I just saw a TV ad for "Cal football at AT&T park in 2011". From watching it, you'd think Cal's games at AT&T really are the place to be this fall. It's sad to think about how the reality wasn't anywhere near that.

So my question is......what was actually good about Cal playing its games in major league baseball's most attractive stadium? There have to be some positives.

510Bear;615533 said:

---

I just saw a TV ad for "Cal football at AT&T park in 2011". From watching it, you'd think Cal's games at AT&T really are the place to be this fall. It's sad to think about how the reality wasn't anywhere near that.

So my question is......what was actually good about Cal playing its games in major league baseball's most attractive stadium? There have to be some positives.

---

We are just a couple of miles down the road from Stanford wondering how badly we will get worked this year.

1. Nice view

2. Comfortable seats (relative to sardined metal benches)

3. Less time needed to take a leak.

The stadium is a thousand times nicer than memorial. Better food, more legroom, better bathrooms etc etc

Absolutely nothing!

I do wish this exact same thing had happened in 2005. Not only would that mean the new stadium project would have happened earlier, but Cal playing at AT&T in 2005 when interest at the program was at a high would have resulted in larger crowds and more buzz.

Yeah...gotta say, I thought (as an SF resident) that it was going to be excellent. It's been fun, but it's just not the same.

Views, parking, access, food, seats, a real city not a provincial outpost. Enjoyed it a lot

view
nice seats/cupholders
better bathrooms
better food
easy spacious parking
ability to tailgate

but for me:
...it's the excuse to get into the City. We try to have lunch or dinner at a nice place before or after the games. I don't work there, so I feel like I don't get in there enough. It really is a wonderful place. People come from all over the world to visit and they do it for good reason. Just as an example, a couple years ago we were in a great bistro in Paris and the waiter asked where we were from...we said San Francisco Bay Area...and he goes on about how SF is his and the chef's favorite city in the world and how they try to visit every other year...chef comes out says same thing...so yeah...going into the City is something I really enjoy about the games at AT&T

...notwithstanding all of the above, make no mistake about it, I can't wait to get back into Memorial next year
:gobears:

views - I like the view at Memorial better and the views of the field itself are much better at Memorial
parking - no question, more parking at ATT
access - actually, taking BART to Berkeley and walking through campus is better access to me
food - lines are shorter and more selection, but I will take a Top Dog over what I got at ATT
seats - big plus for ATT
city - the cities are definitely different
atmosphere - as a CAL alum, there is nothing better than walking through campus on a fall afternoon, seeing the sights and hearing the sounds of game day. I still get chills when the band takes the field. You do not get this at ATT.
bathrooms - huge plus for ATT

Tailgating on the ferry

1 - enjoy taking the ferry with the kids to most of the Saturday games.
2 - wife and I stayed in the city after $C and Fresneck
3 - good restaturants and bars arount AT&T

you are right, some good things but not the same

Far more pre-game/post-game entertainment options immediately adjacent to stadium + Way more comfortable seating and better facilities. If the team was playing well it would actually be pretty sweet. Think Cal-Miami 2008 Emerald Bowl.

Maybe the Bears can reward us faithful who show up in the rain today with some excitement... A couple big plays from KA? maybe a pick-6 from McClure or Williams? A Bigelow big play sighting?

After witnessing the Rose Bowl debacle last week firsthand, I deserve it dammit! ...Better fill up the flask before I leave.

Sandy Barbour has shown herself to be an incompetent boob.

nm

Great pre-game choices, great stadium, great energy, great seats, very easy access to bathrooms and alcohol. No students standing in front of us, comfy chairs with seat backs and replay screen. A cab ride from my house...can enjoy pre-game and post game...little or no traffic. If Memorial wasn't getting a face-lift, it would be tough to go back to Berkeley.

You must be a Dodger fan to be so bitter about AT&T. National baseball writers and talking heads routinely put AT&T amongst the Top 5 or 3 if not the very best in the country. The atmosphere is rocking (although admittedly better for a baseball layout) when there's a full house.

The lack of big time games scheduled at home this season, the massive cock-up by the AD in marketing and pricing the AT&T park season, compounded by a dissapointing product on the field has sucked the life out of the experience.

Golden One;615553 said:

---

Absolutely nothing!

---

Mommy, Golden One is being a curmudgeon again.

piemelon;615578 said:

---

Tailgating on the ferry

---

That alone is wonderful.

BeggarEd;615726 said:

---

You must be a Dodger fan to be so bitter about AT&T. National baseball writers and talking heads routinely put AT&T amongst the Top 5 or 3 if not the very best in the country. The atmosphere is rocking (although admittedly better for a baseball layout) when there's a full house.

---

Yeah, I think he's in the minority on this one. When I say most attractive, I'm referring to the setting as well as the park itself.

A guy I know insists that Chase Field in Phoenix is better than AT&T just because it has more "modern" amenities. Yeah, that giant, lifeless, antiseptic hangar where the roof is closed because Phoenix is a blast furnace all summer.

GB54;615563 said:

---

Views, parking, access, food, seats, a real city not a provincial outpost. Enjoyed it a lot

---

Provincial outpost? The area of Berkeley surrounding the three sides of campus is a great college town. Besides, the campus is the most beautiful spot on Earth.

76oldblue;615574 said:

---

views - I like the view at Memorial better and the views of the field itself are much better at Memorial
parking - no question, more parking at ATT
access - actually, taking BART to Berkeley and walking through campus is better access to me
food - lines are shorter and more selection, but I will take a Top Dog over what I got at ATT
seats - big plus for ATT
city - the cities are definitely different
atmosphere - as a CAL alum, there is nothing better than walking through campus on a fall afternoon, seeing the sights and hearing the sounds of game day. I still get chills when the band takes the field. You do not get this at ATT.
bathrooms - huge plus for ATT

---

Very well said.

