article about Phoenix's over-saturated sports market (Glendale: transplants, 2014, home)

[phoenixmike11]

A detailed and interesting article about Phoenix's over-saturated sports market in the Republic.


Diamondbacks' bargains reveal Phoenix's low affluence

[Ponderosa]

Fielding one of the worst (or most disappointing) teams in Major League baseball year after year also limits the ability to charge more for your product. The downtown location does not help either. Few people of means live near downtown and the conventions that bring people in are far less frequent in summer.

[ibarrio]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Fielding one of the worst (or most disappointing) teams in Major League baseball year after year also limits the ability to charge more for your product. The downtown location does not help either. Few people of means live near downtown and the conventions that bring people in are far less frequent in summer.

It's the fan base. Chicago Cubs don't have that issue despite being just as bad as the Diamondbacks. Phoenix fans tend to be a bunch of bandwagon/front running fans .

[lewdog_5]

Originally Posted by ibarrio

It's the fan base. Chicago Cubs don't have that issue despite being just as bad as the Diamondbacks. Phoenix fans tend to be a bunch of bandwagon/front running fans .

Or you could say the Cubs fans are moronic for supporting a losing product for that long. I love baseball but I won't pay money to go watch a crappy product. It's the only way sports fans have of telling management to make changes. I don't call that being a bandwagon, it's called being a realistic fan. I'll gladly watch games for free from home when a team sucks and I'll sack up the money to attend live games if they are good. If you are doing the opposite and attending anyway, you are either rich or a true fan who is always drinking the hometown Kool-aid that management will spew.

[LBTRS]

Don't really see the point in spending money to support a team that can't compete. I watch sports for the competition, if there is no competition and I know they are going to lose I find something else to spend my time and money on.

[lewdog_5]

Originally Posted by ibarrio

It's the fan base. Chicago Cubs don't have that issue despite being just as bad as the Diamondbacks. Phoenix fans tend to be a bunch of bandwagon/front running fans .

Just did a little research. Since 2010, 8 teams actually have lower attendance numbers than the Dbacks. Baltimore, KC, Marlins, Houston, Oakland, Cleveland, Tampa, White Sox. Tampa/Oakland are decent teams in those years but don't draw well because of the crappy stadiums. And what do most of the others have in common? Bad baseball.

[azriverfan.]

Lazy comment and it's this mentality that makes Phoenix residents so clueless when they comment about our sports scene. Chicago has about 4 million more people to draw from as well and the Cubs have been around for over 100 years. It's simple economics. When you have a larger supply of fans, it's going to be easier to fill seats. Also, when your team has been in existence for over 100 years, you will have generations of fans supporting the team. Owners in large markets will always have advantages. They can charge 3 times the ticket prices because there is enough competition for seats. Also, in those other cities, they have a larger corporate presence so they purchase boxes, suites and sections which make the owners more money.

It's not the fan base, it's the owners. We have just had the misfortune of having owners without deep pockets. The last real owner we had was Colangelo and he was willing to spend money, that's why we won a World Series and why the Suns had such a strong fanbase. The owners we have now simply don't have the money to compete with the bigger markets.

Also, the Cubs are a poor example because half the fans who attend their games do so to get drunk and celebrate. Cubs games are an event known as much for it's nonbaseball antics. Everyone knows that so to use them as an example of a bad team who sells out is weak.

Again, the knee jerk typical Phoenix fan comment "Duh, we have bad fans" is what makes our sports scene so lousy. We need more knowledgeable residents. It's just irritating to hear from the clueless who bash our sports scene without thinking.

I respect the fans in the Valley. Supporting a bad product is just asinine. It's reinforcing bad owners. It's their job to put a winning product on the field. It's not the residents' job to spend their hard earned money to see a loser play. If you are stupid enough to believe that it's the fans job to spend all their money on tickets while the owners can sit back and not spend on players, I don't know what else to tell you. I would be happy if one of our miserly owners would sell the team to Larry Ellison or a billionaire that takes pride in the team and is willing to spend the money to produce a winner.

