To be truthful I had never heard of Hoover, Alabama until this week and I had never paid much attention to the SEC Baseball Tournament since Mizzou moved conferences. With Mizzou being a bubble team for the tournament and having a pretty good season, I decided to watch games when I could. Oh yeah, and because I'm a crazy baseball fan 😊 - the way the Hoover Met was set up for this tournament made me want to be there in person though! The Met, although a little wet, has a nice field and is a nice stadium in general. What was really cool was the "fan fest" areas and activities though! With all the rain delays there has been plenty of time to show the crowd and surrounding areas. They have this large indoor area that had anything from air hockey to bounce houses to ski ball. The players could play these games as well as the fans. Now some may think this is a bad idea seeing that an Ole Miss player had a season ending foot injury due to a freak ping pong accident.. but for fans I think it's great! As someone working her way into the sports industry I see the layout of this "fan fest" as a tremendous idea for the SEC Baseball Tournament and events similar to this! They have a Ferris wheel! And they have a sports bar! It's like a fair is happening in conjunction with the tournament!
We all know that the Olympic sports in college athletics sometimes struggle to fill the stands year after year and it's a shame. When you build an atmosphere and experience that is more than just a baseball game, you spark more interests and it gives your event more to offer. Think about the people who have been in Hoover waiting out 2 hour rain delays back to back (to back?) days. If that were me I'd be a little (okay a lot) tempted to leave after being tired of sitting in the rain and being wet all day. But when they have an indoor area with games and activities inside it gives you a place to go without actually leaving. This is why I think this type of layout and setup are going to become more common. The future of these tournaments and similar events, is having fan fest areas. Take a look at the SEC's article regarding their fan fest here! I'm guessing the lineup their fan fest has to offer will spike your interest at least a little bit!
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