It’s like putting a square peg in a round hole.
Getting a new minor league franchise off the ground isn’t easy, but the biggest challenge of bringing a developmental football team to the home of the Cyclones may be fitting a gridiron into the baseball diamond.
“The facility isn’t made for a football field, and it’s something we’re still working on to make sure it’s the best layout possible,” said Cyclones vice president Steve Cohen, who is working to bring the Brooklyn Bolts to MCU Park this fall.
The Cyclones partnered with the newly formed Fall Experimental Football League to bring the developmental team to Brooklyn for a six-game season that kicks off in October. But football fans aren’t going to get their customary views in the baseball stadium, which only offers seating around about one-third of the field.
“We’re not going to have around-the-field seating like you would in the NFL, but a majority of park will have good sight lines,” Cohen said.
The gridiron will run along the right foul line, so most fans will sit behind the home-plate-side end zone, but eight sections of the stadium will offer seats along the line of scrimmage — and sections 22 and 24 sit at the 50-yard line, a traditionally sought-after vantage point. Seats in the 14 sections around the home-plate end zone — the so-called “Rumble Level” — will cost $25, while seats in the “Lightning Level” near the 50-yard line will be $35.
For budget-conscious fans, the right-field bleacher section — dubbed “The Thunder Storm” — will face the corner of the outfield-side end zone and cost $20.
For $100, special “Black and Gold Club” tickets will offer Bolts boosters a seat in the stadium, complimentary eats, and sideline access to an area next to the 10- and 20-yard lines.
The new league’s commissioner said that all fans’ proximity to the action will make any seat a good one.
“Minor league baseball facilities provide a more intimate setting,” said commissioner Brian Woods. “I don’t think there will be a bad seat in the house.”
