The Marlins have done it again!!!!

[SportsChick]

Ewww. no Pink Red Sox stuff allowed in the house

[MaineDolFan]

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

Of course.  But to be outdrawn in the fashion that Florida is - not acceptable.  Look at the figures.

[MaineDolFan]

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.

South Florida doesn't offer any more activities than an area like Boston or New York during the summer.  The cost of living certainly couldn't be higher.  The number of transplants in the north east is staggering, it's not like everyone here is from here.  I'm not buying the "South Florida is a different market."  All markets are different to some extent.  Generally speaking most markets also offer many different competing forms of entertainment as well.  There are 20,000 different (cheaper) ways to spend your day in Boston during the summer than attend a Red Sox game if we're using a market like Boston as an example.  Same deal for a place, as you say, like San Diego. 

I truly believe that the most important issue is that of the fan base.  People always point to the first two years of Florida's existance which isn't fair - most professional expansion teams do well initially.  The meat of it is that I don't think South Florida will support anything long term that isn't the Dolphins.

The city supports the Heat off and on.  The attendance numbers in '07 for the Panthers was 15,000 a game, or 22nd out of 30. 

It just don't think baseball fits well into the picture in South Florida - or Tampa for that matter.  Best team in baseball and still barely pulling 16,000 a game.  Air conditioned building.  Comfy seats.  Cheap tickets.  They have free food night 10 times this year and $10 tickets.  Still...no interest.

[Sunstroke]

I'm not buying the "South Florida is a different market."

I've yet to see you buy anything that didn't agree with your point...so why should this surprise me?

There have been a lot of good reasons laid out up here for the Marlins attendence woes. Lack of generational ties, spread out communities, distance to the ballpark, depressed economy, variety of other activities, ETC... If you'd like to buy one of those, great!  If not, please feel free to pack up that picket sign and protest outside a different stadium.

[MaineDolFan]

Ooooooooooooooh.  I get it.  I'm supposed to be the one that bends my opinion to everyone else.  Gotcha.  When everyone else disagrees it's a matter of point and opinion.  When Maine disagrees it's...well...just for the sake to disagree.  Coming from you - that's rich.

And, yet, the point of the thread has yet to be addressed directly by anyone else other than me.

600 people at a Major League Baseball game.

So I guess no one else came because their grandfather's grandfather wasn't an original fan of the franchise when it started in 1902.  In addition the stadium is too far out of the city and it's hard to get to.  The tickets are too expensive, I forgot that the rest of the nation is paying $1.17 a gallon for gas and Miami folk are paying $7.89 a gallon.  PLUS the circus was in town that day, along with the Blue Angel fighter pilots and a new IMAX theater opened and was showing 'The Dark Knight' (for free, of course, because only people in South Florida are broke).

Now I completely understand why only 600 people showed up for a professional baseball game.  It's very clear. 

Meanwhile people in cities like Kansas City come out to support their team for numerous reasons.  First the good people of KC don't pay for food or gas, it's free in that part of the country.  They offer limo services to the game, you don't even need to drive.  Kansas City has quietly fielded the first undefeated team in MLB history, it's amazing what that young core of players have done this season.  Each chair in that stadium is equip with retractable personal SPF 100 shades that shield you from the sun, in addition to individual air conditioning units and personal (free) food and beverage service for each seat.  I forgot the best part!  Mid week games?  People's employers pay THEM to attend games!  It's a win-win!  No wonder places like KC or Texas have never drawn that low a figure for a mid week summer game.  I fully understand now and retract all statements about how ridiculous it is for an MLB game to have 600 people in the stands.  How silly of me.

[Tepop84]

Keep comparing paid attendance of other teams to the actual attendance at the marlins game.  that makes sense.

[MaineDolFan]

^^

Six hundred people. 

Keep trying to spin that number all you want.

Six hundred people.

Again - more people attend JV field hockey games than that.

[Tepop84]

^^

Six hundred people. 

Keep trying to spin that number all you want.

Six hundred people.

Again - more people attend JV field hockey games than that.

Does the JV field hockey teams also sell 11,211 tickets?

[MaineDolFan]

You're making no sense what so ever.

The TOTAL ATTENDANCE for a recent Marlins game was under 600 souls.  Not 11,211.  No team - EVER - should draw that low.  Period.  I don't care about comps or however you're trying to spin it.  There were less than 600 total asses in that stadium.  And if we're talking 'paid attendance' - I am willing to bet a bunch of that 600 didn't pay.

So forget about this paid attendance stuff, your random number of 11,211 and what not and focus on the point.

That point: September 4, 2008.  The unofficial count at Dolphin stadium for a professional baseball game was 589.  No way around that, there are no excuses.

589 total people in a stadium for a professional baseball game.  Please feel free to stick to the point.  If you are, I am not getting what that point is.

[Brian Fein]

If that's the case, then make sure you count asses in seat for the Royals, and every other team.  Don't tell me how games "sell out" cause that has nothing to do with asses in seats.

[MaineDolFan]

Hey Brian -- take a look at my responses.  Where have I said a word about teams selling out games?  Read.  Don't skim.  *I* specifically said that I could care less what team sells out games and how often - I want HEALTHY attendance at each game to demonstrate the general strength of MLB.

Toronto pulls in about 29,000 per game.  That's pretty damn okay.  The O's are horrid and pull in 26,000 per game.  That's pretty damn okay.  I could go on.

I.don't.care.about.sell.outs.

Healthy attendance.  That's all I care about.  16,000 a game isn't quite there.  It's not AWFUL - but it's not great.  You can build on that.  589 for a game sure as hell isn't there at all.  Again - a few thousand for conditions like they were on 9 Sept?  Okay.  But 589?  C'mon.  Toss me a freakin' bone here, huh?