Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Rays Attendance Watch: June 17

Well, this isn't good.  Through 35 home games, the Rays are drawing a MLB-low 14,326 fans per game.

At the same time last year, their disappointing-at-the-time number stood at 18,444 and columnist John Romano wrote the team's typical second-half bump was dependent on them being in contention (the team wasn't; attendance was flat - and disappointing - the rest of the way).

Well, the Rays are somehow in first place right now, and their long-suffering competition with Lightning playoffs are over...so time to drop a hundred grand and flood the airwaves with commercials reminding your fans of what they've missed recently at The Trop!
Disclosure: I work for a TV station, but that's not a reason I'd advocate an ad-buy

What say you, Stu?

Actually, very little, according to the Times' Marc Topkin.  But Sternberg did point out attendance was worse than he (or anyone) probably expected this year and while it was "nobody's fault," he reminded St. Pete's council "the clock (is) ticking."

ALSO READ:  Hurry up and pass MOU or else we'll have to hurry up a few years from now!

There's a lot to be said for St. Pete's opportunity to turn Tropicana Field into something other (something better?) than a retail business with large parking lots.  But it's also a convenient talking point the Rays turned to in January 2013 when it became clear the team couldn't cry poor anymore.

The Rays are clearly hoping to wait out the changing political winds until there are five friendly faces on city council - possibly this coming offseason. They may even have a little extra juice at that time with some really ugly attendance numbers to compliment their really impressive team.

   



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15 comments:

  1. This is all by design. The Rays and MLB are complicit in attempting to affect attendance through lack of marketing and constant negative comments regarding the location.

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  2. Noah - 18,444 was the 2008 at-that-point average. Last season's at-this-point average is 17,663 by my reckoning

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  3. They talked about it a bit on the Nats broadcast last night. FP Santangelo, yes a former Expo, basically addressed the elephant in the room, stating that if people don't come to the games when the team is good, why would an owner shell out for a new park? Now obviously it is not that black and white, but you have to wonder how far yearly attendance falls before everyone realizes that even the temporary bump that teams get from a new park isn't worth building a new park in the first place.

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  4. "Why would an owner shell out for a new ballpark.?" Interesting, I didn't know that owners shelled out for anything except when it comes to enriching themselves......The only reason they "shell" out for players salaries, is because their league is subsidized by taxpayers. In other words, they are spending other people's money. That is why players salaries continue to rise beyond the disgusting.

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  5. Attendance doesn't matter. They want you to think it matters but it doesn't. The Marlins could draw 1k per game for the next 10 years, There would be no talk of moving the team. Why? because they have a new ballpark, and that is all that matters.

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    1. Attendance doesn't matter when it comes to staying afloat. But if I was an owner, I'd prefer having high attendance over low attendance; I'd get more revenue, a better image across the league, and a higher chance of convincing the city to build me a new ballpark.

      I'm pretty sure there are more benefits to having higher attendance. Sure low attendance won't hurt you, but who's going to argue against more ticket sales?

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  6. "Attendance doesn't matter. They want you to think it matters but it doesn't. The Marlins could draw 1k per game for the next 10 years, There would be no talk of moving the team. Why? because they have a new ballpark, and that is all that matters."

    You do realise that is the silliest comment ever! The TAXPAYERS just footed the bill for the ballpark - you're right they are not going anywhere anytime soon. But the Rays have no attendance and NO stadium and bc of the Marlins will not get a subsidised park anytime soon.... they will be gone by 2020 at the latest.

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  7. It's not silly. You just proved my point. The reason why they won't be relocated is because they now have a new stadium. With that being said, they could have 2 people show up per game for the next 10 years and the attendance issue won't be a factor. Thanks for proving my point. Now it's time for you to perform a reverse-rectal-cranial-inversion.

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  8. So basically you are saying is build and they will be required to stay? In the Marlins case, there was the promise of increased attendance which never materialised and now the tax payers are on the hook for a stadium that will take much longer to pay out. Having said that, if attendance becomes a real drag, then MLB will not hesitate to invoke "best interest of the game" and force them to sell/move. The only thing that will force a team to stay is a clause in the stadium contract that says they must stay. As is the case for Tampa,. So, to your point - yeah, you are right attendance at Trop doesn't matter either and guess what - no new stadium is required to do that? So:

    1. building a new stadium with zero in attendance will not keep a team in place unless there's a clause in the contract that stipulates it.

    2. No level of gov't will pay to build a stadium if they already know there's no interest by the fans in attending long term...

    3, No attendance = no tax revenues. (or is your head so far your rectum that you forget that attendance = revenue)? Must be all the feces stuck in your ears and blinding you from reality.

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  9. Noah,
    I wonder if commenters would sling obscene personal insults if they were not allowed to post anonymously.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Noah,
    Please comment. This is YOUR blog!

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  12. And these low attendance numbers will mean the ownership will either do nothing at the deadline or could even sell, regardless of their position in the standings. They don't have the money to add pieces at the deadline, compared to the other AL East teams chasing the Rays.

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  13. "They don't have the money to add pieces at the deadline, compared to the other AL East teams chasing the Rays."

    Which would make the Rays all the more enticing to either relocate or sell outright to Montreal

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