The Nationals Experience
It's difficult not to have a good customer experience at a baseball game. Before you even enter the park, you're greeted by the excitement of fanfare--your team's insignia everywhere, the hollered calls for peanuts, water bottles, and team gear! Like Pavlov's dogs, your mouth starts to salivate as the smell of hot dogs, burgers, and ribs on the grill waft through the air. And in the case of National's baseball, that means local favorites like Ben's Chili Bowl, Shake Shack, and Jammin Island's Jamaican Jerk Chicken. Throw in a couple of beers--the selection of which, includes dozens of home brews like DC Brau, and you are guaranteed a great time, no matter what the scoreboard reads.
Across the nation, there is one mainstay complaint about stadiums in general--the prices. PointAfter breaks down MLB beer prices from cheapest to steepest in this article from April 2015, ranging from $4 to $7.75 (averages) -- National's Park lands at number 16 with an average beer cost of $6.50 (neighboring Camden Yards ranks 11 with an average of $6.75, and the most expensive beers can be found at Fenway park for an average of $7.75)*. I've used the cost of beers to gauge national stadium prices, but toss in official MLB memorabilia and gear, food, and parking, and you can have one expensive event on your hand. The good news is that you control how much you spend. And Nat's Park gains points for two great features: allowing outside food and beverages as mentioned on their information site, and being located so close to the Navy Yard Metro Station that you're practically exiting onto the field for no more than $6 from anywhere in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia Metropolitan area. With that kind of compromise, there's no reason not to take yourself out to the ballgame! -- Theresa Fox
*Most of the beer prices I saw around Nat's Park were about $9 for domestics, and premiums like ciders and Blue Moon were about $10.
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