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SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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AP
LOS ANGELES - Luis Serrano is working on his second Dodger Dog and the game hasn’t even begun.
“On a good night, I’ll eat seven,” he said, smiling.
That’s how it goes in the new all-you-can-eat seats way out in right field at Dodger Stadium, where fans wolf down as many Dodger Dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn and soda as their bellies allow for one price.
Bring your own antacids.
“You get your money’s worth, for sure,” said Serrano, a slender 33-year-old from suburban Glendora who likes to bet his buddies how much they can chow down.
“I’ve won almost all of them,” he said, balancing a paper tray loaded with two more Dodger Dogs, nachos and peanuts on his lap.
His friend, Michael Latta of Alhambra, chomped on a mustard- and onion-slathered Dodger Dog in the right field pavilion, sponsored by, naturally, a chain of convenience stores.
“We’re more prone to eating more since we’re in here. We wouldn’t have done this over there,” Latta said, gesturing toward the rest of the stadium.
There’s another eat-up-a-storm section in this venerable place — the Dugout Club behind home plate. But at $400 a seat, which includes traditional fare delivered by a wait staff and a high-end buffet — it’s out of reach for many in the bust-a-gut section.
Launched this season, the outfield eat-a-thon opens 90 minutes before the first pitch and lasts until the start of the seventh inning. Ticket prices range from $20 for group sales to $40 for day-of-game walk-ups. Some games are $25 during designated promotions.
“The fans love it,” said Marty Greenspun, Dodgers executive vice president and chief operating officer.
“It was an isolated area that we could really focus and test,” he said. “No one has done this big of a seating section for this price in all of professional sports. It’s been a hit since day one.”
Some items aren’t in play — beer ($8 and $10), ice cream and candy are sold from carts at regular prices. But they are included at some other major-league ballparks, which do versions of the eat-til-you-drop concept in smaller seating areas.
The concept was tested three times last season before being launched in April.
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Since then, the Dodgers say the section has sold out eight times in 24 home games, with attendance averaging 2,000 in the 3,000 seats.
The Dodgers have ranked second in attendance in the majors for three consecutive seasons, but the right-field pavilion often sat empty in the 56,000-seat stadium. It opened only if the left-field seats, which cost $10, sold out or for large groups. Last season, right-field seats cost $6-to-$8.
“Even with our great attendance, there’s still seats that go unsold,” Greenspun said, explaining that this model was a way to offer fans a defined price.
Greenspun said a handful of other professional sports teams have contacted the Dodgers about copying the idea, including the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. The Milwaukee Brewers sent their stadium operations chief to check it out.
Fans are allowed four items per trip to the food counters under the stands. Soda stations offer unlimited drinks and bottled water is free.
“Before, no one wanted to work here. It was a hassle,” said Joe Herrera, a 10-year stadium employee. “We used to have the registers and a lot of angry people backed up. Now, the lines go fast and customers don’t complain.”
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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