Attendance and the Rays

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101320870

I think that they’ll show up for the first month or two of the season," Hogan said, but if the team fades, they can expect dismal attendance. On top of that, Hogan adds, a visit to the stadium isn’t exactly a treat. "To me, it’s the worst place to watch a game in the entire league — and I’ve been to several stadiums.

I know FL is up there in bankruptcies and I just assume that the lasrge retired poplation takes this pretty hard as well. I assumed the economy in Tampa was pretty bad compared to most other big league cities.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/attendance?sort=home_avg&year=2008&seasonType=2

Going by %, I would guess we might be able to pass Minnesota, Toronto, San Diego, and maybe Houston. Assuming the latter two fanbases do react quickly to a failing season.

I don’t understand why you never see ex-baseball guys doing general sports shows…can anyone name me five?

And it monopolizes the sports world. I really used to love it, but something has just completely turned me off of the game.

Trying to get a stadium – ’We’ll never sell enough tickets here’
Playoffs sell out – ‘Of course they would’
Season Tix go on sale – ’We’re very pleased with renewals’
Reporter asks if they’d go after anyone else – ’We’re all maxed out…maybe that could change, hint, hint’

Your right. It was awful in Baltimore and Washington. I went to the second game of the year in BAL last year and sat behind home for 20 bucks.

Good point about the corporate reliance I hadn’t even thought of that.

It’s easy to say now that people will keep going to games even if they’re laid off, but what about a couple months from now if they still haven’t found a new job? A 9.8% unemployment rate like they’re talking about above strikes me as rather huge and rather daunting.

Also, I might argue that the group of people you’re talking about that are better off now than before the recession is pretty dang small. True, some people are probably better off, but I can’t say I’ve met or heard about any of them. But that’s just me…I don’t claim that my group of friends is a representative sample or anything.

Consumers are going to look for outlets for entertainment, for rest and relaxation, regardless of their personal economic condition. So, if the fans perceive going to a baseball game as a cheaper version of going to a Bucs game, then they’re actually more likely to do that. For instance, my family of all Colts fans have been going to every Colts-Jags game for the last four years, but with more constrict budgets this year, it looks like I might be able to convince them to make it a Rays game this summer instead.

So, it all depends on whether fans perceive baseball as an inferior good to football or all other alternatives for entertainment. Inferior goods are booming right now. Massage parlors are taking all the money that formerly went to out-of-town vacations. Sectors – the producers of the so-called inferior goods – are actually doing quite well right now. It’s just not the kind of infotainment that 24 hr news networks like to cover (go NPR!).

I think we’ll draw more than that, but a lot of the expensive seats will still be empty. I’d be willing to bet we have close to 25k just on season ticket averages. Most of the season tickets were purchased before the brunt of the current meltdown started, when the Rays were making the playoff push last year.

“Obviously you’ve gotten hammered if you were in the market, but with no inflation and declining gas prices a couple groups of people arguably are better off now than what they were before.”

Very few. Even the people who are better off are still mostly worried about potentially losing their jobs if the economy doesn’t turn around in the next 6 – 12 months, which is part of why spending is down in general.

J/K sort of.

For most people in this area I think a Rays game is somewhat low on the priority list. The other issue is the fact that baseball is generally a family event, so it cost a bit more for a family to go.

1. It’s much easier to justify an expense like Chipotle. You have to eat anyways, and you’re only really adding $5 or less to your total expenses with a meal like that.
2. A movie is probably a closer fit, assuming you’re content to sit in the upper deck, but this doesn’t take into account the fact that the Rays charge more for premium games, while the only difference in movie pricing involves the time of day.
3. Most people with kids aren’t going to leave it to chance in the way you do. 7 year olds aren’t typically very reassured when you tell them ’It’s ok, if we don’t score, we go to Fergs’…Also, because of the historical illegality of scalping, I could even see where some would dub this behavior bad parenting (fairly or not).
4. It’s not uncommon at all for me to go to a game and not eat or drink a thing while I’m there. I also have no affinity for foam fingers, and don’t really want a baseball card with me on it. Again, I assume the spending equation will change when I have kids.

To a lot of people, going to a game just isn’t fun without refreshments.