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I was curious about people who are familar with St. Louis and can objectively tell me what the town is like for sports.
1) I gather and can tell St. Louis is one the top baseball towns.
-This is because not only is this proclaimed nationally, but they have always drawn quite well both at home and on the road.
-On the other hand I wanted to know is St. Louis an all over passionate solid sports town, are they big on the Rams, Blues, football and hockey, or in St. Louis is it pretty much Cardinals and then fairweather the rest of the time?
2) I get mixed signals as people have said St. Louis is a very good hockey town and football town.
-However the Rams I feel and see don't draw that well.
-In football, any self respecting team sell outs every game, if you don't you get blackouts.
-The only exception is say if your team has been awful for a decade.
-The Rams during their Super Bowl season didn't sell out at the start.
Later this past season, while not a great year, the Rams still were 8-8 and in contention for a playoff spot, they had games blacked out.
-In the past they might not have had blackouts but this was due only to the local FOX buying the tickets.
-Even more alarming is how Ram home games are almost road games as when the Chiefs and Bears came last year the Rams had to go to a silent count.
-This season the Rams instituted a policy requiring fans who buy tickets for the Steelers game to do so for others.
-Normally a team would have already sold out games and doing this shows not only the lagging ticket sales for an average but not hapless club it also shows the problem with being overtaken by road fans.
-In baseball you would NEVER have this problem were the Cardinals would not sell out big games or have their house be taken over.
-To me it seems inexcusable given the Rams recently won a Super Bowl, a playoff game just three years ago and still feature a decent and fun team that any real sports town would get overtaken by road fans or have blackouts.
3) In hockey I heard St. Louis was a great town yet after the lockout they have been last in attendance.
-I understand the lockout and ownership pillage hurt but still the team improved only to have the WORST attendance.
4) I like St. Louis but to me it looks like St. Louis is another one dimensional bandwagon sports town that can only truly sport through better and worse the Cardinals.
-How can you NOT sell out football games and have to go to a silent count unless you really do have fairweather fans or people to focused on the Cardinals?
-Could somebody explain?
Answer
Yes, StL is very much a top/great baseball town. The Redbirds are a great draw, usually placing a very enjoyable team on the field, and many many fans in the stands. Yea, the Cards are the top draw - however, many of those that follow/love the Blues and/or Rams, also do such with an equal if not even more fervent fever. Yours truly included... I will admit that I do see red, and its not Cardinal red, when during the Blue's playoff runs, the StL newspaper [Post Dispatch] has the Cards spring training crud on the Sports front page...
Overall, I would say that StL is first and foremost a sports town, celebrating all of its diverse sporting heritages and teams and players, past and present. The region is a hotbed [guessing it still is , but in the past was one of the hottest in the country] for soccer. The Rams and the Blues do not draw the amount of publicity nor the same numbers of fans, no denying that fact. However, as mentioned, IMHO, and in my particular case, all three have their own niche here, with the Cards being first draw.
As I've stated before, my blood runs a deep Blue with a large amount of Red and with many Ram horned cells coursing through it... I'm quite proud of our teams,,, lol - even the ol' Cardiac Cards... Oh, to give an example of how deep Blue my blood runs - when living in the boonies south of Rolla years ago, I would listen to the boys skating on an AM radio [ummmm,,, pardon this interruption, but I felt it beneficial to clarify this statement - I listened to the radio as the boys skated; they did NOT skate ON the radio, as that would damage the speakers...], my only means to have real time game play then, and when a thunderstorm would cause the hiss/crackle of the lightning, I would readjust the antenna, place Al foil here and there, hold the antenna in one hand while standing in a goofy position, touching some metal in the room, whatever it would take to get a signal to hear Dan Kelly's voice give me a visual for my imagination...
As to the Blues and the lockout - all can say there is that for myself, I felt quite pissed, betrayed, upset, etc. and I was not going to give any of my money to what I viewed as a bunch of BS. The Cards faired better after the baseball crud years earlier, but there is still quite a bit of animosity regarding that too. The Rams have what appears to me to be a semi-goofy management team of late; whereas the Blues are getting their act together, and are making a strong commitment towards the team, the city, and the fans.
So, while the Cards are the top-dogs in the StL area, I would not agree that it is a one-horse [or even bird] town - its just a region that loves/supports its baseball team, one that has won multiple World Series [2nd only to the despised Evil Empire Pin Stripes], fielded some of the greatest baseball players ever, and is a game that many people can relate to, besides being a national pastime. Contrast that to football and hockey, which not as many people play, nor have the specialized conditions or equipment to play it on a regular basis.
