As clueless as the younger generation is, they, along with the rest of New York Mets fandom, should treat Citi Field like a baseball stadium.
Citi Field has recently been making headlines, but instead of being for the product on the field, it’s been for the products throughout the venues concourses. While it’s always great to see the New York Mets state-of-the-art ballpark being recognized for their incredible food options, it’s also important to make sure it doesn’t steer the attention of fans away from the game being played.Ever since it opened in 2009, Citi Field has had some of the best food in the majors. Whether it’s been Shake Shack, Blue Smoke or Pat LaFrieda’s, guests have never had a shortage of choices for dining when attending Mets games. In fact, since if often appeared as if people went to the ballpark more for the food than the actual games, we often heard jokes like the venue was really a food court with a baseball stadium in it.
This year, even more additions are being added to what is already an all-star concessions line-up which includes the food from Chefs Josh Capon and Michael White. New food options this season include various new burgers, mac and cheese, lobster tacos, mozzarella pepperoni sticks and gourmet cookie dough.
If there was any question that Citi Field had the best food of any Major League ballpark prior to this season, these new additions should clearly put any of those doubts to rest. It’s great to see the Mets giving their guests a world-class experience and giving them phenomenal dining options.
However, people in attendance should still be aware that they’re at a baseball game, especially going into a season with high expectations for the team.
Since the Mets struggled during their first six seasons at Citi Field, having incredible concessions gave guests a reason to come to the ballpark. With fans being frustrated with the lack of production on the field, they at least had the amenities off it to keep them happy. As much as the team struggled with attendance before the 2015 season, those numbers would have been even worse if it weren’t for the food.
Yet, coming off two straight years of being in the postseason including a World Series appearance, people should not be coming to Citi Field solely for the food and should not spend an entire game grazing around to the different concession stands.
Does this mean all this awesome ballpark food shouldn’t be getting any attention? Certainly not. However, this stuff should be publicized in a way where guests are still encouraged to be in their seats watching the game. For example, when marketing the different food selections it would be wise to encourage fans to come to the ballpark early to check them out. This way, they are less likely to miss two innings of a game waiting on line at Shake Shack.
It is understandable that new state-of-the-art ballparks come with more state-of-the-art food and not only hot dogs, peanuts and beer. Stadiums have stepped up their game big time which it comes to concessions and that’s great to see. Many people also view the game as too slow and have a tough time sitting through nine innings. Still, this doesn’t mean that the attention should be steered away from what people are really paying to see. By all
By all means, should guests have the opportunity to check out all the top-notch food Citi Field has to offer, but when Noah Syndergaard is on the mound or Yoenis Cespedes is at the plate, they should be in a hurry to get to their seats rather than the food court.
