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Posted: Tuesday September 12, 2006 11:15AM; Updated: Tuesday September 12, 2006 12:30PM
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Detroit Tigers
Comerica Park
Detroit, Mich. :: Opened: 2000 :: Capacity: 40,950
Tom Pidgeon/Getty Images
Average Ticket Price: $18.48
Average Cost of Concessions and Souvenirs: $89.00
How expensive is stadium parking?
• FREE: 8%
• $5-$10: 28%
• $10-$15: 39%
• $15-$20: 22%
• More than $20: 3%

Is public transportation a viable option?
• Never: 59%
• Worth it if you have a lot of time and patience: 20%
• A good option to avoid rush hour: 5%
• Pretty easy if you know the system well: 13%
• The only way to go: 2%

How would you rate traffic getting to and from the game?
To the game:
• A slow-moving parking lot: 3%
• Slow, but usually steady: 18%
• Moves well outside of rush hour: 30%
• Aside from the occasional bottleneck, it's good: 37%
• A smooth ride at all times: 10%

From the game:
• A slow-moving parking lot: 7%
• Slow, but usually steady: 32%
• Moves well outside of rush hour: 20%
• Aside from the occasional bottleneck, it's good: 32%
• A smooth ride at all times: 7%
How would you rate the number of restrooms for men and women?
• Bring a map: 1%
It depends on the section: 6%
• Never more than a short walk away: 26%
• A satisfactory amount: 25%
• Plenty: 32%

How long is the wait to use a bathroom?
• Always available: 46%
• 1-5 minutes: 48%
• 5-10 minutes: 3%
• More than 10 minutes: 1%

How would you rate the variety of food/beer concession options?
• Limp hot dogs, bland peanuts, even blander beer: 2%
• Nothing fancy, but the staple foods are tasty: 9%
• A little variety of food and drinks available at specific locations: 22%
• A nice variety but locations are spread out: 36%
• You name it, they have it around almost every corner: 27%

How much will a meal at the ballpark cost you?
• $5-$10: 19%
• $10-$20: 63%
• $20-$30: 14%
• $30-$40: 1%
• More than $40: 1%

How would you rate the entertainment options aside from the game?
• Nonexistent: 1%
• So many games/promotions and scoreboard highlights that the game is lost in the background: 1%
• Typical mascot antics/scoreboard quizzes and fun music: 29%
• Some unique promotions/antics, but it sometimes distracts from the game: 10%
• A nice balance that draws your attention when the game is stopped but doesn't distract from the action on the field: 56%
"For generations, fans in Detroit grew up with the enclosed Tiger Stadium that had its faults but was a great place to see a game. They went away with Comerica, which is wide-open and big." Implicit in that observation is a feeling that the new park isn't "cozy," that "the seats are too far from the field" and that there are "terrible sightlines in the lower level." The team has done what it can to incorporate its history into its new surroundings with a team Hall of Fame and a host of "amazing" statues of Tiger greats beyond the left-center field fence. The parent in you (if you are one) will also like the carousel and Ferris wheel at the park; the baseball fan in you will likely think the whole thing "looks like a circus." As for the hungry person in you, a food court near the carousel offers a plethora of ways to avoid the ubiquitous Little Caesar's pizza (which was founded by current Tigers owner Mike Ilitch) in the park. And what better way to wash down an order of ribs or a gyro than with a trip to the in-stadium beer hall or "an out-and-out superb" frozen daiquiri?
Time was a trip to see the Tigers was a trip into the city's underdeveloped underbelly, the vast swaths of city untouched by the TV-friendly glow of the Renaissance Center and its towers of glass. But that time has passed, replaced by a tidy new park in the midst of Detroit's pulsing Greektown neighborhood, awash not only in food but in three casinos. "It's where you'll find the best food/atmosphere in the city." Should you want to go the sports-bar route, you can follow the masses to the Hockeytown Café or Cheli's Chili (owned by NHL player Chris Chelios) -- but some find that the "overpriced, bland food and teeming throngs of people" make both "terrible places to watch a game" -- or to Nemo's, an old beer-and-burger bar across the street from the old Tiger Stadium. As sunny as things seem in Detroit these days, you still "need to know where you are going and what is safe and what might be a problem."
2006 record: 86-58 (all statistics through Sept. 10)
Players worth the price of admission: Magglio Ordoņez (.293 Avg., 19 HR, 92 RBIs), Joel Zumaya (6-3, 1.98 ERA, 85 Ks), Justin Verlander (16-7, 3.19 ERA, 117 Ks)
Comerica tries too hard. Tiger Stadium wasn't perfect, but it was a great place to watch a game, and fans knew it. A better neighborhood would have been nice, but few were hoping for a Ferris wheel or a carousel. This is an old-time baseball town; there was little need to sell the fans on coming to the ballpark. Some creature comforts are great, but Comerica feels as much like an amusement park as it does a baseball venue. Yes, Comerica is comfortable and convenient, but with all of the bells and whistles, it seems to distract from what's going on on the field, which, this year at least, is something fans should be focused on.

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