Topic: Progressive Field Winter Wonderland

[TBideon]

This sounds incredible and could be a gold mine for the city.

http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/index.ssf/2010/09/cleveland_indians_plan_to_turn.html

Cleveland Indians plan to turn Progressive Field into off-season winter wonderland: Michael K. McIntyre's Tipoff

"CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Indians don't have a snowball's chance in you- know-where of making the playoffs this year. But the snowball has a great chance in Progressive Field after the regular season ends.

The team is set to roll out a new plan to put Progressive Field to good use during the cold off-season in Cleveland. They're calling it "Snow Days" and the plan is to turn the ballpark into a winter theme park. Instead of sitting vacant for four months, the ballpark will be outfitted with an ice rink that loops around the warning track, a fire pit on the home run porch and -- Tipoff will be first in line for this -- an innertubing hill that descends from the bleachers and onto the field. "

[doctabroccoli]

Dude, I will totally snow tube down the bleachers onto the field!

[Gordon Bombay]

Might as well use it for something since you can't normally see good baseball there.


...you know, cause it's winter, not saying the Indians suck or anything.

[MuRrAy HiLL]

Awesome.

Being a "winter" city, Cleveland needs much more of this.  What a cool location and idea to embrace our gray sky months.

[StrapHanger]

^Totally agree.  This is pretty cool.  And I assume no public money needed and alcoholic beverages will be available .

[TBideon]

What would be ideal is if the the Dolans coordinated this with the rest of the city and package these events with other city ameneties such as a hotel lodging/theater/restaurant meal/winter fun package.  It would really incentivize spending a weeknight/weeked in downtown Cleveland overnight

[mkeller234]

I like the idea a lot, very creative and interesting.

[Triumph36]

What would be ideal is if the the Dolans coordinated this with the rest of the city and package these events with other city ameneties such as a hotel lodging/theater/restaurant meal/winter fun package.  It would really incentivize spending a weeknight/weeked in downtown Cleveland overnight

& sports tickets too because hockey, football, & basketball will all be going on around that time.

I hope this is successful and they add onto it in future years. Having a Santa Claus there for the kids for the first ~month would be cool. And a huge Christmas tree. Things like that.

[ClevelandOhio]

make a whole season event so that out of towners want to come here during the winter to experience the fun we have to offer in the winter. miami draws people in the summer and we can draw people in the winter lol. If only

[MuRrAy HiLL]

Interesting idea from the Cleveland Leader:

Can Concerts Be Far Off for Progressive Field?
By Eugene McCormick. Published on 09/16/2010 - 12:55pm


Progressive Field is a great venue for a concert. I know this because I saw the only two that were ever performed there in the late 90's when Jimmy Buffett and the Cleveland Orchestra played there when the venue was named Jacobs Field. The Cleveland Indians didn't like how the field responded to the shows and the plug was pulled on hosting music events. Times seem to be changing as the struggling team looks for more revenue models with attendance plummeting.

The Tribe will announce next week something called Snow Days, which will be a winter park that will feature ice skating, snow tubing, and other cold weather activities for four months. Who knows what kind of havok that will wreak on the playing surface. If the Indians are willing to risk their lush outfield grass with a skating rink, odds are that they team will want to host lucrative concerts that would fill the stadium and sell massive amounts of concessions.

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/14710

[Htsguy]

^Are the Indians risking the lush outfield grass with a skating rink as suggested in the article?  I was under the impression the rink was looping around the field on the warning track.

[ClevelandOhio]

^Are the Indians risking the lush outfield grass with a skating rink as suggested in the article?  I was under the impression the rink was looping around the field on the warning track.

thats what the original article said

[ClevelandOhio]

http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/cle/fan_forum/snowdays.jsp

by the picture it shows the skating rink will wrap around the warning track and then round the bases

[MyTwoSense]

http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/cle/fan_forum/snowdays.jsp

by the picture it shows the skating rink will wrap around the warning track and then round the bases

 
Its just an illustration, I wouldn't use that as a final product.   
 
