The Marlins have done it again!!!!

[StL FinFan]

The Marlins have put a good product on the field, people still do not come to games.

[Brian Fein]

I understand your point, but let's be frank - the ONLY time attendance is a problem for the Marlins is weekday day games.  To me here's the answer: don't have day games during the week.

The Marlins have drawn crowds of 20k+ for every game I've been to.  The house has been packed (by Marlins standards).  Seems like a simple algorithm - if you have a product that's not selling, stop offering it.

They have 2 or 3 games a year that are like this.  Its nothing new.  How about you move that game 4 hours later in the day and you increase your attendance 10-fold, minimum.

Is it fair to contract an entire franchise based on 2 games out of 81?  

[StL FinFan]

No, but their overall attendance is still very low.

[Brian Fein]

No, but their overall attendance is still very low.

meh -"very low" is a relative term.

The Marlins sell out the lower bowl to every game I've been to, and part of the upper bowl.  You look at empty seats on TV but most of those seats aren't even available for sale.

I'm not making excuses.  Just don't take away my team because everyone else likes different teams.

[StL FinFan]

I was agreeing with you previously, about people not being attached to the Marlins because they are transplants from elsewhere.  I don't know the attendance stats for different teams, but I would have to guess the Marlins are at the low end.  20,000 would only fill roughly half of our stadium and everyone thought the sky was falling when the Cardinals failed to sell out a game earlier this season.  I just don't understand people who would not want to go to a baseball game.

[Brian Fein]

I would encourage everyone on these boards to go to a game.  Please let me know when you come to town, I'll buy us some tickets.  The people who go to the game aren't even interested in the game.  They're interested in the Mermaids, doing the wave, drinking beer, taking pictures of each other, or getting free t-shirts thrown at them.  Its disgusting that SportsChick and I go to a game and it seems like we're the only 2 people in our section actually paying attention to the field.

If you were to go to the game, you'd know why no one cares.

[MaineDolFan]

meh -"very low" is a relative term.

You just blew your entire stance with this one ill fated comment.

It's not "relative" at all, Brian.  The Marlins are over .500 and put a good product on the field and, yet, are dead last in overall attendance and dead last in per game attendance.

Are you going to sit there and tell me that the fans in Kansas City have more to cheer about?  A better product?  A rich winning tradition?  Sure, back into the early 80's.  The Marlins have two rings themselves.  And, yet, KC outdraws Florida by almost 4,000 people a game.

Everyone out draws Florida.  There are minor league teams that will bring in more people this season. 

It's not relative at all.

I guess I'm old fashioned in the thinking that a professional sports franchise should draw more people than the Windham, Maine high school football game I went to on Friday night.  It was pouring, windy & cold.  There were about 2,600 people there.  The school itself has about 600 kids, so those weren't all parents and students.

[Brian Fein]

How can you say "very low" is not relative?  If the Marlins draw 3000 people, but the rest of the league draws 25 people, suddenly its "very high."

Can you show me dates and numbers of which games the Marlins drew less than 2600 people?  I'm curious.

I'd wager that there's more Kansas City Royals fans in the world than Marlins fans.  The Royals have been around since 1969 - that's 40 years ago.  How many New Yorkers pick up and move to Kansas City?  Compared to how many move to Florida?  Half of the people in Miami don't even speak English, and the other half are Yankees' fans.

The Marlins may still draw a low crowd compared to the rest of baseball, but they're up compared to past seasons.  Its a trend that I hope will continue so that Maine and I are not still arguing about this when we're grandparents.

Look, again, I can't tell you WHY no one cares, but the truth is that there's just NOT enough fans.  How many Marlins fans do you run into outside of south Florida?  I have given you my hypothesis, yet you continue to argue with me.  Seems like I'm fighting a losing battle.

[Sunstroke]

So transparent... Maine is just hoping to get the contraction-by-attendence bushwah to catch on, so he can sweep the Rays into that group and get the AL East back to being Boston and New York, 24/7...

[Tenshot13]

Hey Brian I hear ya man...It is like a war just to fill up a Rays game because of all the Sox and Yankees fan...It's not quite as bad as the Marlins right now but it still sucks...Kazmir even ripped the fans a little when he said it's kindof disheartening to go to other teams stadiums and they're sold out and we can barely get 10,000 at a home game...I think people are starting to turn it around up here, but only time will tell.

...by the way I do see quite a few Marlin fans in Tampa 

[Tepop84]

Everyone out draws Florida.  There are minor league teams that will bring in more people this season. 

No matter how many teams there are, there will always be one team that everybody outdraws.

[ethurst2]

There's several problems that I see with attendance.

Number 1: There are so many other attractions competing for a persons dollar in South Florida. From Orlando to Miami, you've got so many alternate attractions on the weekends and during the weekday.The Marlins have to compete with that. You also have the horse and dog racing and Jai-Alai.

Pro Football almost didn't make it in Miami. I looked some stuff up and the Miami Seahawks (which moved to Baltimore and became the Colts) had to leav town because of no interest. The Dolphins could have folded in 1968, only two years after they came into the AFL because of fan attendance at the OB.

Miami had an ABA Basketball team, The Floridians, in which the fan support was poor. Professional wrestling in the late 1960's and early 1970's drew more fans that the Floridians at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Number 2:  Traffic Issue - The complexes are spreaded out and that's not the fault of Dade, Broward or Palm Beach Counties. Lets just say that you have a Heat, Marlins or Dolphins and Panthers game going on. You would have to get on I-95, go through that maze called the Golden Glades just to get to Dolphins Stadium. That's 40 minutes. Try getting to the National Car Rental Center and that's an hour.

Here in Denver, you're in walking distance to either stadiums once you are in the downtown Denver area (Coors Field, Invesco Field and the PepsiCenter where the Nuggets play. It's easier to navigate.

Number 3: the Generational Fan - The little kids that saw the Marlins win their first two World Series are more likely to pass that down to their children IF the Marlins stay in South Florida. South Florida is transitory and it's gonna take a while for the Marlins generational fan base to be built up.

The first five years of the Dolphins existence, the OB would always sell out when the Jets came to town with Joe Namath because you had a lot of transplanted New Yorkers.

Most of all the venues are spreaded out and there are so many other things that compete with your dollar.

[Brian Fein]

I really think if the Marlins can just "be" - just remain a team - for 15-20 more years, we'll have a lot less problems selling tickets.

Oh, but wait, they're moving the stadium to an even worse location.  Great.  May as well jump on the Red Sox bandwagon now so I can say "I was a fan since...."

[landlocked]

You are right,ethurst.Here in the Nashville area,the Titans are the only game in town.They were worried because alot of people here make the 3 hour drive to Knoxville on Saturdays for UT games and this is a working class area,would they be able to afford to do both,but the Titans have something like a 5 year waiting list for season tickets(plus you have to buy PSLs).The NHL Predators also have a very loyal,but much smaller fanbase,and had to have a "ticket drive" last year to decide whether a Canadian businessman could buy the team and move them to Hamilton,Ont. but we got to keep our team.
 South Florida is a very different market.There is alot more to do,plus the cost of living is way high.But I can't help but wonder how it differs from an area like,say,San Diego.They have a transient population out there and tons of other stuff to do,but somehow always seem to come out and support their Padres and Chargers.Maybe South Floridians are just lazy because the Marlins t.v. ratings are some of the best in baseball.

[stinkfish]

^^ We can also get you a nice pink Sox hat Brian.