Question
What is up with the various threads started by yourself regarding sports in various cities/regions? Just curious regarding your curiosity...
My question about the Rams, if St. Louis is a great or solid sportstown why is it that the most popular sport nationally with only eight home games a year, football, gets blacked out?
Any half way decent town sells out football games, much less one in a three sport town with a smaller field.
The Rams haven't been like the Arizona Cardinals, I don't get why they don't sell out, how come road fans dominate like the Chiefs, Bears?
It is so much a problem the players complained of doing silent counts and the team had to make a special policy for the Steeler game.
It simply sounds to me like a poor football area.
DIdn't you guys miss football when the Cardinals moved?
St. Louis is a baseball town. It used to be an ok hockey town but now it is a joke. I watched some games where there were literally thousands of empty seats even down low. It's not much of a football town either.
Great baseball town
Average/below average football town
Once good but now not so good of a hockey town
I'd go see the Blues play even if they were in last place.... wait, almost happened and I did go see them play. LOVE the Stl Blues. Bad hockey is better than great football anyday... (oh, am I gonna get it for that statement...).
Hey - don't worry, Blues are building a great team and St. Louis will once again be a great Hockey Town. It was just tough for people to go and watch their beloved Blues get beat time and time again. Some call that fair-weather fans, I just think it was too hard to watch the Blues like that. Stl fans are awesome - they will be back and stronger than ever. Call me "Mrs Optimistic" (and my husband is "Mr." as he believes, too).
BSL63087 - keep in mind that many of the lower seats are normally bought by corporations, etc., so regular fans don't have access to these. FWIW, I don't at all agree w/ StL ever being just an "ok hockey town", let alone "now a joke". As the wise CellarBelle has hinted above, as I think I mentioned earlier too, hockey in, esp. in StL has had a hard time of late - with the BS surrounding the owners/management, that takes a toll on the players and many of the fans. However, there is a solid and strong commitment from the new management team, and it has a very strong appearance of being here for the long haul, making solid and good decisions. Such will then get local companies to purchase tickets again, while also bringing back many of the fans to the arena. Of course, you are talking to a fool that will drive 5 hours [in what should take 6 hours ] to get to a Blues game a couple times a year.
bluecountry - have you actually been to StL, and gone to any of these games, be they Cards, Blues, and/or Rams? As to missing the Cardiac Cards, yea,, but we [or at least myself and many of my friends] latched onto the Rams from the initial get go. Keep in mind that it is kinda difficult for a regular fan to go to a Rams game, unless they scalp or know someone who has tickets or gets lucky via TM or a season holder letting tickets go - damn PSL's... FWIW, have heard that so far, three games are sold out [Steelers, Chiefs, and Packers]. Don't get me wrong, not trying to sound defensive, just letting ya know that IMHO, you may have your opinions slightly skewered - esp if you have not been to the city during these events.
First, try posting this in the St. Louis forum and you would get more replies.
St. Louis is a good sports town, in particular pro sports town, but sports in general.
The Rams have sold out every game since moving to STL but one. This for a team that has mostly been not so great since coming to STL, with some good seasons mixed in...and after a town had one of the worst owners in professional sports own the previous pro football team. STL has been extremely supportive of the Rams. Hmmm Bears and Chiefs...many decades of big regional followings....where were those several thousand no show Bears fans for their playoff game v Seattle last year at Soldier Field...plenty of seats available folks.
Hockey in every city is a niche sport outside of Canada. And it ahs a big niche in STL. The Blues had an owner who didn't buy low and sell high....he decided to strip the team of allof its high profile star players and give them away for little to nothing in return, right after a lockout. New ownership, not even a good team yet, and ticket sales are up a lot. Compared to the rest of the league, the Blues receive excellent support from fans. ....even though the team has yet to make the Stanley Cup Finals in the past almost 40 years since the last time they did.
The College Soccer Cup drew a sold out crowd in unually frigid temps, packed last year. Frozen Four for College hockey was a sell out. NCAA Wrestling Championships drew record attendance in St. Louis recently. MVC baketball(not exactly the ACC) drew 22k for semis and finals of their conference tourney in STL this past year. Mizzou v Illinois hoops sells out in minutes after tix go on sale annually over 22k. NCAA hoops final four was at the dome under great attendance recently...and first few rounds and regional finals keep coming back because of attendance. Figure Skating, NCAA Womens' Final Four....Womens National soccer team will be playing at the dome next month.
