way) in order to have enough attrition to make it work. If you run off 100 lower reserved season ticket holders, then you might get away with minimal disruption from a club expansion.