New Dodger Stadium parking policy will encourage fans to buy passes in advance.

Dodger Stadium parking

Parking at Dodger Stadium will increase to $15 in 2014, but only if you purchase your parking pass at the stadium gate. (Associated Press photo)

A series of changes are in store for Dodger Stadium, each designed to improve traffic flow into the park on game days.

The most significant change will see a return to $15 fees for parking passes purchased at the stadium entrance. To pay $10, fans will need to buy their parking pass in advance and present their receipt — either printed or on a smartphone — when they approach the gate.

“There’s not much we can do about the traffic on the 110. There’s not much we can do about the traffic on Sunset (Blvd.), and those are our two main access roads,” team president Stan Kasten said. “The main bottleneck we have is transaction time at the gate.”

Lon Rosen, the Dodgers’ chief marketing officer, said that fans who pay at the gate typically spend 45 seconds or more completing the transaction. By presenting and scanning a prepaid parking pass, the transaction time is greatly reduced. Kasten and Rosen hope this will diminish the traffic backup that infuriates fans trying to enter the stadium in the hours leading up to the game.
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Daily Distractions: Dodgers president Stan Kasten named ‘Sports Executive of the Year.’

Stan Kasten

Stan Kasten was named the 2013 Sports Executive of the Year by the Los Angeles Sports Council (Getty Images)


Stan Kasten didn’t take long to make a name for himself in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers president hasn’t been on the job for two years, but on Tuesday he was named the 2013 Sports Executive of the Year by the Los Angeles Sports Council. Kasten will be honored during the 9th Annual LA Sports Awards, March 5 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The awards dinner and gala, emceed by comedian Bill Engvall, will be televised on Prime Ticket on March 14 at 9:30 p.m., with multiple airings to follow. The ceremony also will feature the presentation of the Sportsman, Sportswoman, and Coach of the Year Awards.

Under Guggenheim Baseball Management, an ownership group including Kasten, chairman Mark Walter and Magic Johnson, the Dodgers led all major-league teams in home and road attendance last season. The Dodgers capped season-ticket sales at 32,000 last year and are currently deciding where to cap that number this year.

Guggenheim’s greatest feat: Negotiating an $8 billion television contract with Time Warner Cable that kicks in this year. The network co-owned by the Dodgers and TWC, SportsNet LA, is set to launch on Feb. 25.

Previous Sports Executive of the Year honorees are: Tim Leiweke, AEG (2012); Arte Moreno, Angels (2011); Tim Leiweke, AEG (2010); Jerry Buss, Lakers (2009); Mitch Kupchak, Lakers (2008); Brian Burke, Ducks (2007); Ned Colletti, Dodgers/Brian Burke, Ducks (2006); and Arte Moreno, Angels (2005).

Some bullet points for a Data Protection Day:
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Analysis: After a bad week for clarity, the road map is clear for Don Mattingly and the Dodgers.

Don Mattingly contract

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, foreground, appeared pensive throughout an end-of-season press conference Monday that focused mostly on his contract status. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff photographer)

At Dodgers headquarters, this was not a good week for clarity in the information age.

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Daily Distractions: Which of the Dodgers’ eye-popping business stats surprises team president Stan Kasten most?

Brian Wilson

Skip Schumaker, left, and Nick Punto have fun after tearing the jersey off Brian Wilson, who picked up the win, after beating the Giants on Thursday. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff photographer)

While the Dodgers were busy raising ticket prices for 2014, fans in 2013 have given the team nearly four million reasons to do so.

I got an email from MLB yesterday containing some interesting metrics: Home attendance at Dodger Stadium is up 10 percent through Sept. 11, compared to the same point last year. Ratings on Prime Ticket were up 42 percent (through Sept. 9) while merchandise sales (via MLB.com through Sept. 11) were up 50 percent. Only the Orioles, Astros, A’s and Pirates have seen a greater jump in merch sales.

The Dodgers’ average attendance (currently 45,771) is the highest in MLB. They appear headed for the biggest total attendance for any MLB club since the New York Yankees in 2010 (3.77 million) and the best for the Dodgers since 2009.

Which of these numbers surprised team president Stan Kasten the most?

Try none.

The Dodgers’ average road attendance of 35,622 is the highest in the majors. “It says something about the Dodger brand,” Kasten told me Wednesday.

It probably says something about the Dodgers’ star power and the accompanying media exposure, too. Having Yasiel Puig, Hanley Ramirez, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke on your roster helps win and helps sell tickets. Kasten prefers to credit the brand; that’s a point for debate. So too are the Dodgers’ actual home attendance numbers — it’s been said that those figures are inflated by 5,000 to 15,000 on a given night — but the Dodgers’ league-leading road attendance indicates the average fan believes this is a team worth seeing in person.

Some bullet points for Friday the 13th:
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Daily Distractions: Yasiel Puig jersey sales already rank 10th in 2013.

A list of the most popular jersey sales on MLB.com/shop was released today:

1. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
2. Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
3. Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
4. David Wright, New York Mets
5. Matt Harvey, New York Mets
6. Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
7. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
8. Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles
9. Mike Trout, LA Angels of Anaheim
10. Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodgers
11. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Los Angeles Dodgers
12. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
13. Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
14. Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
15. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

Yasiel PuigIndeed, a player who began the season in Double-A has sold more jerseys than all but nine players through early July.

More on Puig in a bit. Let’s not overlook that Ryu jersey sales rank 11th, only Puig separating Ryu from the buzz-worthy title of “Dodgers rookie sensation.” And that four Dodgers (with the cross-cultural appeal that comes with representing four different ethnic groups) rank among the top 15.

Onto the bullet points:

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