Ontario Airport in California's Inland Empire has been staging a major comeback—and it may have launched its biggest flex yet.
I remember when the only way for me to fly JetBlue from New York City to the West Coast was from JFK to ONT or LGB (Long Beach)—and then JetBlue ceased operations out of ONT in 2008 and the mid-sized airport's business declined by nearly half.
That was back when Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) controlled ONT and didn't prioritize regional air transport. But then ownership of the Ontario airport transferred to the locally-focused Ontario International Airport Authority in 2016—and when JetBlue returned in 2018, that seemed to be a major sign of an upswing.
By the end of 2019, the number of passengers passing through the airport rebounded to its 2008 numbers. And in the following years, ONT continued to break its own records, celebrate more milestones, and welcome more airlines to its runways and gates.
But unlike some other athletic complexes with corporate branding, the ONT theme influences nearly every aspect of the stadium experience. (Compare that to, say, the LA soccer stadium—which, regardless if it's named after Banc of California or Bank of Montreal, you wouldn't necessarily know the difference.)
Entering the complex is like arriving to an airport, with arrival "gates" and boarding areas. Box seating areas for groups are called "Flight Cabins." The new home team is named the Ontario Tower Buzzers—a Top Gun reference to "buzzing the [control] tower"—and their mascot is an aviator bee named Maverick.
It took nearly 80 years for baseball to return to Ontario. The city's last Minor League team, the Ontario Orioles, played a single season in 1947. ONT Field welcomes the sport back in a major way, with a fully immersive, themed environment.
One of the bar areas is located beneath an overhang that evokes an airplane hangar—and the lighting and signage are like what you'd find on an airport runway at night.
Security personnel wear pilot uniforms.
There's a neon-lined concessions stand called The Landing at center field...
...which is devoted exclusively to serving ice cream (which will be very necessary during the summer months of baseball season).
ONT Field is only a 10-minute drive from ONT airport—and if you wanted to fly a plane from Los Angeles to Ontario, they say it would only take you 11 minutes. (The Friday night drive, however, was about 2.5 hours.)
Minor League baseball games are really fun and low-key and often silly, so I've been wanting to go to one in Southern California for years. The debut of a new team and stadium gave me the perfect excuse to finally make my way out there for an evening game (just in case the daytime was too hot).
The other big reason I wanted to go? The Dodgers. The Ontario Tower Buzzers is the LA team's minor league affiliate at the Single A level—the lowest point of entry into the pros—and there's a lot of love for the "Boys in Blue" at ONT Field, including a mural of Fernando Valenzuela by artist Jonas Never.
The Tower Buzzers stepped into the position once held by the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes—now the Single A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim. And they altogether replaced the Modesto Nuts in the Minor League circuit.
These baseball players are early in their careers—and one day, they could actually become Dodgers. But they'd have to move up the ranks first—like maybe joining the Triple A affiliate the Oklahoma City Dodgers before ultimately making their way to Chavez Ravine.
We still got to see some home runs and fly balls and other interesting things happening between the running of the bases, so I was happy.
I also spent a lot of time during the game walking around and checking out the stadium, trying to take in all the details. It felt like I was finding little aviation-themed Easter eggs at every turn.
It wasn't until the game was over that I finally got to meet Maverick the mascot—plus his best friend and co-mascot, Hollywood—and grab some photos with them.
And now that I've finally hit the Minor Leagues, I'm excited to check out home games of the other local teams—the Quakes, plus the San Bernardino 66ers (Single-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners) and the Lake Elsinore Storm (Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres).
No comments:
Post a Comment