Author's Blog

 January 7, 2009

Northwest Stadiums - Day 9 Gesa Stadium


Tri-Cities Dust Devils - Pasco, Washington - Northwest League


Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Folks living in the Tri-Cities of Washington love their small strip of land along the Columbia River.  Over 300 days of sunshine, they say, along with plenty of outdoor recreation make for a lifestyle that’s hard to beat.  Numerous wineries exist to the east and west for those who seek a little more upscale flavor.

It’s taken the locals a little longer to catch onto the local professional baseball team, but that’s changing.  Like the Tri-Cities, Gesa Stadium has plenty to offer.  Great views of the game and the surrounding area, clean aisles, reasonable prices, and decent stadium food are just a few of the positives this place offers.

I had low expectations for attendance prior to my visit.  This came out of Day 8 research following the Yakima game to find where that team was positioned in terms of attendance.  Yet the numbers I found showed 2006 and 2007 attendance, and the numbers are rising steadily, putting Tri-Cities on level playing field with the rest of the league. This game, for example, had an announced attendance of 1,396, which is not bad for a Monday night.  For the season, the team is averaging over 2,000 per game, which is a far cry from what was witnessed in Yakima.

A recent change in ownership has had a lot to do with turning attendance around.  Now owned by the Brett brothers along with Spokane (they also own the High Desert Mavericks in California), fans have noticed a difference.  As one fan put it, "before George Brett bought the team, the team was very rinky dink.”  Technically George Brett owns the Tri-Cities Dust Devils and Scott Brett owns the Spokane Indians.

Perhaps the biggest reason for the increase in attendance, however, is the sunshade installed over the first base side of the stadium.  Looking like something designed by NASA, the sunshade, installed in 2007, is the most notable unique component to the stadium; so much so, that it shouldn’t have taken me five paragraphs before mentioning it.  Representing the majority of the grant provided by the Washington State Legislature, this $1.3 million structure is brilliant in its simplicity, yet greatly appreciated by the fans.  How smart is it to say, “Hey, how can we improve the experience for the fans.  I know, let's block out the sun that bakes half the crowd every game.”   When most people are thinking of escaping the heat, maybe a cool beer at the Ice House Brewery, or a dip in the river, sitting in the scorching sun at Gesa just didn’t seem appealing.  Engineering wise, it was also designed to block the sun the entire season, accounting for the shifting sun.  Everyone I spoke to sure noticed a difference. It might not sound as sexy as a video board or a new party platform, but it sure does the trick.

Catching a game at Gesa has other things going for it.  For one, the view is nice, and apparently dictated the orientation of the place.  The view out left field is of soccer fields with farm field beyond.  The view out right field, while not as immediately pleasant, includes views of mountains beyond soccer fields, a freeway, and houses.

Gesa also had plenty of good on field entertainment between innings.  At this level, it is all about engaging the fans, and the team did plenty of that.  Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Note on the Northwest League – I had been told time and time again that pitching dominates the league, and yet I have seen 49 runs scored in the last three games.  Only one game, of the five I have seen in the Northwest League to date, had the winning team scoring fewer than 10 runs (Spokane’s 5-4 win over Boise on Day 7).  Upon further investigation, I learned that the league usually starts out similar to Spring Training, with pitcher ahead of batters, and batters catching up as the season progresses.  At this point, however, I would have to say that batters are well ahead of their pitching counterparts.  If you like scoring, this is the place to watch.  It does slow down the game, however, both from the greater number of at bats and because of the frequent pitcher changes.  I don’t think I have seen a game yet shorter than three hours in this league.


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