The Dbacks' front office is incompetent. We traded our best player and potential future HOF in Justin Upton for a box of cracker jack and Hi-C. Look at the moves our front office has made. But now, our community is supposed support that stupidity by attending the games? How about our owner fire some of the morons in his front office and build a quality management team that knows what they are doing. I like the Tony La Russa hire but get rid of Kevin Towers who single handedly destroyed the Dbacks.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by phoenixmike11

A detailed and interesting article about Phoenix's over-saturated sports market in the Republic.

The article cited some facts that I've been speaking about for a long time: lack of affluent people, a low number of Fortune 500 firms with HQs here, and (most of all): incomes which tend to be on the low side, but a cost of living that really isn't all that low compared to other major league cities. The article specifically points out that nine other cities with major league teams have a lower cost of living than Phoenix does.

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

The downtown location does not help either. Few people of means live near downtown and the conventions that bring people in are far less frequent in summer.

The downtown location of Chase Field has nothing to do with it. I could easily point to Westgate and the Jobing.com/Coyotes fiasco as proof. If there is any place for a sports/entertainment mecca that has been a disaster (and has the stats to prove it), it would be the Glendale location. Even though you are known for being anti downtown (and anti city in general), let's not let opinions get in the way of facts.

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

It's not the fan base, it's the owners. We have just had the misfortune of having owners without deep pockets. The last real owner we had was Colangelo and he was willing to spend money, that's why we won a World Series and why the Suns had such a strong fanbase. The owners we have now simply don't have the money to compete with the bigger markets.

And we need Colangelo back ... or at least somebody like him. Even he was highly criticized by the NIMBYs and naysayers back in the day when he was wheeling & dealing to bring major league baseball and hockey to Phoenix. He had the money to spend, and he did well with his investments.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

The article cited some facts that I've been speaking about for a long time: lack of affluent people, a low number of Fortune 500 firms with HQs here, and (most of all): incomes which tend to be on the low side, but a cost of living that really isn't all that low compared to other major league cities. The article specifically points out that nine other cities with major league teams have a lower cost of living than Phoenix does.

The money is there, they just don't want to spend it. When the Cardinals made the NFC championship, the tickets sold out in less than 15 minutes which was a record. People will spend money on a winner. The problem is we have so many transplants whose prioritize their home team over local teams. They only support the local teams when they win or contend. But it has nothing to do with money. The money is there. When the Suns had the Solar Express, you couldn't get a ticket. Same crowd, nothing changed

Youll see this. When Phoenix teams do bad, suddenly they are Steeler, Bears and Packer fans again. When they win, they hide those jerseys and wear local colors.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

The money is there, they just don't want to spend it. When the Cardinals made the NFC championship, the tickets sold out in less than 15 minutes which was a record. People will spend money on a winner. The problem is we have so many transplants whose prioritize their home team over local teams. They only support the local teams when they win or contend. But it has nothing to do with money. The money is there. When the Suns had the Solar Express, you couldn't get a ticket. Same crowd, nothing changed

Youll see this. When Phoenix teams do bad, suddenly they are Steeler, Bears and Packer fans again. When they win, they hide those jerseys and wear local colors.

I know what you mean. It's called a "fair weather fan base" ... much like fair weather friends who are only there for you when things are good. The transplant factor is another good point. I've personally known many people who have moved here from somewhere else and will only support the teams in the region where they moved FROM. As an example, just about anybody from Wisconsin is a die hard Packers fan. This despite the fact that Green Bay is a small city (way too small for an NFL franchise in my opinion), but that team has an enormous amount of support.

That's one reason why we need owners/investors like Jerry Colangelo. He put a tremendous amount of time, money, and effort to ensure that Phoenix not only has pro sports teams, but that they are good playing teams as well. When the Suns were in the championship series, and when the DBacks won the World Series, it was Colangelo who was behind it all.