PHOENIX — It wasn't exactly opening day, but for a hardcore Los Angeles Dodgers fan like Ty Preheim it was close.

Today's Dodgers-White Sox game was the first home exhibition the team had played since moving from Vero Beach, Fla., to its new spring-training base in Glendale, Arizona.

"If you bleed Dodger blue, you've got to be here for the first game and you've got to have great seats," said the Temecula, Calif., man, who shelled out $100 for one of the Cactus League's softest, closest and most expensive seats at Camelback Ranch-Glendale.

"The economy is affecting all of us," Preheim added. "But you've got to enjoy life, and my enjoyment comes from seeing this team."

At least a few die-hard fans disagreed: only about half the park's 202 premium seats were occupied. Official attendance for the 13,000-seat park was listed at 11,280, but the only areas that were jammed were the cheap $10 lawn seats in right- and left-center field.

Preheim did get some bang for his buck. Premium seat holders get a daily promotional item, and on Sunday it was a Joe Torre bobblehead doll. They also feast on all the food they can eat — pork chops, turkey and mashed potatoes complement the normal ballpark fare of hot dogs and chips. Soft drinks, mango-scented face cloths and sunscreen are also provided.

The sunscreen was a good idea Sunday, with temperatures approaching 90 degrees and little shade at the new $100 million-plus ballpark the Dodgers will share each spring with the White Sox.

"This is a great day, to give the fans a new facility to have fun and for many to get their mind off other things for a half a day here," said Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. "It would be great opening this facility if we were in the best economy in history. But to have the privilege and pleasure at this time is even more poignant."

Construction continues all around the facility, and several parking lots remained unpaved Sunday.

The Dodgers, who ended 60 years of spring training in Florida last year, had considered waiting one more year before making the move to Arizona. In light of the way the economy tanked, McCourt said that turned out to be a smart move.

"I don't even want to think about if we had delayed all of our decisions a year, and there was a lot of discussion about that, to stay one more year," he said. "If that had happened, I don't know if we would be here one year from now because of all the circumstances that have intervened. Sometimes its much better to be lucky than smart."