and the fans there booed the crap out of him every time he stepped out of the dugout – and he won a World Series for them!

Atlanta pulled 29k, lower than their season average. There were a lot of people having fun in the sun today.

Florida mandated all districts to start school no earlier than two weeks before Labor Day this year. Orange Co. for one took the earliest possible start, and lets out on June 6. At the very least, districts still have a week-and-a-half to go.

Which I did for the opening series, and drove the three hours in traffic to go see games in Baltimore. I don’t think you need to concern yourselves with the people on here. Its the Johnny Come-lately fans that will show up in August that need to start coming out already.

I went to all three games this weekend. I live in Clearwater, I don’t drive, and I’m a 16 year old without a job in high school. Going to weeknight games is, for the most part, not feasable for me. I try to go when I can. But I think it is very presumptuous of you to assert that it is the responsibility of everyone here to go to every game. Those who watch on TV are no worse fans than are those who attend games. It isn’t the people here you need to be concerned about.

I’ve been to four games in May alone, a total of five in St. Pete this year, plus the entire Orlando series. And I have designs on many more, but I can only do so much.

Pay for my gas and I’ll go to every game.

It is going to be the greater area populace as a whole. Sure, if you live in the area it would be nice for you to drop into the Trop at least a few times a year, but just because you don’t attend the games regularly doesn’t mean you are less of a fan. Investing three hours in watching the team on TV, informing yourself of players and events related to the team, and discussing the team online is still a great investment of your time. It may not have a price tag attached, but there is value to that.

I don’t get that ad money. That is network-generated and they get all of that. Believe me, if I were rolling in cash I’d take a taxi to games. Public transportation is not viable in Pinellas County. Even if I did take the 150 minute bus ride to the Trop from my door, there’s still the matter of getting back after the game when bus service up to Clearwater terminates. It’s simply not feasible.

I do go to games as much as I can. I’ve been to 10 games so far this year; that’s far more than a lot of people. Believe me, if I were a 9 to 5 guy with a car, I’d have season tickets. The fact of the matter is, I’m not at that stage of my life. I don’t have the option to go every day.

“Longoria playing every night in Vegas”

First, attendance should begin to pick up if the team is still in contention after the All-Star break. At this moment, all this hysteria is a complete waste of time. As for this relocation scarecrow, Las Vegas in particular: only if MLB expands and the owners of the franchise convince the public to build them a stadium… all of which is virtually assured not to happen during Longoria’s major league career.

Meanwhile..
Tampa/St. Pete metro area: 2.7 million (including the Sarasota metro area: 3.4 million)
Las Vegas metro area: 1.7 million (and hit hard by housing collapse)

Nobody is moving to Vegas (or any other location) any time soon.

Enjoy the winning!

I can’t tell people how to live their lives. People need to do what’s best for their families and themselves first. If they have the means to go to a ton of games then by all means please do, but if you can’t it doesn’t make you less of a fan.

I attend 25+ games every year. Like I said, I’ve already been to ten. I was at something like 35 in 2006. I go when I can. I’m not creating excuses for people not to attend. Obviously the area as a whole needs to get behind the special product on the field. The people already here have clearly devoted considerable resources toward supporting the team. I’m not concerned about them. They clearly aren’t attending due to lack of will. There are many factors at play here, and it’s going to take far more than the readers of this site to make for a meaningful boost in attendance.

To show that he couldn’t even move the Marlins and this was after a longer battle than we’ll have for a new stadium. New place = not moving.

In 1991 the Braves went from 65 wins to 94 and their overall attendance jumped from 12k to 26k. Through May 27th of 1991 their home attendance was roughly 19k per game, ours is 18k per game.

“because of him the expos became the Nationals”

If only it were that simplistic. Just off the top of my head, it also took the failure of multiple ownership groups to secure a new stadium in Montreal, the withdrawal of local media coverage and corporate sponsorship, declining attendance, a literally crumbling and broken stadium, the existence of RFK Stadium as a suitable temporary home, the pre-approval of a new taxpayer funded stadium and MLB’s blessing to get the Expos to DC after years and years of major problems in Montreal. Those conditions don’t exist in either Tampa/St. Pete or a rival market.

There is a revenue-sharing model in the works, but I haven’t seen a dime from this site.