Attendance...

[BiggieSmalls]

So im watching sportscenter and they are making a big deal about the horribly poor attendance at the rays game last night, and really every home game since i can remember. To me this is absolutely pathetic that as a fan base, you cant fill more than 12,000 seats for a top tier baseball team with a legitimate chance to win the world series.

I just annoys me to see such an exciting and succesful team go to waste in tampa.

I thought for sure that coming to this forum, that one of the first topics i would see would be something talking about attendance.....or lack there of.

I just dont get it, what is keeping fans from filling the seats of an exciting world series contender? someone enlighten me as to what was slipped in the water of tampa fans that makes them think they should not support there team?

Im not trying to attack anyone personally, im just full of frustration because we need a second pro team in portland and the rays look like a prime candidate to go anywhere!

[tru6playa]

The Rays have been a top team for the past 3 seasons so it's difficult to see why the stadium hasn't been filled all season long? It's also hard to analyze from a far. What's the Tampa Bay Economy like? Is the stadium horrible? I know they support their TB Bucs, but why not the Rays?

I just leave at this - just like the fans have the right to not wish to pay to see great baseball; the owner has the right to move his team to somewhere more financially suitable for him.

[craig01]

It's much more complicated than just the numbers.

Here's a post that I wrote in the Magic forum

There are many reasons, and ALL of which contribute to create a major problem.

1/ Tropicana Field is located in the southern tip of St Pete. Only 19% of the regions population base lives within a 30 minute drive. If the stadium were in more centrally located Tampa, that number changes to about 60%. THAT IS A BIG DEAL.

It takes me an 1 and 45 minute drive from Orlando if there is NO traffic going through 2 cities. Lakeland takes more than an hour. Carrollwod, Pasco county, Brandon (all good demographics takes 45-60 to 60 minutes).

There is no subway like northern cities offer either. Traffic in Pinellas County is HORRID all of the time, with little offering of alternate ways to get to the Trop.

Weekend attendance is fine there, it's the weekday games that suffer.

Think about it..... you work in Tampa, leave at 5pm, get home at 5:30.....get the kids ready, and drive through Tampa, and again through St Pete for a 7pm game.

Game finishes at 10pm deal with post game traffic, and get home well after 11 (if you live in Tampa).

How many parents are going to bring their kids out to weekday games if you know you'll be getting home that late?

2/ The fan base has not yet matured.....Most of the adults were or still are supporters of previous teams. The Rays are in their 12th season, and 9 of them were terrible.

Once the younger generation develops, the fan base will have a core for the first time.

3/ It is significant that Tampa holds among the highest unemployment rates in the country (13%).

4/ Despite what the Feds say, this recession is not over, and baseball is still an expensive proposition for a casual weeknight game.

5/ Little or no corporate support. You can blame the venue AND the location for that.

Some misconceptions about Tropicana field.

1/ It is not a dump. Sternberg put about 8 million of his own money into the inside of the stadium giving it a brighter and more appealing fan experience.

2/ Although it is near some weaker demographics, that really does not come into play. There is plenty of stadium parking, and one block north of the stadium is an entire block full of restaurants and bars for the younger crowd.

The solution?

Time.... for the fan base to develop.... and build a stadium in Hillsborough County, across the bay. Doing so would connect the good demographics in Tampa, but would also make Lakeland and Orlando travelers a true possibility on a weeknight.

I agree that attendance is terrible for such a dynamic team, but this region has a unique set of circumstances to deal with like no other before.

These aren't excuses above, just the realities that face the Rays. Like I said in the post, move the team to Tampa and things would be much better. But that's not going to happen because of an ironclad lease with the City of St Pete.

[jjsauerw]

Yeah, the Tampa situation is one of the most unique I've ever seen in sports. If there was one source to blame I would have to say its Major League Baseball for trying to force this situation in the first place.

Craig made some excellent points. The biggest of which is that Tropicana Field is simply a bad baseball facility (in terms of fan experience watching a baseball game, I'm trying to say it is a dump) in a terrible location, and there is no public transit. Tampa is not only among the smaller markets in the league, but it is proper also the least densely populated. There some other important factors to consider as well:

- A lot of the demographic is older and transplanted from other parts of the country. They have deep-rooted allegiances with other teams in other cities. This is a much bigger deal for the 162 game, day-to-day nature of a baseball schedule than it is in other sports.

- The Rays are in the top 10 in both TV and radio ratings in the league. This basically reinforces the fact that the fans exist, but are not willing to drive 45 minutes to watch baseball in an arena. Unfortunately, without a revenue machine like YES or NESN these ratings don't bring in much cash.

- The unemployment rate in Florida is about 12%, significantly higher than the 9.5% or so average in the rest of the country.

