Recently the GameHouse Team and our colleagues in other divisions of RealNetworks got together for a company-wide day at Safeco Field to watch the Seattle Mariners play the San Diego Padres. Join me now as I recall our fun day of baseball.
As one of my previous articles illustrates, the GameHouse Headquarters are located diagonally across from Safeco Field, home of Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team. You can imagine that most of us are pretty happy about that, and we enjoy having the chance to attend a game.
Most of the Mariners’ home games are played on weekday evenings, plus there are weekend games. But occasionally there are weekday games starting in the early afternoon.
It’s those weekday afternoon games that beckon us as we’re working, knowing that thousands of baseball fans are just across the street. Sure would be great to be there!
Our Sweet “Suite” Day of Baseball Game Fun
Recently we had the opportunity to spend part of the afternoon at Safeco Field on a company outing to watch a weekday Mariners game. But this was not an ordinary outing; we went out in style!
RealNetworks, the parent of GameHouse, reserved a number of suites for us so that we could enjoy the game and visit with colleagues we don’t often see apart from, say, an occasional meeting or perhaps on our lunch break. The suites were adjacent to one another and were accessible via the interior corridor and dedicated, reserved outdoor seating. It was easy to visit the various suites to mingle with our coworker friends and check out the views from each. Here’s the view from Suite 17, one of the GameHouse suites:
A Feast of Fun at the Baseball Game!
Each of our suites was catered with delicious including burgers, hot dogs, chicken strips, fresh fruit and cheese, fresh veggies, popcorn and other snacks. Plus we had a variety of beverages to enjoy. What a feast! Each suite also had large, flat-screen TV monitors both inside and outside, above our reserved seating. In short, there was no way we could miss the action!
GameHouse and RealNetworks on the Largest TV in Major League Baseball!
After the 4th inning, it’s customary at Safeco Field for the Mariners to welcome their special guests, which often include groups from schools and local businesses. We were all pretty excited when a cameraman entered our seating area and set up his equipment during the 3rd inning. It wasn’t long, then, before he began panning across our group while other camera operators were doing the same thing in the other suite areas reserved for RealNetworks employees.
Our “15 seconds of fame” came shortly thereafter as our smiling faces were displayed on the Mariners’ specially built Panasonic LED HDTV screen! And at 11,425 square feet, it’s the largest video scoreboard in the MLB. The hearty welcome by the Mariners added a lot of fun to the baseball game!
An Even Sweeter “Suite View”
As I circulated among the suites reserved for us, I made some discoveries. Some of the suites had pizza! Still others had peanuts in the shells, plus there were desserts. That was a nice surprise. But perhaps the sweetest treat was the view from Suite 44, which is positioned behind, and just to the left of, home plate. Take a look at this view!
With that I found my ‘home’ for the remainder of the baseball game. Oh! I almost forgot…we won! J Our day of fun at the ballpark ended in a sweet victory for the Seattle Mariners and a suite experience for everyone at GameHouse and RealNetworks.
