The Nat going to feel a lot like Fenway Park
With little fanfare, the Vancouver Canadians have started selling tickets to The Porch, their new special section just beyond the left field wall at Nat Bailey Stadium.
A marketing push is coming. If you know your C’s history, that’s guaranteed. You can bet the area, which is a takeoff on the seats atop Fenway Park’s Green Monster, will have a title sponsor and the C’s will make a big splash of that.
As well, construction is in its early stages. Once they get some bare bones of the structure complete and can show it off, there’s bound to be more promotion.
According to the club’s website, the new section will boast covered seating for “30-160,” as well as a “special menu,” and a “walk-up service bar.” It’s part of 750 new seats being added to the Nat, which currently lists seating capacity at 5,132.
“Our only problemis going to be getting it finished in time,” said Jake Kerr, one of the C’s owners, on Friday during the team’s annual hot stove luncheon at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. “If you looked out the window, it’s not great construction weather. The gun will be to our heads starting Feb. 1. We’re not going change the general flavour of Nat Bailey at all. If anything, we think we can improve things we started, like the kids’ play area. A lot of these concessions are going to be food carts that are portable and they’ll have a lot of different things we’re not willing to share yet. There will be different items on the menu.”
Kerr & Co. have some time. The C’s, the Short Season Single A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, open the Northwest League season at SalemKeizer on June 18. The home opener is June 26, versus Hillsboro. The new seats should help the C’s improve their attendance for a ninth straight season. They averaged crowds of 4,870 last season.
Kerr, who bought the team with fellow Vancouver businessman Jeff Mooney in 2007, says that affiliation with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011 has played a key role in that. Vancouver had been with the Oakland Athletics prior to that.
The C’s averaged 4,267 fans for their 38-game home schedule in 2011, up from 4,068 the season before. The club attracted fans at a 3,419 per-game clip in 2007.
The C’s won the Northwest League crown their first three years under Toronto’s banner. They lost in the final last season to Hillsboro.
“Without the Blue Jays, this would not have happened,” said Kerr. “You look at our results and you say, ‘Nobody cares. It’s minor league ball.’ Well, the guys who say that are the ones that are losing. I used to say that all the time when we were in fourth place. You look at our numbers. We’re always sold out in August, and it’s because we’re in the race.
“The Jays get that. They leave their players here. They send us a couple of mystery men (late-season additions like outfielder Kevin Pillar in 2011) that don’t hurt at all. They’ve been very helpful.”