I am a Dodger fan who thinks Dodger Stadium is both unique and beautiful; nevertheless, I have to say, it's about time SF has a world class stadium. It is beautiful in every respect and has a great baseball atmosphere; the problem is that it's not a college football atmosphere.

I miss walking through the campus on the way to the game. I miss seeing the band in Sproul 2 hours before gametime. I miss the band running out of the tunnel as the bomb explodes. I miss the cannon firing on Charter (Tightwad) Hill. I miss card stunts that one can read. I miss the rooting section right where it belongs in the best seats of the house. I miss the band having seats near midfield where they can be heard. I miss our opponents (particularly SC) being in an endzone rather than between the 30's. I miss the unity of Cal fans together in a bowl, rather than spread among different sections. I miss Top Dog. I miss walking through the campus after the game. I miss being at "home."

Memorial may have cramped seating, but it is home. It has many memories and traditions that predate my time.

That said, the positive of AT&T is that it is not the alternatives: it sure beats Candlestick and Oracle (or whatever the Coliseum is now called). If we had to vacate Memorial for a year, I can't imagine a better temporary home.

The overhang , it's raining

calman91;615650 said:

---

Um, it's MLB's "most attractive stadium" only in the minds of San Franciscans and baseball fans who haven't visited some of the newer and venerable older parks around the country. IMHO, it's the functional equivalent of the new Stanford Stadium. Adequate in every way but not at all exceptional. Utilitarian and lifeless.

---

LOL, seriously? Nearly every national baseball journalist thinks that AT&T is a great stadium.

bearblast;616194 said:

---

The overhang , it's raining

---

This. By mid 3rd quarter the stadium looked like a Friar Tuck haircut (a fringe of fans all around the outside, absolutely nothing in the middle). Plus, I love those ice cream sundaes. Don't care if they cost as much as a car or my arteries are sending me hate mail - got to have one every time I go.

calman91;616372 said:

---

PNC, Camden Yards, old Fenway, Wrigley....All better. AT&T is soul-less.

---

If it's the 5th best stadium that's still pretty good.

the jumbotron

grandmastapoop;615560 said:

---

Yeah...gotta say, I thought (as an SF resident) that it was going to be excellent. It's been fun, but it's just not the same.

---

Walking up to Willie Mays Plaza before the Utah game it suddenly hit me- my heart wasn't skipping a beat. That's what wasn't working. Heck, I can't even *drive* *by* Memorial Stadium -not even in the off season- without getting a little tingle up my spine and a slight shiver of joy. It's a thousand happy childhood and adolescent memories; a thousand stories from my parents about games from their childhood and young adulthood; and lots and lots and *lots* of wonderful trips back to Berkeley as an adult. Willie Mays Plaza? Well, I am a Giants fan, but not a very serious one, so about all I feel on that Plaza is appreciation for a nice Stadium (and a certain wish that all the orange and black could somehow be toned down next week when osu comes to town.) I feel like a refugee, far from home- grateful for the shelter, the warmth, the food..... but wishing every moment I could be back where I belong.

Calman91 is invited to Section 321, Rows 0-7, during baseball season--perhaps a Friday evening where you will see a whole lot of "soul". And further testimony to a new "soul", the stands were full during the last week of the season when the Giants were no longer in contention.

I am not keen on the club level experience (except for being dry, well fed, and close to the loo), as I feel disconnected from being a fan. Seats are spacious, lots of leg room, other fans polite, but I miss the masses. Probably why we prefer the View Reserved level for baseball. Know there will be another adjustment when we return to CMS next year.

Mama Bear;616830 said:

---

Calman91 is invited to Section 321, Rows 0-7, during baseball season--perhaps a Friday evening where you will see a whole lot of "soul". And further testimony to a new "soul", the stands were full during the last week of the season when the Giants were no longer in contention.

I am not keen on the club level experience (except for being dry, well fed, and close to the loo), as I feel disconnected from being a fan. Seats are spacious, lots of leg room, other fans polite, but I miss the masses. Probably why we prefer the View Reserved level for baseball. Know there will be another adjustment when we return to CMS next year.

---

I'm sure AT&T is relatively "soulless" when compared to truly old ballparks like Fenway and Wrigley. As compared to the majority of major-league parks? No.

sycasey;616833 said:

---

I'm sure AT&T is relatively "soulless" when compared to truly old ballparks like Fenway and Wrigley. As compared to the majority of major-league parks? No.

---

So soul means having no bathrooms or amenities? AT&T is a hundred times better than Fenway

GB54;616854 said:

---

So soul means having no bathrooms or amenities?

---

Probably a bit, yeah.

GB54;616854 said:

---

So soul means having no bathrooms or amenities? AT&T is a hundred times better than Fenway

---

Old stadia have a certain aura due to ghosts of past legends and championships that must be earned over time and therefore cannot be manufactured. As a Dodger fan, I have to say that whoever was responsible (Giants organization? San Francisco fans? Pac Bell?) did a great job in creating a worthy temple for the sport and team that plays there. It is a beautiful facility with modern materials and construction that is reminiscent of the ball parks of yesteryear and worthy of being home to a World Series championship.

It just isn't a football facility, particularly not a college football home field. The same would be true for Fenway, Old Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium, etc.

..and who along with his GF work near to AT&T said that on the day of the USC game, they were able to score 2 tickets for $20 a piece from some Cal fans and that they could dine close, get to the game near the end of Q1, see well from the bleachers, and be able to leave by the 3rd quarter when he knew we were done and get home for at a reasonable time to enjoy the rest of the evening!

So, with a bad team, the prices were low, one can eat in SF and leave early when we have been destroyed by the upper tier of the Conference...worked for him!

:gobears: