BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Family Section Eliminated at Anaheim

The Angels have eliminated their family section this season and will charge $8 for the left-field box seats formerly designated for that purpose and sold at $6 each. The change contradicts a November announcement that ticket prices would not be increased for this season.

The section, comprising 2,600 seats, featured a ban on sales of alcohol and a prohibition against bringing alcohol into the area. The section was in existence for five seasons. Ticket prices at Anaheim Stadium--which seats 64,593 for baseball--range from $4 for general admission to $11 for field and club box.

“It just really never took off and it was a costly area for us to staff,” said Kevin Uhlich, the club’s assistant vice president and director of facilities operations. “We want to work on the whole ballpark being family oriented. . . . There may be a few hard-core people that want to sit there (and now can’t). But it wasn’t a desirable location compared to view level and other locations. They may complain they feel more secure sitting in a family section, but we just need to do our job better to monitor possible problems.”

Uhlich said he had no exact figures on the tickets sold each game in the family section. “Looking out there, sometimes it was 30 and sometimes it was all 2,600 seats.” he said. “It created a problem staffing-wise and it was a problem in that it was a reduced-admission area surrounded by higher-priced areas.”

He also said ushers have received special training in dealing with patrons who they suspect have had too much to drink.

Angel President Richard Brown also said the scarcity of ticket buyers choosing to sit in the family section was the reason for eliminating the section and selling the seats at a different price.

“It was not done for economic reasons,” Brown said. “It was an idea that looked good and just didn’t work out to be as popular as we had hoped. It was grossly underutilized.”