Despite Opening Week at New Stadium Braves Average Attenence Already Below 6 (of 20) Complete Years at Turner Field (Atlanta: pros and cons, move to)

[evannole]

The Hawks are hosting a playoff game tomorrow night, and it's still not sold out. Plenty of tickets still available, and that's on the primary market, not resales (where there are, doubtless, plenty more).

In other words, the Hawks are playing in the PLAYOFFS on a Saturday night and haven't yet managed to sell out their 19,000 seat arena. And you're giving the Braves a hard time (or rejoicing) because they drew an average of 30,000 to a set of six relatively meaningless (certainly meaningless relative to a playoff game) regular-season games, two-thirds of which fell on weeknights while school was still in session?

[-thomass]

Originally Posted by evannole

The Hawks are hosting a playoff game tomorrow night, and it's still not sold out. Plenty of tickets still available, and that's on the primary market, not resales (where there are, doubtless, plenty more).

In other words, the Hawks are playing in the PLAYOFFS on a Saturday night and haven't yet managed to sell out their 19,000 seat arena. And you're giving the Braves a hard time (or rejoicing) because they drew an average of 30,000 to a set of six relatively meaningless (certainly meaningless relative to a playoff game) regular-season games, two-thirds of which fell on weeknights while school was still in session?

The Hawks just didn't spend $1 billion on a new sports complex lol. Plus the Hawks suck. Making the playoffs in the NBA means nothing. And I'm saying this as a season ticket holder.

[0nyxStation]

Originally Posted by jsvh

But at least that means less traffic than feared!

Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors | Baseball-Reference.com

Keep working JSVH, keep working. I see you man.

[evannole]

Originally Posted by -thomass

The Hawks just didn't spend $1 billion on a new sports complex lol. Plus the Hawks suck. Making the playoffs in the NBA means nothing. And I'm saying this as a season ticket holder.

No, instead they twisted the city's arm into contributing $143M towards a $193M renovation of Philips Arena.

And I agree that the Hawks are not very good, and that making the playoffs in the NBA is not much of an accomplishment. It's one of the reasons I stopped paying attention to the NBA years ago. But the Hawks, relative to their competition, are still considerably better than the Braves have been, relative to their competition, in the last few years.

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by cqholt

AFCS and Turner Field were less than 1 mile from a transit station. MARTA provided free-transfers to shuttles that operated in dedicated lanes near the stadium. Visitors at least had the option of utilizing MARTA.

Sure, it was doable, but doable does not cut it for what is supposed to be a fun family outing for many suburban families. Walking through underground to either a packed MARTA bus with no air or a mile through the heat is just not pleasant for many. You can criticize what folks expect from their entertainment, but it really doesn't change those expectations.

[0nyxStation]

Originally Posted by jeoff

I think that it was pretty much a given that the braves high point for attendance was over, why else move to a park that has a much lower capacity? Baseball is not what it was, and the Braves aren't what they were. The new stadium is an attempt to hold on to as much of what is left as possible, and make as much money as possible doing it.

I was big into baseball back in the 90s, but now I think they play too many games. MLB has the perfect Playoff system though, I wish the NBA would take notes. NBA playoffs dont get good til the 2nd round. The Braves took me out of baseball though and Atlanta United was right on time. Im curious where MLB ranks among the other sports. Personally the NBA Finals and the Superbowl are the top events. I watch those every year. I never watched the MLS Cup or Hockey Championship. I will watch the MLS Cup now that Atlanta is in the league. The World Series? I watched last year and I watched the WS when the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the NLCS. I dont even remember who the Red Sox beat in the series, but that was the last one I watch before the Cubs-Indians one last year. Never watch Hockey. MLB is such an old sport. Its the oldest american league. I mean you can look at the City of Atlanta. Its not a very conservative place. MLB is a very conservative sport. The kids like NBA, NFL more than Baseball. I have only been to 3 Braves games and 2 were because my job took me. Im surprised ballparks are not shrinking nationwide and I doubt the average kid could name all 30 teams off the top of their head.

[0nyxStation]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Well Soccer certainly seems to be catching on in popularity and selling out all their games so far and our new football / soccer stadium is as big as ever. The Phillips Arena should end up with more seats after they remove the "suite wall". So I don't think you can generalize to all sports.

I just looked up Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs unlike the Braves attendance numbers all have been their highest since 2000, with the Cubs peaking in the last few years (of course). So it is not even Baseball.

The "problem" seems to be the Braves. Especially since they announced this move.

I think you both are right. MLS really caters to everyone, but I dont think it does well everywhere though. One aspect is women and the LBGT (gay men) attendance. MLS has physically fit men with no helmets or hats on the field. NBA and NFL has cheerleaders. MLB seems to have no women involved in their sport. In the 4 sporting events Braves, Falcons, United and Hawks. United brings in the most LGBT fans, Braves bring in the least. Falcons bring in the most black fans of the 4, Hawks bring in a lot of women and black fans. Braves is predominately white fans. If the Braves start going to the NLCS more often the interest will return locally. NLDS is not good enough. Politics and lifestyle plays a lot into the types of sports people attend. People want to be around their own kind and this goes beyond race. United so far has the perfect mix of people.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by jeoff

Sure, it was doable, but doable does not cut it for what is supposed to be a fun family outing for many suburban families. Walking through underground to either a packed MARTA bus with no air or a mile through the heat is just not pleasant for many. You can criticize what folks expect from their entertainment, but it really doesn't change those expectations.

All MARTA buses have AC. If those buses were packed, then no one can claim that only 5% of visitors to Turner Field used MARTA, how would they even track that?

[-thomass]

The shuttle was not at 5 points last year either. I don't suspect many suburban families use marta for anything. However, plenty of in town folks do. The braves should have had more foresight when it came to picking their new location. A nice area with marta access that would have been convenient for both suburban and city folk should have been sought out. The braves are essentially ignoring a huge pool of people in town that would use marta to get to games. That is really my only gripe with the whole thing.

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by cqholt

All MARTA buses have AC. If those buses were packed, then no one can claim that only 5% of visitors to Turner Field used MARTA, how would they even track that?

It's the times to that the AC doesn't work that people remember (or maybe it really doesn't matter when folks are packed that tight). Maybe they they underestimated MARTA use on purpose, so they can have fewer buses on call after games. At any rate, it would have been better if any of the iterations of the Braves stadium were the closer to rail.