New Ownership Gets Crackin' Fast

The new Texas Rangers ownership, headed by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan, didn’t wait long to start on a series of fan initiatives. Improvements started only hours after MLB approved the new ownership for the Greenberg-Ryan group. New prices for parking, concessions and fan merchandise were unveiled at the Friday home game against Boston.

Hot dogs were reduced from $4.50 to $4, soda in souvenir cups was down from $5.75 to $5 and bottled beers were cut from $7 to $6. The most-reduced concession was hot chocolate from $3 to $1, but with temperatures as hot as they have been, that is not a big seller.   

Then the most exciting and fan-tastic idea... there is the “Cap Exchange”.  Fans can receive a 20 percent discount on all Rangers caps at the gift shops if they bring in another team's cap in exchange. Sound like a good idea?

"It gives you amnesty and a little bit of a break to put the right cap on," Chuck Greenberg said. "We have a whole series of initiatives as far as the fans, but that's the best we would do in 24 hours. This is just the beginning of an extended program that will never end as far as this franchise in being responsive to the fans."

There are also plans for significant improvements to the 16-year-old Rangers Ballpark, including new video boards, which many fans have asked about. Also, additions and enhancements have already kicked into gear. These moves include t-shirts being thrown into the stands on all levels of Rangers Ballpark, adding ball and strike counts to concourse monitors, re-instituting radio play-by-play sound on the concourses, and new elements on the scoreboards, video boards, and in the seating bowl. (Maury Brown) Immediate changes like the price adjustments, and fan interaction just show the fans how dedicated this new ownership team is to helping the fans enjoy such a dynamic and talented team.