It seems, all of baseball is talking about the Rays attendance. One would have to wonder if all this talk, by itself, has a negative impact on attendance. Would attendance be better if everyone would stop talking about, and worrying about, attendance?
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Quote of the day:
“It’s way too early to be concerned about attendance figures. I look at it the same way you evaluate a team’s play. You can’t do that in April. You need to wait. Attendance always jumps when schools let out.”
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig – posted by La Velle Neal III – Minnesota Star Tribune
In the context, he was talking about MLB attendance in general. Now, if he were talking about only the Rays, his quote would be different.
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Yet the fans still do not go to the monstrosity known as Tropicana Field. And we can assume that is never changing.
There is interest because TV and radio ratings are actually up, yet few come to the games…and postgame concerts by John Fogerty and ZZ Top did not nudge it past the low 20,000s.
Joel Sherman – New York Post
Overheard in line as I waited for the Trop’s doors to open yesterday…”I can’t wait until they let us in. It’s way too hot out here.” It’s May 1 and temperatures are approaching 90. If anyone thinks that a Sunday afternoon game in July outdoors will outdraw the same game in the Trop, they’re fooling themselves.
And, I think Sherman may have gotten lazy and finished this column before last night’s game. Why else would he report that last night’s attendance was in the “low 20,000s” instead of the 34,813 that actually attended.
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The Trop is not a palace, we’ll give you that. But neither its hermetically sealed nature nor the drive to get there is a good reason for not supporting a team that is arguably the easiest to love in the majors.
While fans in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles endure nasty commutes to go to games, Tampa residents act like a $100 tariff is required to cross the Howard Frankland Bridge to get to Tropicana Field. Here’s some unsolicited advice — get over it.
Phil Rogers – Chicago Tribune
I don’t have much to add here. He hit the nail on the head. Does the Trop have flaws? Sure. Do people hate the commute. Absolutely.
As I said at the outset, I think all of the talk about attendance is hurting attendance. I think there’s a mindset in Hillsborough county that if they don’t support the Rays in St. Pete, the team will move to their backyard in Tampa. Unless they move their backyard to some other region of America or beyond, their thinking may be flawed.
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Without question, the Rays need a new ballpark. But the fans of many cities would flock to see a club as exciting as this one.
Did they print this because they want our team, too?
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The Rays are hardly alone in having attendance issues. Entering the weekend, 25 of the 30 franchises were down in average attendance, with the biggest drops for the Mets, Blue Jays, Indians and White Sox. Some of that will work itself out as April is never as important as summer months, but it doesn’t appear baseball is beginning the recovery from the economic downturn that began late in 2008.
Phil Rogers – Chicago Tribune – different column
Now that’s just crazy talk. You mean the Rays aren’t the only team in baseball having attendance issues? C’mon. That’s news not worthy of print.
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There you go. Let’s stop talking about attendance. In this area, the Rays are not the only team who is struggling. If anyone noticed, the Tampa Bay Lightning (who play in Tampa), were 26th out of 30 NHL teams in attendance, playing to 78% of capacity. The Tampa Bay Bucs (also in Tampa) were 21st out of 32 teams in home attendance, playing to 96% of capacity. Not bad, but there’s talk of television blackouts in this area for 2010.
Perhaps Tampa Bay isn’t a great sports market. But, I just wish discussion of attendance issues weren’t unique to the Rays.