MLB Stadium Saga: Oakland/Tampa Bay/Southside

[The_Admiral]

Because they thought Boston could be a two-league town again. Obviously, this never went too far.

[TBGKon]

I'm just curious to what their attendance was for the last 10 or so games of the year and the 2 playoff games. This season should have seen a huge spike, especially at the end, considering they beat out the team that 'stole' their superstar in Carl Crawford, the Red Sox.

They didn't draw worth .

Something like 18-20 for the series... they MIGHT have sold out the last night (although I have my doubts), but not any night prior.

One of the TBS announcers said at the Rays first home playoff game that it was the first sellout since opening day. I still think the issue is the location of the ballpark. Of course getting a new one built will be quite a struggle I'm sure.

Yes, the only sellouts the Rays officially had were Opening Day and Game 3 of the ALDS. The final 2 games of the reg season and Game 4 of the ALDS came close, but were a thousand or so short of sold out.

What some of you may not realize is that in most places, the season ticket base is roughly a 65-35 split of corporate-fans. In Tampa Bay, I have heard it is the opposite, with 35% coming from corporate money and 65% from fans. This is assumed due to the venue being in St Pete, with the majority of companies being based on the other side of the bay.

[Cola]

After living down here awhile, my thoughts on attendance:

- there are a lot of transplants and old people down here, most seem to be Yankee/Chicago/Boston fans first...Rays fan second.

- the stadium is ugly and personally doesn't make sense for the beautiful surroundings. Yeah, it rains...but an open air stadium would draw more fans I believe.

- another knock on the stadium is location. it's an hour trip for those that come from anywhere east of downtown Tampa...same for those in north Tampa or Tarpon Springs area.

- overall, people seem to love the Rays around here...decals all over cars, shown in the bars, talked about at work, and people seem to enjoy attending games....when they do.

Don't know why they have a lot of trouble getting fans, but I have to admit the stadium just kills it for me. Baseball doesn't belong in a dome...especially in a place where the weather and surroundings are beautiful.

I'm more of a college baseball fan (college in any sport, honestly)...but I'm trying to get into MLB ever since I moved to Tampa. I grew up surrounded by Braves fans and in Brave country technically (they own the GA/SC/NC market)...but never felt they were representing me, much like the Panthers in NFL.

[BigBubba]

I actually think that Montreal could sustain a team. If not for the 1994 lockout, they may very well have not left (or at least not as soon). Though I never went there, apparently Stad Olympique was horrible for baseball. A new stadium would really o a long way. However, as much as I think they could support a team, I doubt that they will ever return

[The_Admiral]

What some of you may not realize is that in most places, the season ticket base is roughly a 65-35 split of corporate-fans. In Tampa Bay, I have heard it is the opposite, with 35% coming from corporate money and 65% from fans. This is assumed due to the venue being in St Pete, with the majority of companies being based on the other side of the bay.

There's a famous cover of The New Yorker that depicts "The New Yorker's Concept of Geography" or something, which consists of Manhattan in painstaking detail, followed by an abstract "Jersey" and the rest of America being inconsequential. We need to come up with The Rays Fan's Concept Of Geography, wherein St. Petersburg is separated from the rest of greater Tampa by a vast ocean marked "Here There Be Monsters," because apparently this is THE ONLY FREAKING PLACE IN AMERICA where it's moderately difficult to get to a sporting event.

[thespleenenator]

I actually think that Montreal could sustain a team. If not for the 1994 lockout, they may very well have not left (or at least not as soon). Though I never went there, apparently Stad Olympique was horrible for baseball. A new stadium would really o a long way. However, as much as I think they could support a team, I doubt that they will ever return

I go to Montreal a lot because of all the family I have there. To put it simply: They want the Expos back. Badly. You know the expression "You don't know what you have until it's gone"? Montreal has a severe case of that right now. If they built a new stadium, I would bet that a lot of fans would show up. And yes, I've been to Olympic Stadium, and it's terrible for baseball. Football? It's ok. But not baseball. In fact, most people in Montreal don't like Olympic Stadium, except for the fact that it's basically what they're most know for (that and poutin, which is delicious). A Rays move to Montreal would not be a bad idea.

[Cola]

So I haven't read through all of this thread...but are the Rays seriously contemplating moving...or is this just a thread speculating on why they should move because of attendance woes?

[Cola]

For the record, I don't totally blame the attendance on the last game on Rays' fans.

