In March, Sports Illustrated recently surveyed fans across the nation with regard to the experience at their local ball-park. They asked them to rate the stadium based on the following factors: affordability, food, team quality, tradition, atmosphere, fan IQ, hospitality, promotions, traffic and neighborhood, then used those to come up with an overall ranking. Chase Field came in 25th. That seems kinda low, but puts us right beside our expansion brothers in Tampa, who were 24th. Here's the detailed breakdown, with some thoughts therein. What do you think?

Affordability: 22nd. This is an interesting one, given the Team Marketing Report which found the Diamondbacks had the cheapest overall tickets in all of baseball. Why is there such a disconnect between the figures? This is something I've chewed over with Diamondhacks previously. Part of the reason may be the relatively low per-capita income in the Phoenix area, part the huge difference between season-ticket prices and single-game prices. The seats we have cost us about $35 per game, and that's good value. But if I walked up to the box-office, the same seats would cost $60-70: I wouldn't pay that.

In a market such as Phoenix, without a long history of fan loyalty, especially in a recession, many people are not prepared to make the major commitment of season tickets, and the high single-game prices put them off there too. Witness the attendance against the Astros, which averaged only 20,500; with a season-ticket base around 15,000, that means only about five thousand people bought seats. For the reigning division champions, that's pretty bad.

Food: 21st. This mostly seems to be related to the cost. 47% of fans rated the quality of the food as above-average, but only 21.8% were of the same opinion for the prices. Despite recent moves by the organization to reduce the costs a bit, I can't argue with the results here. There is precious little at the park which is better than mediocre fast-food [though I am a big fan of the garlic fries, simply because they are not normal], and the prices are extortionate. A bottle of water that costs perhaps 25 cents at the supermarket is now, what, $3.75? And I can't remember the last time I bought a beer. Yes, you can apparently buy one for four bucks, but given the brands in question, I'd rather drink my own urine.

Team Quality: 10th. Kinda amusing, given we had the best record in the National League. Even funnier, is that topping this area were Detroit, with 89% of fans rating their team as "excellent". Wonder what they think of their 14-17 team now? AL fans rate their teams much higher; the top five in this category are all American League, before the Rockies at #6. The Mets, Brewers and Phillies are also above the D-backs, but again, one suspects opinions in this area might be a little different now.

They also asked, "Which player on your team is the most worth paying to watch?" Eric Byrnes pipped Brandon Webb here, 31%-29%, with no-one else breaking into double figures. This is an interesting result: much as some of us here may complain, the reality seems to be that Byrnes is the face of the franchise. He is certainly the most-visible, and that is, to some extent, the responsibility of the organization. They need to be a little bit careful, and should perhaps spread the wealth a bit more if they want to avoid a potentially-nasty situation after 2010. Remember what happened last time the left-fielding "face of the franchise had to be let go...

History and Tradition: 26th. Hardly a surprise here, when as I always say, I have shoes older than this franchise. Surprisingly, we did finish ahead of the Twins, who have three pennants and two World Series. Less surprisingly, we were also above the Nationals and Rays. Dead-last were the Marlins: I guess winning it all and then having a fire-sale doesn't count as a "tradition." Not much the organization can do about this one, but wait it out. I was, however, pleased to see that they stopped trying to force-feed us a Brown-Eyed Girl sing-along in an attempt to create an entirely artificial tradition.

Ballpark Atmosphere: 23rd. Fans appreciate the comfort of the seats [63% giving that the thumbs-up], but the atmosphere is less well-liked. I'm inclined to agree with that, but this is probably related to a couple of the other categories [Tradition and Fan IQ]. There's not much that can be done to improve it right away, though I was also pleased to see the exhortations to "Get Loud...Stay Loud..." appear to have been removed from the new Jumbotron. Still, too often, attempts to start up cheers are drowned out by canned music, etc. This is a ballgame, where events on the field are supposed to spontaneously create the fan reaction, not orders from Mike and Vanessa.

Fan Intelligence: 29th. Quite comfortably our worst showing, but I can't say this is an area which ever has had a major impact on my experiences at Chase. It would be nice if they knew when to get on their feet and vocalize their support, but otherwise, it doesn't bother me much. I am also less likely to trust the results of any self-reported poll about intelligence. For example. rated #3 for intelligence were Yankees' fans, which has got to be a first. From my experience of that stadium, I can only presume they misread "intelligence" as "incoherence", or possibly "intoxication".

Fan Hospitality: 18th. A better showing in this category, with 55% saying we were better than average in this area. In the accompanying comments, the general theme was that we were, if anything, "too nice." I'd certainly like to see us do a much better job of drowning out chants from opposing fans. The lack of any obvious rivals may play into this: while the Mets may be ranked 29th, almost all the comments about bad experiences there relate to games against the Yankees. I had no problems there wearing my D-backs shirt - though the fact we got our asses kicked on the park probably helped alleviate the need for any off-park aggression.

Promotions: 18th. Hard for me to comment, as I don't think I've ever been to any other park on promotions night - about the only item I have is a Mets' Hello Kitty, which I bought on Ebay. I would prefer it if the giveaways were spread out, rather than being concentrated entirely on Saturday nights. I'd have thought those weekend games are the ones least in need of promotion. I have been favorably impressed with the gifts I've got; the 'Anybody, Anytime' shirts are a permanent addition to the wardrobe. I am a little fed-up of bobbleheads, but they seem to be popular, so what do I know?

Getting to the Game: 22nd. Seems about right. The construction around the park for the light-rail has definitely made things a lot more complex, but we are hopefully through the worst of that now. Something worth bearing in mind is that, for the Friday night fireworks, the garage from which they fire them is locked down until the show is over, so if you park there, you might as well stay for the show, because you aren't going anywhere. The cost of parking isn't an issue for us, since we park at my job, two blocks from the stadium. But it seems generally fair to good: you shouldn't need to pay more than five bucks on most nights.

The main blackmark against the Diamondbacks is the lack of public-transport options, which 66% rate as below average. This isn't really the team's fault, but is something that's true for Phoenix as a whole. Light-rail may help, but if you aren't on the direct route, it won't be much help. You'll still have to take your car to and from the line, and I also wonder whether the service will be able to cope with post-game volume? If you have to wait more than 15 minutes to get on a train, people are not going to bother.

Neighborhood: 14th. Almost dead in the middle; 52.5% said the dining and drinking options within walking distance were above average or excellent. We have a long way to go to catch up with the Cubs (92%) or Padres (95%) in this category, but  on the other hand, are much better than the A's (5%) and Marlins (4%). Downtown is still a work in progress, and needs to become more of a destination [compare and contrast SoDo in Denver, or the Gaslamp District in San Diego], outside of sporting events. At the moment, the area is basically a ghost-town by 6pm.

I also have to say, 6:40pm weekday start times are extremely inconvenient if you work a regular job, and want to have something to eat before the game. There is no opportunity to go anywhere except for the park: this is likely the aim (getting fans to spend their money inside the park), but a thriving downtown area will help the ballpark to thrive. It does also concern me that all the renovation appears to be happening on one side of the park: if you go a couple of blocks the wrong way from Chase...hoo-boy.