May 27, 2008
The Nationals Want You to Stay at Work
Washington Post writer Daniel LeDuc took a look at the Nationals' schedule this year are realized that there are no afternoon weekday games this year. The team had weekday afternoon games scheduled in the past, when they played at RFK, but have cited traffic concerns as the reason for abandoning them this year.
Frequently called the "Businessman's Special," weekday afternoon games have always provided a a good excuse for skipping out of work. Much like moving up to a better seat after the third inning, another thing the Nationals have tried to abolish, afternoon games are an important baseball tradition. They also tend to come at the end of a series and give teams that are traveling extra time to get to their next destination.
But pre-season traffic concerns were largely unfounded, and in the article team president Stan Kasten left open to possibility for weekday afternoon games to return next season. While afternoon games in Washington have generally been well attended, obviously, more people can make it to night games. We wouldn't put it past people who are currently trying to get $100,000 a day from the District because the stadium was supposedly not finished on time to use traffic as a way to sell more tickets.
Photo by emilygoodstein
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I guess late afternoon doesn't count then since they had a 4:35 with the Braves a few weeks ago.
Q: I believe that it's just no 12:35/1:05 games - since when a 4:35 game lets out, the rush hour is at least subsiding, if not over.
And I agree with most of DeLuc's article, but really, there were five of these weekday day games last year (as DeLuc duly notes, the Nats went 3-2). It wasn't as if there was some weekly businessman's special or anything. Also, trying to compare the current era of baseball to the golden period of the 50s is pretty pointless - sure, I'd like to see them start playing at least the weekend World Series games in the afternoon, but we know the chances of that happening are pretty much nil.
Lastly, while the parking situation isn't exactly the crazy one people predicted, I still don't think you want to see a bunch of people piling on to South Cap Street at 5 p.m. in a mad rush to pile back to the office before the boss notices they are missing. It just doesn't sound like a very good idea.
Nothing like the ol' Businessman's Special; sneaking out of the office to catch some ball.
Oh and weekday afternoon baseball games are great too.
It took a Post reporter almost two months into the season to figure this out? Why don't they do some real research and ask the question: what was the average paid attendance at these weekday afternoon games versus the average paid attendance for evening games for the last few years? My guess is the difference in attendance (and the lost revenues) is what is driving this decision.
Wow, those Post reporters sure don't miss a thing! How many months ago was the schedule released? January or so?
I wonder who is taking the heat for not being able to sell those Presidential seats behind home plate. Can someone write more about those? They are empty for every game because they cannot sell them at over $300 a seat per game.
Can't believe it took them (and you?) this long to notice this. I hope the occasional weekday afternoon game returns next year.