You can't expect people to sell out a game at 2pm on a weekday. People (the lucky ones) have jobs. When the economy has taken the that it has, jobs come first.

Scheduling can be blamed on attendance in this particular case.

[TBGKon]

So I haven't read through all of this thread...but are the Rays seriously contemplating moving...or is this just a thread speculating on why they should move because of attendance woes?

Probably in response to the owners comments following Game 4:

http://www.baynews9.com/article/sports/2011/october/324235/Rays-owner-Stu-Sternberg-frustrated-by-fan-support

I've also talkedwith people who think Mr Sternberg's comments lately have been used as fodder to work towards getting out of the lease with the city of St Pete

For the record, I don't totally blame the attendance on the last game on Rays' fans.

You can't expect people to sell out a game at 2pm on a weekday. People (the lucky ones) have jobs. When the economy has taken the that it has, jobs come first.

Scheduling can be blamed on attendance in this particular case.

This is true, I know many people that bought tix to Game 4 last Friday (time was unknown then), then had to either sell them or eat the cost over the weekend because it became a 2pm start. Curse having four games on one day

[Cola]

For the record, I don't totally blame the attendance on the last game on Rays' fans.

You can't expect people to sell out a game at 2pm on a weekday. People (the lucky ones) have jobs. When the economy has taken the that it has, jobs come first.

Scheduling can be blamed on attendance in this particular case.

This is true, I know many people that bought tix to Game 4 last Friday (time was unknown then), then had to either sell them or eat the cost over the weekend because it became a 2pm start. Curse having four games on one day

Would it really be that much to spread divisional series game over a couple games? The MLB can't use the excuse of gaining television revenue...it is going to be there regardless. If I was a team owner, I would be pretty pissed with being assigned a 2pm game. I honestly am surprised anyone showed up...what can we say about those that attended? They are employed and took vacation...or unemployed, skipped paying a bill, and scrounged up money for a ticket. Yeah, go MLB.

[rams80]

What some of you may not realize is that in most places, the season ticket base is roughly a 65-35 split of corporate-fans. In Tampa Bay, I have heard it is the opposite, with 35% coming from corporate money and 65% from fans. This is assumed due to the venue being in St Pete, with the majority of companies being based on the other side of the bay.

There's a famous cover of The New Yorker that depicts "The New Yorker's Concept of Geography" or something, which consists of Manhattan in painstaking detail, followed by an abstract "Jersey" and the rest of America being inconsequential. We need to come up with The Rays Fan's Concept Of Geography, wherein St. Petersburg is separated from the rest of greater Tampa by a vast ocean marked "Here There Be Monsters," because apparently this is THE ONLY FREAKING PLACE IN AMERICA where it's moderately difficult to get to a sporting event.

Why can't professional sports franchises be like Walgreens'?

[Cola]

What some of you may not realize is that in most places, the season ticket base is roughly a 65-35 split of corporate-fans. In Tampa Bay, I have heard it is the opposite, with 35% coming from corporate money and 65% from fans. This is assumed due to the venue being in St Pete, with the majority of companies being based on the other side of the bay.

There's a famous cover of The New Yorker that depicts "The New Yorker's Concept of Geography" or something, which consists of Manhattan in painstaking detail, followed by an abstract "Jersey" and the rest of America being inconsequential. We need to come up with The Rays Fan's Concept Of Geography, wherein St. Petersburg is separated from the rest of greater Tampa by a vast ocean marked "Here There Be Monsters," because apparently this is THE ONLY FREAKING PLACE IN AMERICA where it's moderately difficult to get to a sporting event.

Does that comparison kind of fail when you think about the transportation system in each city? Honestly, if you live in the Metro NYC area...you're only a short walk away from a ride to the stadium.

The Tampa Bay area is in desperate need of a public transportation overhaul...it ranks among the worst in America of air quality because of all the commuting on highways within the bay area. Unfortunately, it is a spread out area so public transportation takes a backseat.

[DaytonBlue]

MLB, in their infinite logic, decided to put the Rays game Tuesday at 1 and the Cardinal game at 4 (CT). That should have been flipped. The Rays fans would have had more time to get there and the Cardinals wouldn't have had to play in the shadows. Oh MLB.

Or TBS could put more games on TNT and they can all start at 5 or 6 eastern.

