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DJExile's guide to Toledo, Ohio! Home of the ECHL's Toledo Walleye and AAA Detroit Tigers affiliate Toledo Mud Hens!. Love minor leagues? Buddy, we got 'em! Also home to the University of Toledo Rockets, and just north of the Bowling Green Falcons. GETTING HERE, GETTING AROUND Toledo sits at the massive intersection of I-75 and I-80/90. Getting here by road is pretty easy. We're about 4 hours from Chicago, 1 hour from Detroit, 90 minutes from Cleveland, 2 1/2 hours from Columbus, and 3 hours from Cincinnati. If you're coming by air, Toledo Express Airport is a small regional airport that basically only flies to Chicago and Charlotte. We're also about a 45 minute drive south of Detroit Metro Airport, which is a massive international hub. Getting around is best done via car. There's a bus system but it's fairly limited in its scope. That said, TARTA does have several big pickup locations around the city to bring Walleye and Hens fans downtown, so there is that. There are also a ton of drivers on Lyft and Uber. Toledo isn't that large and the expressways are nice. You can very easily get anywhere from anywhere in 20 minutes or less. FIFTH THIRD FIELD   The beauty of being a minor league town is it means you get sporting events where there's basically never a bad seat, nor an expensive one. 5/3 Field seats just under 9,000 people. Parking is pretty readily available all around downtown and will range in price from $5-10. Tickets run around $12-13 each. Solid food offerings inside and while there's definitely a markup for being in a stadium, you don't have to take out a second mortgage to get a hot dog and a beer. You and 2-3 friends could easily do the whole day without anyone dropping more than $40. The Hens are largely a solid team although it depends to a degree on how the Tigers are doing and welp... That being said, the same ownership owns both the Hens and Walleye, and they recognize that minor league franchises live and die almost entirely on fan experience (compared to team success, that is), and they push hard to make sure folks enjoy themselves. Tons of games and playground stuff around the field for kids to enjoy, picnic pavilions, and tons of theme nights all help. A couple of years ago, Justin Verlander was sent down on a rehab assignment, and not only did he get to toy with hilariously overmatched batters for 6 innings, it was Jurassic Park night and he had the game ball brought to him by a drat dinosaur.  https://twitter.com/MudHens/status/786730759491059712 The minor leagues loving own, is what I'm saying. HUNTINGTON CENTER   Fan-loving-tastic arena. A place that's just big enough to get a good crowd (8,000 seated, another 300 standing room) but keep every seat close to the action. The Toledo Walleye are one of the few ECHL teams that run on a high budget so the game experience is really nice. The odds you see anyone that's going to make the NHL are pretty much non-zero, but it's usually a good mix of talent and goonery. Toledo's had a lot of success in the ECHL although never a Kelly Cup, at least in their current form. The previous league championship, called the Riley Cup, was won back-to-back by the Toledo Storm in 94 and 93. Oh, you want theme nights? We got those.    You want tiny goalies? We have those too!   (come back, Jeff Lerg, we miss you  )Parking, like for the Hens, is all within a couple blocks, and one garage is attached to the arena. Pricing ranges from $5-10, and tickets are about $12-15 apiece. Sellouts are common and I think they've had far and away the best attendance in the ECHL for years, which really helps things. They have a great rivalry with the Fort Wayne Komets. Lots of food options and if you're a beer fan they have done several nights where they have beer tastings before games. There's a ton of good food options all over town. For a small midwestern city, Toledo is surprisingly diverse and you can find just about any sort of restaurant you want. I'll do a write-up on them if anyone wants.
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Apr 26, 2018 14:34
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 05:31 |
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