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This isn't even a contest - Kansas City is actually a very solid baseball market and the Royals have drawn pretty well when they are good (which mind you hasn't been the case for over 20 years).
Honest to God true story - less than an hour ago (probably around 10:20 PM ET on Tuesday 10/5) I checked ticket availability for the Rays-Rangers ALDS Game 1 on Wednesday. On the Rays' website (i.e. the Tampa Bay Rays section of the MLB.com website), I could have bought FOUR tickets together in Section 303 (3rd base side of home plate) in Upper Reserved for $30 each excluding service charges (the cheapest tickets available are $30). Unbelievable.
Wow, I didn't know it was THAT bad. If the Royals did make the playoffs, every possible game would sell out instantly in advance and if they did make the playoffs, attendance woulds skyrocket as it became apparent the team was competitive and the playoffs were a possibility. KC only has 2 million people and the Royals are arguably the worst team in all of pro sports (at least when it comes to not making post season). For them to average even 20k a game is remarkable since they have sucked for so long. If you put the Royals in any other market, and they were terrible (like many 100 loss season) for 25 years, I can't think of a single market that would draw more than 20k fans, no matter the population of the market. We now live in the DC area and followed the Royals to DC, Baltimore and Cincy. All of them had a sizable Royals crowd. I would even say it was over 20% at DC and Balt. So for a terrible team that has sucked for 25 years playing a a city 1000 miles away to still have fans like that has impressed me.
I remain a Royals fan even though I tried t switch over to the Nat's or O's, but I learned that you can't just switch teams like that.
The Royals organization doesn't deserve the fans they have. They don't deserve that taxpayer funded Kauffman Stadium.
It's really sad what has happened to this once proud franchise.
As far as Tampa goes. It looks like it's just not a baseball town. It's too transient, they have a terrible ballpark and the area seems to not have much of a sense of community. I wish them luck, a new ballpark might help.
But if KC even hints at being just competitive, the Royals become the talk of the town and fans come out of the woodwork. I will forever sport my Royals jerseys on the east coast and maybe just someday, I can be proud once again for doing so.
Yet you and other Tampa fans are the ones throwing insults in the air while still not explaining why you can't fill a stadium when you have one of the best teams in the American League. Go buy a playoff ticket and do your team and city a favor.
Exactly. The economy, my arse. There were tickets for yesterdays Rays game on StubHub going for almost HALF of face value....$16 for a playoff ticket!!! That's not much more than a ticket to see a minor league game here in Scranton! All the while, standing room tickets were going for around 100 bucks for the Phils game.
And if they're blaming the economy, it not like its great here in PA.
Than people should stop blaming the fans here. None of these problems means Tampa Bay doesn't deserve the team, because most of the can be fixed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CHIP72
There are many people who are aware of the challenges the Rays have attendance-wise that are unique or mostly unique to the Tampa Bay market, especially in combination - transient population, not an overly large market, mediocre domed stadium, hard-to-access stadium location, particularly difficult regional economy, high number of retirees/people on fixed incomes, and in the 2010 ALDS, a low profile opponent.
Honestly, many of the things I mentioned above - transient population and high number of retirees/people on fixed incomes for sure, and the relatively small market, at least in the short-to-medium term - can't be fixed very easy; they are attributes of the Tampa-St. Petersburg area in terms of major league sports. Some of the other attributes, specifically those related to Tropicana Field, aren't easily fixable either, or more accurately they require a lot of money the region may not be willing to spend. The bigger problem for the Rays in the Tampa Bay market as I see it is some of the other markets with attendance challenges even when their team wins, like Miami (Marlins) and Phoenix (Diamondbacks), have the SAME ISSUES as Tampa Bay has, and Tampa Bay is considerably smaller than either the Miami area or Phoenix area. The Rays are probably always going to struggle to draw fans because their demographics and location are not favorable for them to draw large crowds on a regular basis.
TB Fla - none of the above is meant to be personally critical of you (I think you probably realize that but I wanted to state it), or even other genuine Tampa Bay Rays fans, whether they can afford to attend their games or not. The problem the Rays have isn't that they don't have any hardcore fans, it's that they don't have nearly enough of them.
One other thing - I give you credit for defending your team's fanbase, even though I think you are fighting a losing battle (not through any fault of your own).
We live in South Florida and indeed both Florida franchises have struggled to draw fans. The Marlins have hoodwinked Miami into building a new stadium, and that may be a novelty for a year or so, before the anesthesia wears off and the same old excuses return not to attend games---South Florida is an excuse driven market, and unless the aura of an event surrounds a franchise the populace is apathetic to their sports franchises---save the Dolphins.
The same excuses are prevalent in Tampa and Ive noticed many of the Tampa residents complain about the economy preventing them from buying tickets. The economy is just as pathetic in Detroit, St. Louis, Phoenix, or Milwaukee-----sorry but the Tampa area has been very lax in its support of the Rays since their inception.
The bottom line always has been if a city has an interest in their baseball franchise the population base will show up if given a fine product. The baseball history in Kansas City has been decent and given a better product than the dreck that the management and ownership has produced there, I can envision a significant uptick in attendance there---its an older park but a very beautiful and well manicured stadium.
I like the Tampa area-----fine people----nice area----little interest in baseball. I think that the owners there may have realized that after the turnout this year that the ship has sailed. I have been following the efforts to attempt to build a new stadium there and it appears it will not happen. In being realistic, I would have to say the future of baseball in Tampa is very much in doubt.
Tampa Bay is not a "town". It is a metropolitan area whose ballpark is in a terrible location, and few people want to endure the drive across the causeway into the sun in hot and humid weather at rush hour to go to a game. If that stadium was on the Tampa side of the water, they would have maybe double the attendance.
Rays fans are just as good as any fans (except we wont riot and destroy our own city if we win a WS). Give any other baseball market as many obstacles as the Tampa Bay market has, and their attendance would be just as bad. But don't blame fans for it.
In reality, Rays attendance is not as bad as sportscasters on ESPN are making it out to be.
The Rays are 7th in attendance when adjusted for population
The Rays are 7th in TV ratings
Only 19% of the metro area population lives within a 30 minute car drive of the Trop, worst in MLB, and almost zero public transit
The Media has a way of brainwashing viewers....its always funny to hear from the guy in Cleveland or San Diego about what is going on in Tampa Bay.
The "so-called" fans are the ones that are not showing up to the games, so who else is to blame? This would lead any rational person to conclude that the Tampa Bay area can not support major sports organizations.
Whats the point? Why you guys attacking Tampa Bays fan base? The Bucs aint selling out either do they not deserve the Bucs? Rays fans really shouldnt even explain anything. One fanbase has no place to hate on another fanbase, Philly & Tb are not even in the same division much less same league...Whats the beef? Is Philly still made about the 2002 NFC Championship Game? Bucanneers shuting down the Vet? Why all this hate from Philly, yet New York, Baltimore & Boston have no punches to throw?
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Go buy a playoff ticket and do your team and city a favor.
