Thirsty Thursdays Won’t Be The Same At Aviators’ Fancy New Ballpark
By Alan Snel
LVSportsBiz.com
The old Thirsty Thursdays at Cashman Field where beers cost a buck each will be different at the Las Vegas Aviators’ new ballpark, where the season’s first Thirsty Thursday had beers selling for $2 a pop with long lines at only two locations around the sparkling $150 million venue.
It’s the new age of Gentrified Baseball in Las Vegas, where Triple A baseball moved from an old ballpark in a poor downtown neighborhood to a fancy ballpark in the affluent suburban setting of Summerlin 15 miles from the former venue.
Attendance is hitting five figures and there are sellouts these days at the Aviators ballpark as Saturday night’s announced number was 10,104 — about double the average attendance at old Cashman where the former 51s played. Team owner Howard Hughes Corporation, Summerlin’s master developer, re-branded the 51s into the Aviators and can market the ballclub and ballpark as an amenity for Summerlin residents.
An upscale minor league baseball park that cost a high-end $150 million means upscale food that also costs more. An upscale Wagyu all-beef dog is 10 bucks (though you can buy a Hebrew National dog for $6. A helmet of nachos goes for $16, and beers go for $9 or $14 depending on the size and brand.
“It’s way different. It’s higher quality. It isn’t Cashman Field anymore,” said Garry DeLucia, executive chef of Levy Restaurants, which has a Minor League Baseball partner, Professional Sports Catering (PSC), serving as the Aviators’ concessionaire.
“Some people are not loving the prices, but we’re busy with food and beverage,” DeLucia told LVSportsBiz.com Saturday night. “We have to make some adjustments — that’s a fact.”
Indeed, even with the higher prices, the many concession strands around the ball yard were busy Saturday, as DeLucia said. Check out this beer line down the leftfield line.
One of the Thirsty Thursday beer spots is not even in the ballpark — it’s just outside the ballyard in a concrete area. The other Thirsty Thursday beer stand is diagonally across the ballfield beyond the right field corner.
The concessionaire has signed up local eateries such as Pizza Forte to sell pizza, which also includes a Ferraro cart selling meatball sandwiches.
“This is a luxury to come to a park like this,” said Mimmo Ferraro, owner of Pizza Forte. “Maybe the beverages are priced on the high side.” Ferraro pointed out his slice of pizza that sells for $8 at Aviators stadium costs $11 at Golden Knights games at T-Mobile Arena.
No matter how much it costs to drink and eat at Aviators baseball park, the Oakland A’s affiliate just keeps on winning. The Las Vegas Nine defeated Fresno, 6-2, Saturday and have bolted out of the box this 2019 season with a sterling 9-1 record.
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