Many noticed something odd during Sunday’s matchup between the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks: a fan wearing blue sitting right behind home plate in Arizona was given a Diamondbacks jersey and put it on during an at-bat:
The Diamondbacks keep making Dodgers fans put on Diamondbacks jerseys
The Diamondbacks got caught making a Dodgers fan put on an Arizona jersey.
Once again a Dodgers fan was asked to wear a #DBacks jersey behind home plate pic.twitter.com/PlWbuQRlwV http://t.co/1bCEVRDl0r
— 12 News (@12News) April 13, 2015 The Diamondbacks admitted they asked him to change clothes:
[1/3] Dbacks spokesman re: the fan who switched from Dodgers to Dbacks gear behind home plate yesterday:
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) April 13, 2015 [2/3] "at the time of purchase, we ask that those fans sitting in the home plate box ...
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) April 13, 2015 [3/3] "... which is visible on TV, wear either neutral colors or D-backs attire which the team will provide."
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) April 13, 2015 This is not a new thing: Deadspin has chronicled the Diamondbacks' occasional insistence that fans in those seats wear Diamondbacks colors. They've also pointed out that they only seem to insist opposing fans do this when those fans are Dodger fans.
Apparently, the fans in those seats behind home plate -- a suite that costs over $3,000 -- are told that they can either put on Diamondbacks colors or move to other seats, which, you know, aren’t the $3,000 seats they paid for, and therefore it isn’t really much of a choice.
Obviously the Diamondbacks own their ballpark and are permitted to do stuff like this if they feel like this. But man, it seems lame as heck to do this. Y’all just took several thousand dollars from somebody so that they can attend a single regular season baseball game in April. How can you give that person any trouble at all? Like, shouldn’t you do everything in your power to ensure that person has the best time ever and will buy these tickets again? Wouldn’t the potential return from that be way greater than the benefit of having that person wear the shirt you want? Wouldn’t it be best to ensure your stadium has a reputation as a great place to spend money? Doesn’t having a guy change his shirt on TV simply draw attention to the fact that he was wearing a different-colored shirt to begin with, therefore causing people to notice him? Doesn’t looking obnoxious and petty seem a lot worse from a PR perspective than looking like fans of other teams occasionally go to your stadium?
Just some food for thought. Dodgers won, 7-4, by the way.
SB Nation presents: Why the Dodgers are primed to destroy anything in their path
See More:
