OT: Gotta love Miami: 600 fans show up for Marlins game today

[pats1]

Thought this was one pretty funny. Or sad.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/670592.html

 

[Boston Jay]

As I am probably the only Marlins fan here (lol).. day games suck suck suck! I only go to night games (except opening day) because otherwise I'll get a heat stroke. Screw 90+ degree temps at 1 or 4 PM.

 

[alvinnf]

Any word on the beach report for today or the tides. might not be coincidence.

 

[DynastyDriven]

Reminds me of a Bruins game

 

[Deus Irae]

Don't blame the Miami fans. Blame MLB and the Marlins owners. It's not just a coincidence that attendance plummeted after the 1994 strike. Hell, I haven't watched a game since then, myself.

Attendance dropped 10k per game, until the owner decided to buy a title in 1997. The result was that the attendance went back up 8k per game. Then Huizenga decided to have a fire sale and have the team go from 92 wins and a World Series title to 54 and 64 wins in the next 2 seasons. The result was that a fanbase which had not come back all the way after the strike just decided to spend the time doing other things. Being that it's in Miami, it wasn't hard to find other things to do.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/marlins3.shtml

Couple that with a terrible stadium for the heat and rain of south Florida, and a pretty lousy location for the stadium to boot, and you've got a recipe for empty seats.

 

[Zeke_Mowatt]

Don't blame the Miami fans. Blame MLB and the Marlins owners. It's not just a coincidence that attendance plummeted after the 1994 strike. Hell, I haven't watched a game since then, myself.

Attendance dropped 10k per game, until the owner decided to buy a title in 1997. The result was that the attendance went back up 8k per game. Then Huizenga decided to have a fire sale and have the team go from 92 wins and a World Series title to 54 and 64 wins in the next 2 seasons. The result was that a fanbase which had not come back all the way after the strike just decided to spend the time doing other things. Being that it's in Miami, it wasn't hard to find other things to do.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/marlins3.shtml

Couple that with a terrible stadium for the heat and rain of south Florida, and a pretty lousy location for the stadium to boot, and you've got a recipe for empty seats.

:yeahthat:

What they need is a dome...sounds stupid to say, but part of the reason attendance is weak here is that it's just flat out brutal esp. spring/summer/fall...you just can't sit in the sun for 4 hours, drink, and not actually run out of fluids in your body. I'm an avid open air fan, however, for this unique environment, it's almost necessary. Either that or go to 100% night games

 

[borg]

Don't blame the Miami fans. Blame MLB and the Marlins owners. It's not just a coincidence that attendance plummeted after the 1994 strike. Hell, I haven't watched a game since then, myself.

Attendance dropped 10k per game, until the owner decided to buy a title in 1997. The result was that the attendance went back up 8k per game. Then Huizenga decided to have a fire sale and have the team go from 92 wins and a World Series title to 54 and 64 wins in the next 2 seasons. The result was that a fanbase which had not come back all the way after the strike just decided to spend the time doing other things. Being that it's in Miami, it wasn't hard to find other things to do.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/marlins3.shtml

Couple that with a terrible stadium for the heat and rain of south Florida, and a pretty lousy location for the stadium to boot, and you've got a recipe for empty seats.

Are you kidding...the hockey arena is half full, the Dolphins rarely sell out the corners of the stadium, they had tarps on the upper levels of the Heat arena, pre Shaq, the Hurricanes have sold only 28,000 seasons tix. Miami is a bandwagon town. No stadium will solve the Marlins problems, it is just a lousy sports city...just like the rest of Florida. Half the residents are from another state with other allegiances.
Two years ago, I dropped the family off at Fort Lauderdale airport and drove over to the Marlins game, a summer midweek day game. As I'm walking through the empty parking lot, this guy drives up and tries to sell me founders club seats for $135. I laugh at him, offer him twenty bucks ...and he says...Aw forget it, come sit with me as my guest, (I was wearing a Pats hat and this guy was from RI) and I end up sitting next to the Marlins owner practically inside the dugout. That day I counted 335 people in the stadium.

 

[borg]

Don't blame the Miami fans. Blame MLB and the Marlins owners. It's not just a coincidence that attendance plummeted after the 1994 strike. Hell, I haven't watched a game since then, myself.

Attendance dropped 10k per game, until the owner decided to buy a title in 1997. The result was that the attendance went back up 8k per game. Then Huizenga decided to have a fire sale and have the team go from 92 wins and a World Series title to 54 and 64 wins in the next 2 seasons. The result was that a fanbase which had not come back all the way after the strike just decided to spend the time doing other things. Being that it's in Miami, it wasn't hard to find other things to do.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/marlins3.shtml

Couple that with a terrible stadium for the heat and rain of south Florida, and a pretty lousy location for the stadium to boot, and you've got a recipe for empty seats.

Also, one evening a few years ago, I happened to be sitting next one of Huizenga's accountants at a dinner party, and he detailed the losses that Wayne H was taking on his hockey team and the Marlins. They had just dumped both teams with Henry getting the Marlins. The accountant said that the Marlins lost $35 mill that year and the Panthers lost $25 mill. Money is money, and except for the NFL guaranteed revenue, sports is a losing business in Florida.

 

[Double G]

And to think that pathetic excuse of a fan base got to see not one but two World Series titles.................