[thespleenenator]

What some of you may not realize is that in most places, the season ticket base is roughly a 65-35 split of corporate-fans. In Tampa Bay, I have heard it is the opposite, with 35% coming from corporate money and 65% from fans. This is assumed due to the venue being in St Pete, with the majority of companies being based on the other side of the bay.

There's a famous cover of The New Yorker that depicts "The New Yorker's Concept of Geography" or something, which consists of Manhattan in painstaking detail, followed by an abstract "Jersey" and the rest of America being inconsequential. We need to come up with The Rays Fan's Concept Of Geography, wherein St. Petersburg is separated from the rest of greater Tampa by a vast ocean marked "Here There Be Monsters," because apparently this is THE ONLY FREAKING PLACE IN AMERICA where it's moderately difficult to get to a sporting event.

Does that comparison kind of fail when you think about the transportation system in each city? Honestly, if you live in the Metro NYC area...you're only a short walk away from a ride to the stadium.

The Tampa Bay area is in desperate need of a public transportation overhaul...it ranks among the worst in America of air quality because of all the commuting on highways within the bay area. Unfortunately, it is a spread out area so public transportation takes a backseat.

Your idea of the NYC public transportation system humors me.

[RyanMcD29]

What some of you may not realize is that in most places, the season ticket base is roughly a 65-35 split of corporate-fans. In Tampa Bay, I have heard it is the opposite, with 35% coming from corporate money and 65% from fans. This is assumed due to the venue being in St Pete, with the majority of companies being based on the other side of the bay.

There's a famous cover of The New Yorker that depicts "The New Yorker's Concept of Geography" or something, which consists of Manhattan in painstaking detail, followed by an abstract "Jersey" and the rest of America being inconsequential. We need to come up with The Rays Fan's Concept Of Geography, wherein St. Petersburg is separated from the rest of greater Tampa by a vast ocean marked "Here There Be Monsters," because apparently this is THE ONLY FREAKING PLACE IN AMERICA where it's moderately difficult to get to a sporting event.

Does that comparison kind of fail when you think about the transportation system in each city? Honestly, if you live in the Metro NYC area...you're only a short walk away from a ride to the stadium.

The Tampa Bay area is in desperate need of a public transportation overhaul...it ranks among the worst in America of air quality because of all the commuting on highways within the bay area. Unfortunately, it is a spread out area so public transportation takes a backseat.

Your idea of the NYC public transportation system humors me.

Huh? Citi Field's right next to a 7 Train/LIRR stop, Yankee Stadium's right next to a 4/Metro North and I wanna say another subway line (one of the 1 2 or 3?) station, MSG's on top of Penn Station, there's a NJ Transit stop at the Meadowlands, and the Prudential Center's also about a block or two away from a NJ Transit/Amtrak station

Now the Nassau Coliseum, on the other hand....

[thespleenenator]

What some of you may not realize is that in most places, the season ticket base is roughly a 65-35 split of corporate-fans. In Tampa Bay, I have heard it is the opposite, with 35% coming from corporate money and 65% from fans. This is assumed due to the venue being in St Pete, with the majority of companies being based on the other side of the bay.

There's a famous cover of The New Yorker that depicts "The New Yorker's Concept of Geography" or something, which consists of Manhattan in painstaking detail, followed by an abstract "Jersey" and the rest of America being inconsequential. We need to come up with The Rays Fan's Concept Of Geography, wherein St. Petersburg is separated from the rest of greater Tampa by a vast ocean marked "Here There Be Monsters," because apparently this is THE ONLY FREAKING PLACE IN AMERICA where it's moderately difficult to get to a sporting event.

Does that comparison kind of fail when you think about the transportation system in each city? Honestly, if you live in the Metro NYC area...you're only a short walk away from a ride to the stadium.

The Tampa Bay area is in desperate need of a public transportation overhaul...it ranks among the worst in America of air quality because of all the commuting on highways within the bay area. Unfortunately, it is a spread out area so public transportation takes a backseat.

Your idea of the NYC public transportation system humors me.

Huh? Citi Field's right next to a 7 Train/LIRR stop, Yankee Stadium's right next to a 4/Metro North and I wanna say another subway line (one of the 1 2 or 3?), MSG's on top of Penn Station, there's a NJ Transit stop at the Meadowlands, and the Prudential Center's also about a block or two away from a NJ Transit/Amtrak station

Now the Nassau Coliseum, on the other hand....

The stadiums are close to the transits, but how many people live close to the transits?

