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Nothing tops the dome's front rowBy MARK ALBRIGHT © St. Petersburg Times, published April 1, 1998 "Hey! We're right down in the front rowwwwww!" Forget those fancy schmancy club seats with their distant views and those sedate corporate suites with their polite chitchat. The best 100 seats at Tropicana Field are right behind home plate. These seats come with high-tech monitors, plush rocking chairs, lots of leg room and personal food and beverage service. Still, they're not quite ready for prime time. The computers at each seat have some glitches. Many terminals temporarily froze up or had to be shut down by technicians during Tuesday's opener. Some functions, such as ordering food or merchandise from the PC, aren't connected. Besides, many users got so distracted trying to work the computer controls that they missed a four-run Detroit rally. By the fourth inning, most of the 100 Choice Seat occupants had pushed their screens aside. Several said they didn't pay all that money for prime seats only to watch TV. The sound quality on the radio broadcast sounded more like bees buzzing. Still, they were a popular toy for some. About two-thirds of the Choice Seats were snapped up by corporate season ticket holders at $15,000 a pop. "I could have sat in one of the suites, but I want to be down here where you feel the action and can smell the dirt," said Donna Dowless, who runs Ticketmaster in Florida. Outback Steakhouse president Bob Basham and his family sat there. Bill Griffin, former Riscorp chief executive who was indicted last fall for improper political contributions, was also among those down in the front row. He's a minority partner in the Devil Rays. Others splurged for just one night in the good seats. Kathy Felch, a St. Petersburg advertising executive, and Melissa Wisner, a Safety Harbor saleswoman, waited five hours Saturday to snag a ticket. "We were shooting for $20," Wisner said. "When they said $195 was the only thing left we turned white for a few moments before reaching for the plastic." What did they get for their $195? They were close enough to yell at players. They were greeted by a hostess who signed their menus "Hi, my name is Lori," offering to fetch drinks in return for a 15 percent service charge. They each got a $2,000 touch-screen computer that offered a wealth of even the most arcane baseball statistics, such as ratings of each hitter's arm strength. Fans also can flip through six TV camera angles of the action, catch ESPN programs and watch real-time player stats. In short, you can be a TV producer. And if that's not enough to entertain the MTV generation, you also get earphones to listen to the Rays radio broadcast. "It's like watching a game live and being at home watching it at the same time," said Martin Kaplan, president of a Clearwater software company. "It was worth $195 to be in the best seats in the house for the inaugural game," Reilly said. "But I don't think I'd do 81 times a season."
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evin Reilly sat quietly in his $195 seat 10 minutes before reality sunk in. Then the St. Petersburg lumber wholesaler stood up and bellowed.
