RFK upgrades

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Date published: 7/11/2006

By STEVE DeSHAZO

WASHINGTON--Colin Mills isn't the reason the Washington Nationals' new ownership team is refurbishing RFK Stadium.

The Reston resident is the president of the Nationals' fan club and part of a die-hard group that waited three decades for baseball to return to the nation's capital.

But on behalf of the less fanatical, he appreciates the effort made by the team's new owners,

"There's a hard-core, solid base that would show up no matter where they played," Mills said yesterday. "They could play in a garbage dump in the middle of Southeast [Washington], and people would show up.

"But to get to the level of a highly successful team, you need 30-35,000 fans per night. You need to get the casual fans who would not necessarily think of going to games. And there are a number of people who consider RFK a drawback."

That's why Mills was pleased to hear of incoming team president Stan Kasten's plans to upgrade 45-year-old RFK Stadium, beginning with next weekend's series against the Chicago Cubs.

The team has dubbed it "Grand Re-Opening Weekend" and announced several upgrades during a press conference yesterday at the ESPN Zone in downtown Washington.

Kasten hopes the commitment will pacify fans until the Nationals move into their new Southeast D.C. park, scheduled to open in 2008.

"We've left no stone unturned to make the experience new and fresh, and to let the fans know that this ownership will put their experience at the top of the list," said Kasten, who expects Theodore Lerner's group to assume control of the team from Major League Baseball within the next week.

"We know RFK will always be RFK, and there are some limitations. The fan experience will never be what it's going to be at the new ballpark. But we've made every effort to make the fan experience at RFK the best it can be."

Mills loves RFK's sight lines, but he (like many fans) got tired of the long lines, overpriced food (with little variety) and the stadium's smell.

Date published: 7/11/2006