The Rays spend tons of money in marketing (they gave away 20,000 free tickets last night). The organization is run extremely well for the circumstance it is in. There ability to build and continuously cycle competitive talent amazes me. Even with the cuts in payroll, they will probably still be competitive again next year. Major League Baseball simply tried to force a situation into working when the logistics just didn't add up, not in 1998, and even more so now. Generally when leagues grant expansion franchises, arrangements for a new facility are already in place.

The two instances I can think of off the top of my head where this wasn't the case, the Rays and Marlins, have been prolonged disasters. The Marlins are finally getting there own stadium in 2012, 19 years after the franchise began play. I am not trying to say the burden is Tampa or St. Pete to sign over $600M to build a stadium, especially not in this economy. But Major League Baseball should done there diligence granting the franchise.

[Space Cowgirl]

I hope it is alright if I post in this older thread.

I was wondering if anyone had discussed the lack of attendance at the Rays games. I live in northern Pasco, and I really hate driving down to St. Pete, but I watch the games on TV, and buy some merchandise. Late games during the week are probably the biggest reason more people don't attend, but the location of the stadium is also a huge hassle.

I think the fan base for the Rays is growing. Hopefully we'll start having better attendance despite the stadium's location. I know we're proud of the team, but sad that we've lost some good players.

[craig01]

I hope it is alright if I post in this older thread.

I was wondering if anyone had discussed the lack of attendance at the Rays games. I live in northern Pasco, and I really hate driving down to St. Pete, but I watch the games on TV, and buy some merchandise. Late games during the week are probably the biggest reason more people don't attend, but the location of the stadium is also a huge hassle.

I think the fan base for the Rays is growing. Hopefully we'll start having better attendance despite the stadium's location. I know we're proud of the team, but sad that we've lost some good players.

One of the issues for the Rays is that they are still developing their FIRST generation on fans.

Because of the mismanagement during much of the first ten years, that initial generation has been slow to develop. Attendance will grow as will regional passion when kids become adults and have their kids......

The location of the Trop is by far the most severe issue.... and ownership knows this.....but whether or not they can ever do anything about it before it's too late remains to be seen.

All we can do as fans is support them with our presence as often as is realistic.

[OSBB]

I live in northern Pasco, and I really hate driving down to St. Pete, but I watch the games on TV, and buy some merchandise. Late games during the week are probably the biggest reason more people don't attend, but the location of the stadium is also a huge hassle.

The stadium is located in the middle of a city with a population of over 250,000. It's only a 1/2 hour to Tampa (I drive it everyday), a 1/2 hour from Clearwater and 45 minutes from Sarasota/Bradenton. You probably have 1.5 million people that live within 45 mins of the stadium. Location isn't an issue.

[craig01]

I live in northern Pasco, and I really hate driving down to St. Pete, but I watch the games on TV, and buy some merchandise. Late games during the week are probably the biggest reason more people don't attend, but the location of the stadium is also a huge hassle.

The stadium is located in the middle of a city with a population of over 250,000. It's only a 1/2 hour to Tampa (I drive it everyday), a 1/2 hour from Clearwater and 45 minutes from Sarasota/Bradenton. You probably have 1.5 million people that live within 45 mins of the stadium. Location isn't an issue.

It is from a regional standpoint.

Traffic through malfunction junction from east tampa and beyond makes the drive very inconvenient.

Lakeland/Orlando are eliminated from attending anything but weekend games.

[OSBB]

I live in northern Pasco, and I really hate driving down to St. Pete, but I watch the games on TV, and buy some merchandise. Late games during the week are probably the biggest reason more people don't attend, but the location of the stadium is also a huge hassle.

The stadium is located in the middle of a city with a population of over 250,000. It's only a 1/2 hour to Tampa (I drive it everyday), a 1/2 hour from Clearwater and 45 minutes from Sarasota/Bradenton. You probably have 1.5 million people that live within 45 mins of the stadium. Location isn't an issue.

It is from a regional standpoint.

Traffic through malfunction junction from east tampa and beyond makes the drive very inconvenient.

Lakeland/Orlando are eliminated from attending anything but weekend games.

But the drive from Tampa to St. Pete isn't really the issue though, it's pretty quick and convenient. The drive across Tampa is really whats a pain in the ass. And you'd still have to drive that stretch anyway. And you're not really gonna tap into the Orlando market unless you put the stadium in Plant City or Polk County because it's over an hour long drive anyway, people aren't gonna make that drive with any regularity. Than you'll lose alot of the St. Pete market, which is a bigger city than Orlando. The bottomline is that there isn't a quick fix, maybe you would find a way to bump up attendance by a few people a game by putting a stadium at the absolute geographical population center of the region but I don't think it matters. The amount of people with access to the stadium isn't the issue.