Did The Mariners Hit A Low By Canceling FanFest?

Apparently, Mariners fans will not be able to enjoy listening to their team talk about the offseason when FanFest comes in January. And that's because FanFest actually won't happen.

The Mariners announced today that their annual FanFest, which is usually held around January of their offseason, will not go forward as planned this year as a result of the field not being ready by January for the event. Instead, they will push the event back to January of 2019, perhaps upsetting many fans who were hoping to see what this team had in store before spring training began.

President and CEO of the Mariners Kevin Mather said in a statement, "While disappointing, we felt a one-year break in FanFest was a better option than having an event that didn't provide the full experience our fans deserve."

As a replacement, Mariners GM Scott Servais and several players will be at various media appearances and events where they'll have a chance to talk about the upcoming season and all that, but it will not be like FanFests.

I've been to various FanFests, including the Giants, Padres, Angels, and White Sox, and let me tell you: Those things are fun, no matter what places they are in. Baseball fields, hotels, and all that are great, no matter what. So I don't understand why the Mariners thought cancelling the FanFest was actually a good idea. Having a semi-experience FanFest is better than having no FanFest, and with that, I'm deeply disappointed that the Mariners actually took this route without exploring their options.

I tweeted out at the Mariners a short while ago before writing this post, asking them why they wouldn't move into FanFest into CenturyLink Field, the home of the Seahawks, or even a downtown Seattle hotel? I mean, the White Sox use the Hilton in downtown Chicago as a place for their FanFest, so why shouldn't the Mariners? It's just confounding to me that they would disappoint their fans in this case rather than explore the options.

Now, look, I understand that the Mariners are deeply invested into giving the fans the full experience of what FanFest is. A lot of teams try to do that, because they want to maximize the fun that they expect to give their fans. But as I said before, a FanFest with even partial experience is better than none. I've talked to a couple of people, especially those who are White Sox fans, and they say that having a FanFest is the greatest thing in the world, because you get to learn what the team has done over the offseason to try to get better and improve on the season before. They don't care if they've got the full experience. They care that they're there, having fun and all that stuff. I understand that I'm talking about the White Sox, but I can imagine other fans of other teams would feel the same way too.

Another example I would give is the Diamondbacks usually have FanFest at their spring training home up in Scottsdale and not at Chase Field, which is understandable because it's outside and in a great place like their spring training home. Fans may have a great experience there, despite it not being the full experience of their home field.

I just hope the Mariners know what they're doing and the risk they're taking by not having a FanFest. Not perhaps people will get over it and all that stuff and I probably shouldn't be making a big deal of it. But a FanFest is a FanFest and whether or not it's a full experience or not, it should happen, no matter what. Plus, if you want to do it, you don't have to have it in January. You could have it in February or even before leaving for Arizona for Spring Training games. I think those options could work, rather than getting rid of it for this year.

To me, the bigger picture about the Mariners is not FanFest. It's whether or not they'll actually field a good team come April and they haven't had one for a long time. Hopefully, they're time comes soon, because fans are getting restless up there and it's time for the Mariners to actually start standing up and making some noise in baseball.