From today's New York Times ...interesting read:

 

The Rays had baseball’s lowest attendance in 2005 and the second lowest in each of the past two seasons, ahead of only Florida. For the second consecutive year, the Rays have played a series at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando. Even then, they played to less-than-capacity crowds of 8,269 to 9,540 against Toronto from April 22-24.

The reasons for the Rays’ attendance woes are many. The club has never won more than 70 games, finishing last in the A.L. East every season but 2004, when it was fourth. Vince Naimoli, the franchise’s previous managing general partner, took a heavy-handed approach to running the franchise, alienating fans and local civic and business leaders.

Also, the Rays play in a domed stadium built in the late 1980s to attract a major league team. It seemed antiquated when the Rays played their first game in 1998, before another generation of new ballparks opened. And though the Tampa market has supported spring training for decades, it has one of the lower per capita incomes and corporate sponsor bases of any market in the game.

Under Stuart Sternberg, who became principal owner of the Rays after the 2005 season, the Rays have become more fan friendly, sprucing up Tropicana Field and offering free parking during the first two seasons of his tenure. The Rays hope to rally support for a new waterfront ballpark to be built in time for the 2012 season on the site of Al Lang Field, the longtime spring training site just a few miles from their current home.

On Monday, Tampa Bay attracted a mix of Yankees and Rays fans. Typical were Brian Fink, 32, and Emi Young, 24, who attended together, each wearing clothing of the opposing team. Young, who had a Yankees jersey and cap, has seen virtually every Yankees game here since 1998, but no others.

“It doesn’t seem as tilted in favor of the Yankees as it used to be,” said Fink, a Rays fan and radio producer in Tampa. “But given how they’ve been playing, you’d think there would be more people out here.”