Erlanger Park opened this past Tuesday night with 8,226 spectators and all the “oohs” and “aahs” that came with them.
Yet it wasn’t until Wednesday night, as 4,527 fans attended the second game between the Chattanooga Lookouts and Montgomery Biscuits, when Lookouts officials truly realized they were in a very different world from AT&T Field.
“Having 4,500 at AT&T basically stopped that building,” team president Rich Mozingo said from his new office in the $115 million facility. “Here, it was a walk in the park. The amount of points of sale that we have, the amount of restrooms that we have and the amount of concourse space — the 360-degree walkway makes all the difference in the world.
“People just have room to move around if they choose to, so it was a really great, easy night for us.”
The Lookouts entered Saturday night having averaged 6,295 fans through their first four home games, which surpasses any four-game average the team produced during its 26-year run at the 6,382-seat AT&T Field. In addition to Tuesday’s opening, the Lookouts had a Friday night gathering of 7,613.