My family and I were driving home from a day out in the country last Friday; the Jays game had just started, and we were listening to the play-by-play on the FAN 590.
It was a beautiful spring evening, not a cloud in the sky and, as we drove by the Rogers Centre on the Gardiner, I couldn't help notice that the dome was, well, closed.
Maybe the rest of Canada sees "weather" a little differently than Toronto. But, in the decade-plus I spent living in Alberta, as soon as it got over zero, the patios opened. At 10 C, if you were still wearing a jacket, there was something wrong with you. And, at that temperature, shorts were a feasible option. But, I don't think Torontonians are that spoiled. I think, if you'd ask the fans, that they'd wish that the Jays' brass would open the dome a heck of a lot more.
On a beautiful spring evening, there's no way I'd want to be indoors when the weather is agreeable. But, since I've been back in Toronto, I can't help but notice how many times the Jays have played with the roof closed when the weather, by Canadian standards, is pretty nice. As in, pretty well all Canadians would rather be outside than inside.
Maybe, when surveying all those empty seats inside the Rogers Centre, Paul Godfrey and the rest of the Jays brass should be reminded that the whole point of a retractable-roof stadium is that, during the baseball season, it really should be open most of the time. Fans want an open-air experience. And it does get really clammy in there with the dome closed. And, does anyone notice that any baseball ambience is exterminated when the roof isn't open?
If there is a policy on when the dome is closed and when it's opened, it needs to be rewritten. I would much rather wear a jacket on a spring evening in the outdoors than be cooped up indoors. Really, the policy should be rewritten that the dome should be closed only as an option when rain is threatening or when the mercury drops to a level what Canadian people (and I am talking about us hardy Canadians, not people from the south who wear jackets when it's 20 C outside) would call "cold." In Toronto's climate, that dome should be open at least 75 per cent of the time.
After all, Toronto FC fans have an outdoor stadium, and the seats don't empty on cool nights, or when it rains. Torontonians aren't the spoiled pussies that the Jays think we are.

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