 

[Boston Jay]

I enjoyed the 2003 title very much (was still in MA for the '97 one).

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Baseball attendence is always lame due to many reasons:
-a history of poor ownership
-an awful stadium
-heat / regular torrential afternoon thunderstorms
-terrible location
-no community tradition

Dolphins attendence has however always been quite good even with a lousy team.

http://branddunk.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/2007-nfl-attendance-figures/

Highest Average Attendance by NFL Team in 2007:

1) 88,090 - Washington Redskins
2) 78,731 - New York Giants
3) 77,107 - New York Jets
4) 76,777 - Kansas City Chiefs
5) 76,612 - Denver Broncos *
6) 73,403 - Carolina Panthers
7) 73,001 - Cleveland Browns
8 ) 72,229 - Miami Dolphins
9) 71,153 - Baltimore Ravens *
10) 71,055 - Buffalo Bills
11) 70,805 - Green Bay Packers
12) 70,520 - Houston Texans
13) 70,005 - New Orleans Saints *
14) 69,143 - Tennessee Titans *
15) 68,756 - New England Patriots *
16) 68,396 - Atlanta Falcons
17) 68,194 - Seattle Seahawks *
18) 68,170 - Philadelphia Eagles
19) 68,028 - San Francisco 49ers
20) 65,790 - Cincinnati Bengals *
21) 65,502 - San Diego Chargers
22) 65,316 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers
23) 65,301 - Jacksonville Jaguars
24) 64,581 - Arizona Cardinals
25) 63,535 - Dallas Cowboys
26) 63,256 - Minnesota Vikings
27) 63,044 - St. Louis Rams
28) 62,158 - Chicago Bears *
29) 62,084 - Pittsburgh Steelers
30) 61,305 - Detroit Lions
31) 59,110 - Oakland Raiders
32) 57,305 - Indianapolis Colts *

* = 9 teams that averaged more fans than seats available for home games. Averaged higher than 100% capacity. They can achieve these b/c of standing room only ticket sales. The Raiders averaged the worst at only 93% of capacity.

 

[PatsDeb]

That's really terrible. It must be so discouraging for the players on that team to come out to see that. Even when the Sox were terrible I doubt they ever sunk that low.

Imagine all the money being lost be concessions, etc. Ouch.

 

[Boston Jay]

Anyone who goes to DS knows the only things worth eating are the chicken strips and fries.

 

[PatsFan24]

miami is not a good sports town but the marlins play in the middle of the two cities and have a bad baseball stadium plus the weather is always a factor. i think the marlins will draw when they get the new stadium in 2011

 

[borg]

That's really terrible. It must be so discouraging for the players on that team to come out to see that. Even when the Sox were terrible I doubt they ever sunk that low.

Imagine all the money being lost be concessions, etc. Ouch.

Huizenga gets the concessions and parking...at Marlin games...The worst lease deal in MLB.

 

[borg]

miami is not a good sports town but the marlins play in the middle of the two cities and have a bad baseball stadium plus the weather is always a factor. i think the marlins will draw when they get the new stadium in 2011

The cuban community has not supported this team at all. The caucasian population is down to 17% in Miami...and one could infer that many baseball fans have moved north to Broward and Palm Beach County...where English is still spoken. The decline in Hurricane football support seems on par with the lack of baseball support. Pro sports in Florida has anemic support. The first place Rays are getting 10,000 fans weekdays. Jacksonville tarps part of their upperdeck. And the dolphins are 3000 people light of a full house.

 

[Deus Irae]

Are you kidding...the hockey arena is half full, the Dolphins rarely sell out the corners of the stadium, they had tarps on the upper levels of the Heat arena, pre Shaq, the Hurricanes have sold only 28,000 seasons tix. Miami is a bandwagon town. No stadium will solve the Marlins problems, it is just a lousy sports city...just like the rest of Florida. Half the residents are from another state with other allegiances.
Two years ago, I dropped the family off at Fort Lauderdale airport and drove over to the Marlins game, a summer midweek day game. As I'm walking through the empty parking lot, this guy drives up and tries to sell me founders club seats for $135. I laugh at him, offer him twenty bucks ...and he says...Aw forget it, come sit with me as my guest, (I was wearing a Pats hat and this guy was from RI) and I end up sitting next to the Marlins owner practically inside the dugout. That day I counted 335 people in the stadium.

No, I'm not kidding. First, the audiences for baseball and hockey aren't identical, so that argument means nothing in the case of Miami. Cubans aren't exactly one with the concept of ice and snow. Second, again, the city was supporting baseball until the strike, as can be seen by the attendance figures. The strike, combined with Huizenga's decision to sell off his players after they won the World Series, essentially killed a fledgling fanbase. Perhaps your personal experience was different, but I was there at the time and spoke to avid fans who just quit going. They weren't going to sit out in the heat, weather the nearly-daily thunderstorms and rain delays, and watch a bunch of stiffs, especially since they were still pissed off about having the World Series taken away in 1994.

 

[JAYHAWKS34]

Reminds me of a Bruins game

You bit your tongue, the Bruins get at least…….. twice that many

 

[PatsFan2]

Thought this was one pretty funny. Or sad.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/670592.html

Wow, concessions must have taken a little hit.

 

[Jacky Roberts]

Wow, there's more than 600 fans at the piss line at Fenway Park at any given time. What a joke.