[RyanMcD29]

What some of you may not realize is that in most places, the season ticket base is roughly a 65-35 split of corporate-fans. In Tampa Bay, I have heard it is the opposite, with 35% coming from corporate money and 65% from fans. This is assumed due to the venue being in St Pete, with the majority of companies being based on the other side of the bay.

There's a famous cover of The New Yorker that depicts "The New Yorker's Concept of Geography" or something, which consists of Manhattan in painstaking detail, followed by an abstract "Jersey" and the rest of America being inconsequential. We need to come up with The Rays Fan's Concept Of Geography, wherein St. Petersburg is separated from the rest of greater Tampa by a vast ocean marked "Here There Be Monsters," because apparently this is THE ONLY FREAKING PLACE IN AMERICA where it's moderately difficult to get to a sporting event.

Does that comparison kind of fail when you think about the transportation system in each city? Honestly, if you live in the Metro NYC area...you're only a short walk away from a ride to the stadium.

The Tampa Bay area is in desperate need of a public transportation overhaul...it ranks among the worst in America of air quality because of all the commuting on highways within the bay area. Unfortunately, it is a spread out area so public transportation takes a backseat.

Your idea of the NYC public transportation system humors me.

Huh? Citi Field's right next to a 7 Train/LIRR stop, Yankee Stadium's right next to a 4/Metro North and I wanna say another subway line (one of the 1 2 or 3?), MSG's on top of Penn Station, there's a NJ Transit stop at the Meadowlands, and the Prudential Center's also about a block or two away from a NJ Transit/Amtrak station

Now the Nassau Coliseum, on the other hand....

The stadiums are close to the transits, but how many people live close to the transits?

A ton. There's a subway line on every other street in Manhattan, there's 10 LIRR lines, there's 8 NJ Transit lines, there's bus service in practically every town in NYC, Nassau County, and much of Jersey. You're never really further than 5 minutes away from mass transit in the NYC area, save for maybe Northwestern Jersey or Rockland County

[RyanMcD29]

Let me also provide some visuals

http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm

http://www.mta.info/lirr/Timetable/lirrmap.htm

http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/mnrmap.htm

http://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=TrainSchedulesMapTo

[Camden Crazy]

OK, to be fair.....to those of you who say relocate, name me some REALISTIC places that could get them. Don't just name places you WANT them to go.

Montreal

Charlotte

Portland

Nashville

Brooklyn

[thespleenenator]

What some of you may not realize is that in most places, the season ticket base is roughly a 65-35 split of corporate-fans. In Tampa Bay, I have heard it is the opposite, with 35% coming from corporate money and 65% from fans. This is assumed due to the venue being in St Pete, with the majority of companies being based on the other side of the bay.

There's a famous cover of The New Yorker that depicts "The New Yorker's Concept of Geography" or something, which consists of Manhattan in painstaking detail, followed by an abstract "Jersey" and the rest of America being inconsequential. We need to come up with The Rays Fan's Concept Of Geography, wherein St. Petersburg is separated from the rest of greater Tampa by a vast ocean marked "Here There Be Monsters," because apparently this is THE ONLY FREAKING PLACE IN AMERICA where it's moderately difficult to get to a sporting event.

Does that comparison kind of fail when you think about the transportation system in each city? Honestly, if you live in the Metro NYC area...you're only a short walk away from a ride to the stadium.

The Tampa Bay area is in desperate need of a public transportation overhaul...it ranks among the worst in America of air quality because of all the commuting on highways within the bay area. Unfortunately, it is a spread out area so public transportation takes a backseat.

Your idea of the NYC public transportation system humors me.

Huh? Citi Field's right next to a 7 Train/LIRR stop, Yankee Stadium's right next to a 4/Metro North and I wanna say another subway line (one of the 1 2 or 3?), MSG's on top of Penn Station, there's a NJ Transit stop at the Meadowlands, and the Prudential Center's also about a block or two away from a NJ Transit/Amtrak station

Now the Nassau Coliseum, on the other hand....

The stadiums are close to the transits, but how many people live close to the transits?

A ton. There's a subway line on every other street in Manhattan, there's 10 LIRR lines, there's 8 NJ Transit lines, there's bus service in practically every town in NYC, Nassau County, and much of Jersey. You're never really further than 5 minutes away from mass transit in the NYC area, save for maybe Northwestern Jersey or Rockland County

That was not my experience. Of course, living in Riverdale might have had something to do with it.