Houston Press article this morning on the ridiculousness of the Astros' policy (the only MLB franchise) of not allowing paying customers to bring in their own food/drinks.
The fan experience at Minute Maid Park is the worst that I've experienced. The food is awful and overpriced. Parking is inconvenient and expensive, and cheap public transit is nearly non-existent. Once in your seat you're constantly blasted with way too loud music, and the sound system makes the fantastic Bob Ford nearly unintelligible. If you get stuck in a seat up by the roof, you're in for a night of extreme heat because there's no other place for the hot air to go. And there's the awful product on the field.
Drayton McLane often talks about the fans, but as always, his actions don't back up his words. The low-priced tickets are actually among the highest in baseball. The vendor who demands exclusivity apparently only demands that privilege from the Astros because it provides the same services to other stadiums without having exclusivity.
Agree? Disagree?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
