There should be sunscreen dispensers at MLB stadiums
The Chicago Cubs just finished a successful eight game home stand. Seven wins and only one loss. They even took two of three games from those pesky Cincinnati Reds.
All of the games were played during the day time hours. Very unusual, even for a team that does play most of their games in the afternoon. Seven of the games started at 1:20 with the other game at 4:05. The first five games had temperatures in the mid to upper 90's before it finally cooled off for the final weekend. It was bright and sunny for the entire eight days.
Fans are always warned to take precautions if they're attending games in these conditions. Make sure you're hydrated. You can buy water at Wrigley Field. Sure, it's $5.50/bottle but at least it's available. Plus you can refill the bottle from the drinking fountains for free. Btw, pro tip: Buy the same water outside the park for two bucks...you're welcome.
That takes care of the heat, but what about the sun? These game were being played during prime sunburn hours. If you aren't sitting in the shade, it takes less than a half hour for someone to get burned. How do you keep yourself safe from upping the percentage of getting skin cancer/Melanoma?
There are a few ways to protect yourself from the sun. Clothing is the simplest. While hats, long sleeved shirts and long pants work great, it's unpractical and extremely uncomfortable to be wearing that while sitting outside in high temps and humidity for four hours. You need sunscreen! Before I leave for the ballpark, I grab a couple of small tubes of sunscreen. Sure it's annoying but better safe than sorry.
But then there's the photo at the top. These are canisters of sunscreen that were confiscated at the entrance of the park. I asked security about this and was told no aerosol cans are allowed inside. Okay, fine...but what about the people who tried to do the right thing but are left without sun protection?
Sunscreen dispensers at ballparks is an idea whose time has come!
It's become popular and trendy to have them at beaches so why not at the park. It's simple to do. One or two of them in the concourse along the first and third base side. A couple more for the upper deck and the same for the bleachers, where's it's needed the most.
I'll admit I have no idea what this would cost but it can't be that expensive. I'm sure a deal can be worked out with a sunscreen company to buy it in bulk like they do with baseballs. There can even be sponsorship deals worked out for both sides...win/win. Or if you want to pass on the costs of this to your customers, just raise the cost of that bottle of water to six or seven bucks (lots of sarcasm here).
If this sounds like I'm calling out the Cubs, I'm not. I just happened to be at Wrigley last week. I've had this idea for some time and this is something that should be available at all MLB parks.
Marketing studies show that it's cheaper to keep a customer than to gain a new one. So then why wouldn't you want to keep your customers safe from skin cancer and Melanoma so they can come back and buy $100 tickets and $5.50 bottles of water?
Related Post: Free sunscreen dispensers are helping to prevent skin cancer and Melanoma