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Quote:
Originally Posted by MMS02760
No Pawsox stadium decision is likely to be announced much before the season ends as it would kill attendance. The team plays its last game at home on Monday September 3rd.
The Pawsox will be in a bad transitional situation should they move out of state. Their Pawtucket attendance would surely tank as would media coverage and general interest. The relationship with RI would be damaged beyond repair. The bad feelings would carry over to Worcester as I don't think they could expect much support from Rhode Islanders going forward. They will really have to cultivate a new fan base with a big emphasis on Red Sox fans across the entire state of Massachusetts as the Worcester market alone will not do.
Only an announcement of a move to Worcester would kill attendance.
I agree with you that they would kill the Rhode Island fan base by making the move. And I don't see them being able to cultivate enough additional interest from across Mass to make up for the loss.
Market trumps stadium. The stadium is a resource used to serve the market. Without the market, you don't need a stadium.
Other owners in the International League are surely aware of the decline in baseball's popularity. While owners might squawk to the media about alleged International League rules demanding more juice from RI turnips, Lucchino must have enough pull to bring owners around when he decides it's time.
It's been beaten to death in this thread already: metro Worcester is 58% of the size of metro Providence.
I'm aware. So you're assuming that the attendance in Worcester will be approximately 58% of Pawtucket's attendance? If so, that's flawed reasoning. We can't assume the demand will be the same.
And do you really think people from Norfolk County, MA are going to Pawtucket games? I don't. If you remove Norfolk County from the metro Providence population, the metro areas are equal in size.
That said, I'm not convinced that metro population data is the best measuring tool anyway.
Pawtucket is 39% of the size of Worcester. A strong argument could be made that a ballpark in a city of 184k people will attract more people than a ballpark in a city of 71k people.
It could also be argued that being in MA will attract more people. Of course there are tons of Red Sox fans in RI, but it could still be a factor.
At the end of the day, we can't predict demand. But we can be damn sure there's plenty of Boston Red Sox fans in the Worcester area.
I'm aware. So you're assuming that the attendance in Worcester will be approximately 58% of Pawtucket's attendance? If so, that's flawed reasoning. We can't assume the demand will be the same.
And do you really think people from Norfolk County, MA are going to Pawtucket games? I don't. If you remove Norfolk County from the metro Providence population, the metro areas are equal in size.
That said, I'm not convinced that metro population data is the best measuring tool anyway.
Pawtucket is 39% of the size of Worcester. A strong argument could be made that a ballpark in a city of 184k people will attract more people than a ballpark in a city of 71k people.
It could also be argued that being in MA will attract more people. Of course there are tons of Red Sox fans in RI, but it could still be a factor.
At the end of the day, we can't predict demand. But we can be damn sure there's plenty of Boston Red Sox fans in the Worcester area.
Plenty of Norfolk County (and further away) people attend Pawsox games. Of course AAA might be different, but as noted here already Worcester doesn't exactly have the best track record for minor league baseball. 58% of McCoy's attendance is optimistic, IMHO.
Then I don't know what to tell you, just that I know all kinds of people who have attended games there. From Bristol, Norfolk (even places like Dedham and Norwood). Just count all the Mass. plates around next time you go.
Just realized something. The team has been trying to coddle the Pawtucket/Central Falls Latino community by calling themselves the "Osos Polares" for Tuesday home games. Where is Polar Beverages located?
The major barrier seems to be the International League.
I haven't listened to the audio yet, but I recall from last year that the IL was opposed to the Pawtucket deal because it set a dangerous precedent for the amount of money the owners would be responsible to kick in. It was, however, the IL that blocked the team's move to Worcester after the 1976 season.
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