Twitpic from Bud McDonald used with permission

Friend of WLDC, Ryan C., took advantage of the Nats’ $1 Monday promotion last night. $1 tickets, $1 hot dogs and other snack foods – and a response that caused the special-priced tickets for a Monday May game against the Pirates to disappear within minutes. Ryan was lucky enough to get seats, and he passed his thoughts on how things went in to us.

While it was a late arriving crowd on Monday evening for $1 night, the items were relatively easy to come by, despite my fears that the Nats would not plan for the influx of purchases and run out of hot dogs early. When I arrived at the ballpark around 6:15 pm I went to the food court area right by the centerfield gate. I went to a stand that sold hot dogs but was told that only “Nats Dogs” concession stands were selling hot dogs. I found the nearest “Nats Dogs” stand and waited in line for about five minutes where I was able to purchase four hot dogs for $1 each.

‘Nats Dogs’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

After eating my affordable dinner, we continued to walk around the stadium and saw that most of the “Nats Dogs” stands in other parts of the park had significantly less people in line. I picked up a $1 popcorn and a peanuts at no line on the third base side. Later in the game, friends who went to the stands told me that there were lines but that they moved through in about 5-10 minutes during the early part of the games. Eventually some stands began limiting purchases to two hot dogs per person. Other stands other than “Nats Dogs” also were selling the dollar items.

Overall, considering that the game drew nearly 22,000 on a night that regularly would have drawn about half that, I would say it was a terrific success for the Nationals. They exceeded my expectations in their ability to maintain relatively short lines and adequate supplies of food items. I would suspect that the Nats will probably do this again this season and in the future. I was lucky enough to snag one of the $1 seats in section 109, but in the future, I would recommend that the Nats do not discount tickets as well. I have been to a few “Buck Nights” at Kauffman Stadium for the Kansas City Royals and they do not have a need to discount tickets to get people into the park for the dollar items.

For once, a “well done Nats” is in order.

Also, thanks to Bud McDonald, who took the photo of the $1 section crowds that led this post.

Dave Levy

Dave Levy is a PR guy by day, a media researcher on the side and a self-proclaimed geek. He blogs often about how traditional media adapts – or tries to adapt – to the growing digital media world at State of the Fourth Estate. You can follow Dave on Twitter for various updates about everything from sports from his previous home in Boston to eccentric and obscure pop culture references. Read why Dave loves D.C.