The affects you almost not at all, but you will hear about it: the Angels are converting the press box in Angel Stadium to luxury seating, which in turn will push writers covering the team to a new press box down the right field line.
Needless to say, writers are not happy about it. Including the guy who will be president of the BBWAA next year:What the hell??!!!“@latimessports: Angels converting press box to luxury seating area, will move sportswriters lat.ms/VE8eIP”
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) December 14, 2012
Apparently this happened at U.S. Cellular Field a couple of years ago -- the print media box is now down the right field line there too -- and the consensus is that it’s the worst place for writers to cover a game. Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer said that after the changes in Chicago, Bud Selig told writers that wouldn’t happen again. Hoynes suggested a BBWAA protest over it. Which, given that the BBWAA’s founding and, according to them, primary purpose, is to ensure reporter access to the ballpark, is probably the only avenue available.
I would expect such a protest to have approximately zero chance of success. Nothing that Bud Selig has done as commissioner suggests that he’s going to stand in the way of teams looking to maximize cash flow. And given that clubs and the league are less dependent upon the sporting press for publicity and information dissemination than they ever have been -- and become less dependent upon it every day -- what incentive do they have to cater to the ever-shrinking pool of sportswriters covering games from the press box?
In the meantime, know that if you snag some tickets on StubHub, you stand a much better chance of having a better view of things in Anaheim than the reporters do. And, unlike them, you get to have beer and cheer too.