Wi-Fi in the minor leagues

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--I'm sitting in the press box, high atop Nat Bailey Stadium, the ballpark of the Vancouver Canadians baseball team.

Much to my surprise, there's great wireless Internet here. That's wonderful since I'm on a Road Trip 2006 around the Pacific Northwest and as I look for stories to report and write, it's often .

The fact that they have Wi-Fi here is a surprise because this is class-A minor league baseball. These kids are just out of high school or college, and there's just one level of professional baseball below this. So for this ballpark, which seats around 5,500 fans, offering great Wi-Fi throughout is an unexpected bonus.

That's all the more true because it means the Canadians, who are in the Oakland As system, have a perk for their fans that even their big-league team doesn't have.

Indeed, the A's big ballpark in Oakland, Calif., doesn't provide fans with Wi-Fi, while the second-lowest of the organization's six minor-league teams does.

The wireless system here was just inaugurated on Monday during the Canadians' first game of the season. The team plays in the Northwest League, which is a half-season league with teams scattered around Oregon, Washington and here in British Columbia.

"From foul pole to foul pole throughout the concourse, you get a pretty good signal," said Roger Kingkade, the Canadians' director of media relations. "We're trying to appeal to a business crowd here...It's an incentive for people to take a day off and come to the park and do a little work, and do a couple of deals and stuff."

Take note, Oakland. After all, the As have the second-lowest home attendance average in the American League. So if providing free Wi-Fi would bring in a few more fans, maybe it's something to consider.