Where are the fans at Rays games?

[olafberserker]

I tuned in to 620 this morning to get the Buc report at 8am and after it was over Silly-O came back from the break with the statement that there were 21,000 at the Rays game last night with 70% Yankee fans. I know he is a Yankees homer, but to come out with a lie as if it were fact. I heard there were maybe 10% Yankee fans there. Most of the others have already jumped on the Rays bandwagon.

This morning he said there were about 20,000 Yankees fans and 6,000 Rays fans at the game last night. Is this guy drunk when he does his show? I only listen to the show on my way to work in the morning and he is really off on several issues per day in that short time.

stop listening

[olafberserker]

LOL. You're delusional.

Try LIVING in NY or LA for a few years and then get back to me.

I've lived in Tampa, LA and NY and let me tell you, you look like a fool when you try to compare
Tampa's traffic (even across the bridges) to anything in LA or NY.

You can try all you want to make the case but it's a waste of time. My friends who live in Tampa
can't believe the traffic when they have visited NY or LA. It's not even close.

Please expalin to me why you then try to compare attendence between these same areas. Would not the city with 13 million people have a better chance at getting 35,000 in a ball park during the week?

Because he's trying to instigate an argument that doesn't really have any factual basis.  He refused to address why the city of New York and their far superior sports fans only put 31,000 per game in the seats for the Yankees' World Series run back in the mid 90's.

[RudeGuy]

I tuned in to 620 this morning to get the Buc report at 8am and after it was over Silly-O came back from the break with the statement that there were 21,000 at the Rays game last night with 70% Yankee fans. I know he is a Yankees homer, but to come out with a lie as if it were fact. I heard there were maybe 10% Yankee fans there. Most of the others have already jumped on the Rays bandwagon.

This morning he said there were about 20,000 Yankees fans and 6,000 Rays fans at the game last night. Is this guy drunk when he does his show? I only listen to the show on my way to work in the morning and he is really off on several issues per day in that short time.

[ufojoe]

Of course they would. In the middle of a normal season, you are correct. But when we have less than a month left and
the team is on the verge of clinching a playoff spot, I would expect a little better attendance. Maybe it's just me.

26,000 last night. Not bad. Would have been nice to have one sell out for the Yankees' series but they'll get them
against the RS.

[RudeGuy]

LOL. You're delusional.

Try LIVING in NY or LA for a few years and then get back to me.

I've lived in Tampa, LA and NY and let me tell you, you look like a fool when you try to compare
Tampa's traffic (even across the bridges) to anything in LA or NY.

You can try all you want to make the case but it's a waste of time. My friends who live in Tampa
can't believe the traffic when they have visited NY or LA. It's not even close.

Please expalin to me why you then try to compare attendence between these same areas. Would not the city with 13 million people have a better chance at getting 35,000 in a ball park during the week?

[RudeGuy]

Hillsborough and Pinellas have a population of just over 2 mil. The economy is not good and kids back in school would be factors to look at. Here are some other numbers to consider.

Hills Co
Median Income $40,663
31.40% of households have kids
12.50% below poverty level

Pin Co
Median Income $37,111
22.10% of households have kids
10.00% below poverty level

[MrFreakinMiyagi]

I always figured that if they put a winning product on the field, then the fans would show.

I'm starting to believe that I was wrong.

Of course, attendance is much better this year than year's past, but drawing < 15,000 with how successful the team has been is pretty freakin' bad.

[Biggs3535]

It is a shame the team doesn't get more local support, unless the Cubs, Red Sox, or Yankees are in the building.

[ZenBuc]

I think attendance will show next year. The rays got successful extremely fast, maybe too fast. They had been perennial losers and an after thought in the bay area for 10 years. I just don't think you can expect such a young baseball town with no history of success to get the same kind of turnouts that towns rich in history like NY, BOS, hell even Pittsburgh, are getting. It would be nice of course. It will take a bit for people to warm up to the team. Merchandise sales and TV ratings are way up. Next season I think attendance will go way up as well

[RudeGuy]

...TV ratings are way up. Next season I think attendance will go way up as well

This may also be another problem with most all the games being on TV. The casual fan will watch on TV during the week and might take in a weekend game.

[GameTime]

thats all thats here are casual fans.  how can you expect anything more?  you dont get die hard fans with a losing new franchise.  taking the games off tv wont help, only hurt imo.  takes time to build a franchise and fanbase.

[Biggs3535]

...TV ratings are way up. Next season I think attendance will go way up as well

They have always had good TV ratings, even when the team sucked.

[cyberdude557]

I just dont think the Tampa area is that big of a sports town. I know that Pinellas county is in particular very bad. Their high school football games have terrible attendance.

The Bucs end up selling out because the stadium is more centrally located. And they pull from several different sources....Orlando, St. Pete, Clearwater, Lakeland, Sarasota, Ft Myers, and Melbourne. The Rays do not have that kind of pull beyond Tampa. It's easy for a Bucs fan in Orlando to get to a Bucs game every other week. But a Rays game sometimes every night? He's not going to make that many trips.

But even the Bucs have been struggling to sell tickets lately. So I dont feel team performance has much to do with it to tell you the truth.

New Stadium right next to Raymond James = no less than 20,00 on a Wednesday night.

[Magnaccia]

Yeah right, lol. Keep dreaming.

A team who can sustain success for 5+ years will get 20k a night.