Ballpark 7: Fifth Third Field (Single A affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds)

Overview: We visited Fifth Third Field in the summer of 2019. They were marking their 20th year in Dayton this summer. When doing our preliminary research on Dayton, we learned quickly about “the streak”. Dayton has 20 years of consecutive sell out games. This caused quite the panic, as we had to break our personal rule of buying tickets at the Box Office to avoid paying service charges. Luckily, we found the Dayton Dragons Kid Club memberships. For $15, the kids each received a jersey, hat, and 2 free tickets to a game. We purchased 2 kids club memberships, and emailed the coordinator of the program. He was able to accommodate us for the game that we specifically needed. He also asked us to email him the week before coming to see if he could do something extra special for us.

When we arrived to the stadium, we met with Brandon, who led us through a series of doors, and into the Dragon’s dugout, pre-game. We got to hang out for a few minutes. A pretty cool experience. Little did we know that this would just be the beginning of the over-the-top Customer Service that we would experience that night.

After getting autographs (see below), we did our customary walk around the stadium. We passed through the Kid Zone (see below) and made our way around the concourse until we reached the left field corner. We struck up a conversation with a gentleman about our quest to see every ballpark. He then offered us 4 tickets to sit in the all inclusive area of the park in left field, which we gladly accepted. Free food, free drinks! The business owner talked to the ushers, and soon enough, we had different representatives from the Dayton Dragons stopping by and giving the kids all sorts of stuff! We ended up with a swag bag of bobble heads and toys. They went way overboard. We felt like kings.

Parking: We found a parking lot directly across the street from the front gates for $5. No need for us to look any further.

Kid Activities: When we arrived at the ballpark, there was a station outside the gates making free balloon animals for the kids.

The center field area behind the scoreboard housed the Dragons Kid Zone. They had a pitching radar machine and a few carnival style games, each costing $1. We found an employee who “assisted” the kids in getting the top prizes, each scoring a pair of mascot bobble heads.

Player Accessibility: Fifth Third Field has netting all the way from home plate to the foul poles, which greatly decreased player accessibility. We started on the third base side for the opponents, and found a small window of netting that was open. Nolan and Sammy got a few autographs, but then the ushers came down to close the windows.

Nolan and Chris then rushed over to the Dragons side of the field (1st base). There was a small window of opportunity at the home plate side of the dugout. It was big enough for maybe 3 or 4 people to use. We were able to catch about 10 players who were walking from the clubhouse into the dugout.

So, even though the setup was difficult, it’s possible to get some autographs if you can get to that spot first.

Atmosphere: It’s really hard for this to not be skewered by the superb customer service that we experienced throughout the ballpark (see above). The stadium itself is an above average ballpark. The concourse was easy to navigate and spanned a full 360 degrees around the park. There was construction going on in the streets behind the stadium. It appeared that the ballpark was bringing revitalization to the surrounding neighborhoods. The between inning entertainment was fresh, we saw some things that we hadn’t seen before. The game did sell out, per the norm, but tickets could have been purchased at the box office. The team has heavy corporate sponsorship, who buy up remaining tickets.

Conclusion: We will never forget our visit here. The employees really shined here. Our kids were spoiled absolutely rotten. It’s nice to see that the corporate sponsors and locals really support the team. The ballpark itself is definitely above average and the player accessibility is slightly below average, but we had an overall experience that we won’t forget.

Ratings:

Parking ******** 8/10

Kid Activities *******7/10

Player Accessibility **** 4/10

Atmosphere ******** 8/10