|
Florida Spring Training: Your Guide To Touring The Grapefruit League |
It's been 12 years since Space Coast Stadium opened as the spring home of the Florida Marlins. Back then, the stadium was in th emiddle of a cow pasture, with almost nothing around it. Thankfully, the surrounding area has developed quite a bit since then, with new restaurants, shopping, and entertainment opening nearby. However, three teams later, the inside of the park has changed little. It's even still decorated in the Marlins' teal and black, nowhere near the red and blue colors of the Washington Nationals, the stadium's current resident. While there are plans to redecorate, for now the place still feels like the Marlins' territory. This may, in part, be because the Marlins' minor league affiliate, the Brevard Manatees, still calls Space Coast Stadium home, and their mascot, who is decked out in teal and black, is very much in evidence. In 2005, the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. That year was a great year for Spring Training in Viera, a planned community between Melbourne and Cocoa. Space Coast Stadium saw an increase of 13,000 people from the year before. Seeing the Nationals was suddenly cool. There was a rush to find Nationals hats, shirts, and more. But by 2006, the excitement about the Nationals cooled and attendance dropped to one of the lowest per-game averages in the state, with just 3,904 fans per game. That's less than half of the available seats at Space Coast Stadium, which is one of the largest stadiums in the Grapefruit League. Yet even if the colors fit the team and the stands were full of Nationals' fans, the ballpark wouldn't come close to being the quintessential Spring Training stadium. Inside, it lacks any sort of architectural inspiration. It's mostly cement. The main walkway has a wide-open feel, but that's more from a lack of people than a lot of space. The stands are elevated, so the front row of seats is about six feet off the field of play. This creates a wall of separation between fans and players, while Spring Training is supposed to bring them together. And if you sit near the top of the stadium, you'll be quite a distance from the action. The ballpark gets its name from its location on Florida's "Space Coast." It is just a few miles south of NASA's space shuttle launch pads at Kennedy Space Center. (You can see launches from the stadium if you are sitting in the berm section.) Somebody obviously thought it would be a great idea to tie into the "space" theme. The result is stadium signage with lettering that looks straight out of a 1960s' B-movie. Didn't find what you were looking for? Try a Google search.
IF
YOU FIND THIS WEB SITE HELPFUL, PLEASE CONSIDER |
|||
 |
The
Intrepid Traveler |
||
|
|