Cardinals draw 3 million fans annually for baseball.
Both Cardinals and Rams sell out palyoff games of much higher ticket prices over the past decade.
Great Crowds were on hand to see World Team tennis and Pete Sampras and Serena Williams this summer in Forest Park.
You put on a sporting event in STL, and people show up in droves.
I really have to disagree based on my observations about the Rams.
In fact it was the poor attendance of the Rams whoch caused or spurred my interest in this topic.
I notice in baseball St. Louis basically sells out every game, and hardly has any road fans save for a couple teams and even then, make up a minority.
I figuered St. Louis was a strong sports town.
I saw in football though they don't get nearly this same support.
First in 1999 during their Super Bowl season they had lots of empty seats until the Warner bangwon began.
Then in 2005 just a year after making the playoffs they continued to have problems filling the place, however countless times local radio or tv stations I read have bailed the Rams out from being blacked out.
This was until late last season when the game against the Redskins was blacked out.
Now you might say so what the Rams were out of it, but this is not the norm for most sports towns.
Unlike baseball if you don't sell out in the NFL it basically is the equivlant of failing, as you get stigimitzed with a local TV blackout.
Most NFL teams, and certainly those cities which aren't even good sports towns, sell out all EIGHT home games regardless and usually have a lengthy season ticket list.
The fact that the Rams can't struggle to sell out and do so when they recently won a Super Bowl, a playoff game, featured an entertaining team, really does make St. Louis seem like a one bird town.
Throw in the fact whenever they play a popular team, like the Packers, Steelers, Bears, or a nearby team, the Chiefs, and the stadium is sold out but with so many road fans you don't know who has home court.
This is what I am trying to figure out objectively.
Is St. Louis a good sports and football town, and if so why is it they draw so well in baseball, selling out weekday games which is very rare, yet in football struggle with road fans, blackouts, which also is rare in the opposite direction?
blucountry - again, I ask,,, your observations are based on what? From where?
Really, seems curious that your posts are hitting so many different markets/cities, w/ kinda similar statements... are ya trolling, or really an honest person inquiring for some replies and discussion about this subject? Seriously, I don't have my defenses up or anything, but just skeptical by nature, and maybe my radar is misfiring, but yet I am suspicious of your intent here. Again, I mean no offense, but, for example, you received some answers, however your last reply seems to have a desire to tweak noses of fans of the StL teams... maybe I'm wrong, and if so, I apologize up front. Yet seems that your follow post totally ignored Fishtacos quite good points...
With all that said, as I posted and others have too, the fans of the Cards, Blues, and Rams, along w/ other sports, are quite fanatic - and while there exists many people who jump on and off depending upon the temp of the team, there also exists a strong core of tenacious fans that will follow and bleed no matter what 'their' team. The Blues, for example of myself, I follow and support [childish really when ya think about it... ] no matter what the standings they may find themselves in. I am one that stood outside the Checkerdome as it was being demolished, moisture upon my cheek, as a TV reporter quizzed my memories of that grand building, the one that I fell in love w/ the Blues, watching the Monday Night Miracle,,, a game that held significance regarding my girlfriend at the time, as she later became my wife due to them winning that. Anyhow, and altho' we live now ~6 hours from StL, my boys, woman, and I follow the Blues, Rams, and Cards, quite intently.
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I will admit that I do see red, and its not Cardinal red, when during the Blue's playoff runs, the StL newspaper [Post Dispatch] has the Cards spring training crud on the Sports front page... 
, but in the past was one of the hottest in the country] for soccer. The Rams and the Blues do not draw the amount of publicity nor the same numbers of fans, no denying that fact. However, as mentioned, IMHO, and in my particular case, all three have their own niche here, with the Cards being first draw.
Oh, to give an example of how deep Blue my blood runs - when living in the boonies south of Rolla years ago, I would listen to the boys skating on an AM radio [ummmm,,, pardon this interruption, but I felt it beneficial to clarify this statement - I listened to the radio as the boys skated; they did NOT skate ON the radio, as that would damage the speakers... 
], my only means to have real time game play then, and when a thunderstorm would cause the hiss/crackle of the lightning, I would readjust the antenna, place Al foil here and there, hold the antenna in one hand while standing in a goofy position, touching some metal in the room, whatever it would take to get a signal to hear Dan Kelly's voice give me a visual for my imagination...
