b?'s magical mystery stadium tour! #8

#8: Chiba Marine Stadium,
千葉マリンスタジアム
Location: Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture
場所：千葉市、千葉県
Home team: Chiba Lotte Marines
チーム：千葉ロッテマリーンズ
Capacity/定員: 30,000
Opened: February 2, 1990





Chiba Lotte Marine Stadium is just a short trip out of Tokyo but it's a world away. The stadium is accessed by using Kaihin Makuhari station and then a decent walk towards Tokyo Bay. The surroundings are a stark contrast to what you would leave behind in Tokyo with no skyscrapers and expansive views in all directions. The stadium is located near the Makuhari Messe conference complex and not too much else. It is one of the stadiums with any decent parking available near the stadium, but of you're walking, you'll be doing a lot of it compared to what you can expect from most stadiums here in Japan. Marine Stadium has a couple of things going for it: it's near the ocean, it has a unique design (for Japan) and the Marines fans are some of the loudest and most loyal of all in Japan. However it has several things that don't much go in their favor: concessions are few, the fans look and sound more like a combination of soccer and racing fans than baseball ones, the outfield stands are near vertical and it has astro turf... astro turf... It's not a terrible stadium, I mean it's pretty average though, remenicient of the cookie-cutter multi-purpose stadiums built in the U.S. in the '60's and '70's. It's unique location is a plus, but the biggest thing it has going for it is that Bobby Valentine is the manager of the team... It doesn't have a dome! But, astro turf...

location: +2
history: -3
fanmasphere: -0
concessions: -2
smoking: +1
bathrooms: +1
sight lines: +2
field surface: -5
outside: +1
surroundings: +2
seats: -0
atmosphere: +1
security: +5

total: +5