Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

David Bowie once sang, “Time may change me, but I can’t trace time.” Well, time has definitely changed Dodger Stadium. We went there yesterday for the final exhibition game of spring training, against the “Los Angeles” Angeles of Anaheim. The changes to the renovated stadium are immediately noticeable. In fact, when I saw the stadium on television Saturday I didn’t even recognize it. It was even more interesting to go see the changes in person.

First, there are tons more ads. I thought there were too many ads last year. I guess I didn’t know what I was talking about. The place is littered with them. Gone are the cool images of Dodgers from the past on the outfield walls, replaced by ads for Ameriquest and Albertsons and others.

Then there are the new seats. They cut into the foul territory quite a bit, and seem really close to the actual playing field. If I had tickets in these seats I’d probably love them, but being one level above them I can’t say I have an opinion either way. However, they seem to be affecting the right fielder’s ability to field the ball (or maybe he just sucks).

The dugouts have been moved in to accommodate the new seats. They’ve also put safety railings in front of the dugouts, which is a very good thing (though it looks weird to me). The stupid rubber warning track from last year has been re-replaced with natural a dirt warning track, an aesthetically pleasing and practical decision.. Also, it looks like the field level seats have been upgraded, though they haven’t gotten to our seats in the loge level yet so I must reserve judgment.

The neatest renovation is the new electronic scoreboard/screen that runs along the edge of the first tier of the stadium. It’s very cool, though I don’t think they’re using it to its full potential yet (it mostly shows ads).

Overall, I give the new upgrades a B, maybe a B+ (we’ll see how those new seats affect play before we give our final grade).