The Potomac Nationals have pushed their weekday evening start times back from 7:05PM to 7:35PM for the 2007 season.
“We feel that the later game times will give our fans more time to get to the stadium on weekdays,” said [Potomac Nationals Vice President & General Manager Bobby] Holland. “Given our traffic situation in Northern Virginia, we think this could be a win-win for both our fans and our attendance.”
Wooden U. Lykteneau | 23-Oct-06 at 9:52 am | Permalink
I’m not sure if this is a good idea. Sure, more people MAY be able to go to the games, but how does this change how early they have to get up and go to work the next morning? I suspect you’ll see an exodus at 9:30 p.m., particularly in May, when it’s warm enough for the casual Virginian fans (as a native New Englander, I have to laugh at folks in blankets when it’s 55 degrees in April) to go to the games but the traffic has not let up yet.
Brian J Oliver | 23-Oct-06 at 11:22 am | Permalink
I’m not sure that really matters for the casual fan. From my experiences, fans showed up at the Pfitz when they could. There were always folks filing into the stadium up until 7:30-7:45. And there were folks who left at around 9-9:30 regardless of the state of the game … close or blowout. This actually is nicer for folks who work around Washington DC and leave work around 5PM ish. They now have time to get to the Pfitz for the first pitch. The fans that stay for the whole thing are likely to do so whether the game starts at 7 or 30 minutes later.
From a personal perspective, I like it. It allows me to not have to leave work early and still have enough time to get to the game before it begins.