Originally Posted by
Jayjami
There’s an excellent reason, to encourage fans to get to the game earlier. Any actuary can tell you every extra minute the customer is in your captivity, you have more opportunity to make money on concessions.
Originally Posted by
simpdog
Originally Posted by
Jayjami
There’s an excellent reason, to encourage fans to get to the game earlier. Any actuary can tell you every extra minute the customer is in your captivity, you have more opportunity to make money on concessions.
I don’t know why Druff is blind to this and thinks they should have 100% of the items.
They pay what maybe $5-8 per shirt? While a beer costs $10-15. Or food or drinks for the kids. Or other souvenirs.
I think what you guys are missing is that Dodger Stadium simply doesn't have the incoming gate capacity to take in 55,000 fans in the 90 minutes or so prior to game time when people would be expected to show up.
Even if all 55,000 people tried in earnest to get to the stadium on time, a lot of them simply wouldn't make it due to the tremendous line which would build up at the vehicle gates.
This stadium differs from many others, as there's virtually no walk-in fans. It's surrounded by both hilly terrain and residential neighborhoods. It's not like you can just park your car a few blocks away in a downtown lot and stroll in. It's not impossible to park outside the stadium and walk in, but it's difficult enough to where almost nobody does it. I'm a cheap Jew, and hate paying for parking in general, and even I don't do it.
If Caesars Palace were having a promotion where they're giving away sweatshirts starting at 11am, and I showed up at 2pm and complained that they're out of them, it's easy to say it was my fault for choosing to show up 3 hours after it began. In this case, the stadium and surrounding area get horribly backed up, due to poor traffic flow designs when it was built in the early 60s.
This is why they're making a mistake by limiting these promos to 40,000 seats when 50,000+ people are expected. Were it just 10,000 items, most people in the stadium wouldn't be getting one, and could explain it away that it's only for the early birds. When 80% of the people around you have an item and you don't, it pisses you off -- especially when you watched 45-60 minutes tick away while stuck at the vehicle gate.
In short, the last thing the Dodgers should want would be a huge influx of people at the same time. Everyone benefits from the stragglers who show up in the 3rd inning to avoid traffic. It's a mistake to incentivize these people to do things differently, and to push them to show up on time. Indeed, it's on promotional days when the gate traffic is the worst.
I really think the 40,000 limit is more likely done out of frugality and convenience (no need to dispose of extras, as there won't be any), than some kind of attempt to get people down there early. If early arrivals were the point, they'd make it 20,000 to create a real sense of urgency.