The "letter of the day" was from a Rays fan in Sebring, approximately 1 hour and 49 minutes from Tropicana Field. An excerpt:
But the counterpoint letter came from a Tampa fan who didn't fault the Trop's location as much as the Rays' not-so-dynamic pricing:Rays management has done a fantastic job getting the players to have a winning team every year since 2008. We actually have players kids can have as role models and look up to.
The Rays have a huge following on TV and radio. Support your hometown team and attend a few games. We want the Rays to stay in the Tampa Bay area but need the fans to come out and attend some games in person.
I can tell you where our family of Rays fans has gone: our comfortable and affordable family room.The Rays could lower ticket prices and get more fans in the door, but as this blog has written before, it's just not in their best interest to do that. True dynamic pricing would create very cheap tickets and selling 15,000 tickets at $20 a piece is still more profitable than selling 30,000 tickets at $5 a piece.
Our family of four, including 5- and 3-year-old boys, love and support our ball club. We recently took our sons to their first major-league game at Tropicana Field. The experience was memorable, and the hospitality at the stadium was amazing. Everyone, from the ticket takers to the ushers, was awesome. However, by the end of the night we had spent close to $300 for four hours of entertainment. Our family budget simply can't accommodate attending a game more than annually.
For more on what could be causing the drop in Rays' attendance, see the interesting theories posted in the comments section on this Field of Schemes' story.
I think that there are of a ton of issues that are factors for the bad attendance, but I refuse to believe that price is one of them. If the gentleman in this story goes to another game, I believe he can go for much cheaper than $300. In most cases you can get parking from free to $5. You can bring your own food and water into the game. I can find tickets for as low as $7. The Rays are the cheapest seat in town.
ReplyDeleteYour kidding me right? They sell beer for $9. That is sticking it to the fan. I don't know where you live, but where I live I can buy a 12-pack of Bud Light for $10. No parking fees either. Oh and its free on TV, not $25 or more per ticket. If the Rays could bring down their concessions, parking, and ticket prices, the fans will return. Keep in mind people, people have to budget their money, something that the MLB just doesn't understand or doesn't care about.
ReplyDeleteFor all of the people that say price is the issue, I just want to know what they expect the price to be? You can't go to a major sporting event in this country and not pay $9 for beer. The Rays are among the most affordable sports teams in the country. Price may be a issue due to the economy, but in my opinion there are several others that are much bigger factors in why attendance is bad. I think many people don't realize how relatively cheap it is to go to a Rays game.
DeleteYou're right Mike - most people don't realize how inexpensive it can be compared to other pro teams. But in Fla, the attitudes are skewed.
Delete"By the end of the night we had spent close to $300 for four hours of entertainment."
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're really doing something wrong if you're spending $300 on a Rays game. The tickets can be had at a vastly cheaper price, and there's always cheaper parking available just a stone's throw away from the Trop.
I made a note of this in the FoS discussion, but from my own experiences in going to the Trop and talking to the fans there, it seems like most of them are only willing to attend games as long as they only have to pay minor-league prices to get in.
The first quote sounds like it came from the Rayz p.r. office, the second is more like reality.
ReplyDeleteKei, you bring up a good point. There isn't enough of an appetite for Tampa Bay residents to pay MLB prices for the MLB experience.
ReplyDeleteLower the price, more people are willing....but the big problem here is obviously not enough interest to go to the park.
Lower the price? Really? That's a big statement coming from a person that didn't mind paying twice or triple the amount to see your hometown team of the Red Sux. The Rays are #2 cheapest team in North American professional sports to go see (http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cheapest-teams-to-watch-in-person-2013-5?op=1). I mean shame on the "family of four", the 50 mile round trip from Tampa cost $7 in gas, the 1st 100 vehicles can park for free w/ 4 or more, but there's plenty of $5 parking (7+5=12), 4 tix @ $12 a piece is $48(+12=$60), plus the cost of taking in your own food(?)$4 a person x 4 people=$16(+$60=$76). So $76 for 4 people to go see a MLB game, and probably leave about $20 or $30 of free give aways or a concert, and actually you can usually get 4 tix for $40 opposed to $48 on the secondary market, and save $5 by parking for free to take the cost from $76 down to only $63 opposed to "$300"!
DeleteThough it's a "circle of life", we can't expect cheaper, and expect to field a good team or keep $100 million dollar players...
The attendance woes isn't the Trop, it's the amount of people within a 40 mile round trip, when being surrounded by water affects that, it's time to move inland, say like Channelside in Tampa where the amount of people within a 40 mile round trip radius is triple during the summer months, yes, triple, add that up...
Actually, the number of people within a 20-minute drive of Downtown Tampa is nearly comparable to the number of people within 20 minutes of Downtown St. Pete.
ReplyDeletethen why does the lightning with no chance at post season have a higher attendance then the rays? well when people in tampa brandon area want to see a game at say 630? they still can make it, if they left at 630 to the trop, its about 745 or 8 when they get there.
DeleteMLB looks @ the stats of a 30 min. drive not 20. There's about 600k within a 30 min. drive of the St.Pete, there's over 2 million from Tampa, which is more then 3x's more people. Though I would still argue that IF your 20 minute drive stat is true, if you subtract the # of people that go up north for the summer months (or during baseball season), Tampa wins in a landslide. Plus, newflash!, it's not about now, it's about 10-20 years from now & beyond, and every economist projects most of Florida's population boom will occur north of Tampa, and between Tampa & Orlando, NOT in the already cramped Pinellas co., or out on the Gulf...
ReplyDeleteAnd whether you drive 20 or 30 min. to get to the Trop, you can still take a family of 4 for around $50-$60...
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