There’s snow in the forecast for Progressive Field and Indians fans couldn’t be happier.
This winter, the home of the Cleveland Indians will be hosting Snow Days, a winter wonderland of activities for the whole family.
Starting on Nov. 26, Progressive Field will be filled with skating facilities, a snow tubing hill, a walking trail through the outfield, a fire pit and concession stand, and a kids’ play area. Snow Days will run through at least Jan. 2, but the Indians are leaving the end date open.
Even if the weather outside isn’t frightful, the Indians will be bringing in 150 tons of snow each day, and can keep the ice in the skating areas usable up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prices for admission vary, from a $5 general admission pass to a $100 family day pass.
The biggest question is, why don’t other northern teams have similar programs?
The Indians are a small market team, and they’ll be incurring some overhead costs for the winter transformation, but they hope Snow Days will bring in future revenue.
Fenway Park constructed an ice rink for the 2010 NHL Winter Classic and two college hockey games in January. They also offered public skating sessions while the rink was up. But so far there are no plans to use Fenway this winter.
There are plenty of ice rinks all over the Boston area, but none of them can provide the same experience as skating in the middle of the most historic ballpark in the country, so why not make a Fenway rink an annual feature?
There are plenty of winter activities that could feasibly be done inside Fenway. To keep the activities baseball related, for example, why not have an area where you can measure your pitching speed with snowballs? Young Red Sox fans would never forget the time they got to “pitch” at Fenway Park. How about making the Green Monster an ice wall for ice climbers? What about tubing down the center field grandstands? How does cross-country skiing through the concourse and around the main aisle surrounding the box seats sound? Or making snow sculptures of your favorite Red Sox player?
Teams in colder climates have always shut down their facilities for half the year, but if the Indians are successful, maybe more teams will be announcing their own Snow Days soon.
