Rays have the worst attendance in MLB for 2013

[Bruce Blingstein]

Ps places like Miami and all Florida cities for some reason is a lot different than any other cities and their local support

[JTrue]

Charlotte, Montreal, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Portland, Nashville just to name a few cities that would have a bigger attendance # from day 1.

Give the rays a few losing seasons and attendance drops in the 12-13ks, that's when the owners make plans.

No worries it takes a loooong time to relocate so you have plenty if time to watch them........on tv. Hi trip.

Bruce - not a fan, but a supporter who attended 7 or 8 games this year. Prob more than 90% of 'fans'

You're aware that 12-13,000 is still more than Montreal averaged for the last 7 years it had a team, right? So I'm going to put them in the "skeptical" column for beating TB's attendance from day 1. Considering Charlotte runs at about 80% capacity for basketball (about 15,000), they might not be a slam dunk either. Indianapolis, maybe. But you're dropping a team into the midwest where you have the same problem as you have here. People who've grown up with established franchises and allegiances (there are 6 teams within 300 or so miles) their entire life AND an economy thats worse than ours. I don't see residents rushing to add the tax needed to build a stadium when unemployment is past 8%.

 

San Antonio wouldn't be a bad bet. Texas teams always draw well in pretty much every sport and there's a decent amount of distance from the other two teams and its a pretty large urban area with the people to support a franchise. Portland, eh. With their weather, you have to have a dome. And after Miami, I don't see any city rushing to ask their people to buy one and Portland isn't big enough to just throw together a $700 million dollar stadium without complete support from the community.

[Triple B]

First I saw it pal, I don't have an app to alert me when an all too common article is written about the failure of Tampa fans.

 

 

You didn't need an app. You've been on this board at least twice since the thread was started but no response .... Thought maybe you had matured a bit ... should have known better. More likely just waiting until they got bounced out of the playoffs to chime in, throwing salt on the wound ... Figures,

[USF_Grouper]

Charlotte, Montreal, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Portland, Nashville just to name a few cities that would have a bigger attendance # from day 1.

Give the rays a few losing seasons and attendance drops in the 12-13ks, that's when the owners make plans.

No worries it takes a loooong time to relocate so you have plenty if time to watch them........on tv. Hi trip.

Bruce - not a fan, but a supporter who attended 7 or 8 games this year. Prob more than 90% of 'fans'

 

You could add Tampa to that list... just saying.

[Paisa el Toro]

Montreal? They lost their team to D.C., Bruce. No way MLB is going down that rabbit hole again.

[USF_Grouper]

You have to spend money to make money!

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9801412/david-price-tampa-bay-rays-thinks-traded

[Triple B]

You have to spend money to make money!

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9801412/david-price-tampa-bay-rays-thinks-traded

 

If you're intimating that they have to re-sign Price no matter what, you're wrong ...

[USF_Grouper]

No matter what?  No.  But they need to be willing to let their salary expand to remain competitive and continue to grow the fan base.  Well that and the obvious brain fart of playing over their in a retirement community.  Fans come out to seek marque players -- if you consistently fail to retain them then you will have a difficult time drawing crowds.

[vwlbull]

GA reported that Bucs are next to last in attendance. Only Oakland is worse. I read that Tampa metro is 25th out of 25 for the worst economic conditions. That has to impact attendance, I think.

[Leviathan]

Montreal? They lost their team to D.C., Bruce. No way MLB is going down that rabbit hole again.

 

Rays owner seems to think so...

Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg was asked about the feasibility of putting another MLB team in Montreal and his answer suggested that the city's next baseball team is just a matter of time.

 

In a Q&A with Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com, Sternberg was asked if Major League Baseball could work again in Montreal.

"Yes," said Sternberg. "I know it can."

Sternberg was then asked if Montreal will ever get another team. The former Goldman Sachs partner said it won't happen in the next five years, but "in the next 20 [years], yes."

 

While Montreal enjoyed strong attendance earlier in their existence, they drew less than 1.0 million fans in six of their last seven seasons north of the border. And in 2001, they averaged less than 8,000 fans per game.

Some have suggested that the owners sabotaged attendance in order to move the team. If true, they were very good at it.

But as Strernberg mentioned, the most recent crop of stadiums will need to be replaced in the next 20 years. And as long as there is strong corporate support in Montreal, he believes a team could look north for a new stadium.

 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rays-owner-says-major-league-baseball-will-return-to-montreal-2013-6#ixzz2hRiYOuVQ