With today's technology, they could take up the sod and level the entire field.

[MuRrAy HiLL]

The Indians have finally released more info:

Cleveland Indians plan winter tubing, skating activities at Progressive Field
By JOEL HAMMOND
11:00 am, September 23, 2010

The features include “Batterhorn,” 10 snow-tubing lanes descending from the bleachers in left field and sponsored by the Greater Cleveland RTA; a quarter-mile ice-skating track around the outfield; a kids play area in short left field; a walking trail through the outfield with winter lights; and a fire pit on the home run porch in left field.

“We created Snow Days at Progressive Field to be the destination for winter entertainment in Northeast Ohio,” Indians vice president of public relations Bob DiBiasio said. “This first-of-its-kind event will give downtown Cleveland another marquee attraction this winter that will be sure to create memories for families, friends and co-workers.”

Pricing for the attraction ranges from $5 (general admission, access to everything but ice skating and tubing) to $20 (two-hour tubing access plus all other activities). For unlimited ice skating, the price is $10. Children under 3 will be admitted free, but will not be permitted to snow tube.

The attraction's Nov. 26 opening will include fireworks, which will coincide with Cleveland's winter celebration on Public Square. Generally, Progressive Field will be open daily from Nov. 26 through Jan. 2, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20100923/FREE/100929917


also:

USAToday -- http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/2010-09-23-1733210725_x.htm
mlb.com -- http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100923&content_id=14991838&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
PD -- http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2010/09/indians_announce_details_of_fi.html

[MyTwoSense]

The tubing will be so much fun!

[mrnyc]

what the? my jaw just hit the floor. that is totally badazz. a home run of an idea. ice skating? fire pit? and tubing down the freakin bleachers? wow now that is awesome!

[StrapHanger]

I may have to plan a quick weekend visit just to do this myself.  Awesome!

http://photos.cleveland.com/photogallery/2010/11/snow_media_day_at_progressive_4.html

[archangel]

$100 per family? I know some schools are getting discount rates for groups, around 20-30 per person. Is that really how much it costs to make it profitable? I guess the capacity isn't that big...but I am probably going to this later this month, it seems like a big stupid fun thing to do.

[gobigred]

I went on a date there and thought it was worth it. You don't have to drive out to Brandywine or Boston Mills, don't have to carry the tubes up the hill, and the longest I waited was like six minutes. We had a great time! Plus the food is half off summer prices. . . The most fun thing next to the tubing is watch kids get hit in the face with chunks of snow flying out of the machine. Knocks them over every time

[stpats44113]

I also went on Saturday. Decent crowd but not overcrowded by any means. I thought the tubing was great and I wish I was a better ice skater. I'm the one that everyone makes fun of when they're passing by. I also didn't wait longer than six minutes for the tubing and then they carry the tubes up for you. They also have the Indians dugout heated if you get cold.  They do serve alcohol and the food is standard baseball grub. They were showing movies on the scoreboard ala The Christmas Story. I thought they did a really nice job.

[j73]

We were there the other day and struck up a conversation with one of the workers there.  A few interesting tidbits she shared:
- Apparently the Indians have been planning this for several years
- Mgmt has been pretty happy with attendance so far
- They have plans to do this for at least 2 more years
- The current "Batterhorn" was originally set up to start more toward the top of the bleachers, but they felt it was going too fast
- They're looking at adding a slide that starts in the upper deck (not sure how to reconcile that with the point above)
- The Cubs mgmt team was in town and pretty impressed, so this might be coming to Chicago in the future

[mrnyc]

this is such a great idea, im not surprized its doing well. yeah for copycats in the coming winters.

ps -- can someone go and post some pics?

[shs96]

and...what...ironic? we're getting crushed with snow in December when it usually doesn't hit until after Christmas!

[archangel]

Write-up in the Times...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/sports/baseball/23indians.html?hp

[StrapHanger]

^Was the last thing I expected to see front and center of their home page this morning.  Great photo and nice honest write-up. 

[trailblazer88]

My adult kids went and they loved it!