Great game - until it slowed down in the bottom of the 7th
by rainier1 on 4/1/19Phoenix Municipal Stadium - PhoenixParking and gate entry times were terrible. It should take no more than 10 minutes from the intersection of Van Buren and Priest/Galvin to get into the ballpark. The game was pretty good – until it slowed from a 2hr:30min pace to a 3hr:15min pace. The parking attendants were (and are) in desperate need of personnel on the streets directing traffic into the parking area. Particularly for large crowds like this one for an ASU/UA baseball game. There are three general public parking entrances West of the ballpark. These are Priest/Galvin, 56th St, and Salt River Drive. However, everyone used Priest/Galvin exclusively. This caused very long delays turning South from Van Buren to Priest/Galvin where traffic quickly funneled into one lane turning West into the parking area. This is a 'single point' failure and it is an easy problem to fix. Add some people, or at least some signs, to efficiently route traffic from the streets to the parking area. Further, the line getting into the ballpark was very slow moving. This was made worse by not being advised of two ballpark entrances, North and South. This is another 'single point' failure and it too is an easy problem to fix. Add more metal detectors and some people, or at least some signs, to efficiently route people to both entrances. Now, the game was pretty good for several innings. It was on pace to end after 2hr:30min, but then slowed to a crawl in the bottom of the 7th with pitching changes, etc. Sure, it's baseball, but it's college. There's no reason for the rules to allow a college game to slow down from a 2hr:30min pace to a 3hr:15min pace with 2 innings left (if the home team wins). Maybe it's time to limit college pitching changes (face three batters, etc.) and use wooden bats to get quicker outs. Thankfully this Friday night game was 'only' 3hr:15min, and didn't turn into the ASU 17 - UA 16 game lasting 5hr:10min on Sunday.