Orioles attendance so far -- not encouraging

[DrungoHazewood]

The Twins only charge around $10.00 more for premium games.

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/min/ticketing/singlegame_pricing.jsp

Do the Twins typically have 15 or 20 thousand Yanks, Sox, or Phillies fans consistently show up to premium games? Not sure why you think a middling team in Baltimore and a good team in Minneapolis with a new stadium should have the same pricing structure.

[apollod]

You compared the first 13 home dates to 2010. 7 of the first 13 in 2010 were weekend games. This year it's only 4 of 13. That makes a difference, no? Average weekend attendance is 7-10k higher than weekday games.

Not only that, he's fretting over 1 extra week as compared to the article. A class on statistics and sample sizes might be in order.

Also comparing attendance without including television ratings as a comparison is kinda erring on the side of ignorance; particularly in today's economy.

Edit:

I bring up sample sizes, because really comparing 1 month of Season A to 1 Month of Season B is pretty much stupid, because 1 or 2 games can completely skew the stats one way or another (Case in point.. last week, we were 5.1% above last season, and suddenly this week we're 'Significantly below' last season). Come back to this in late may at the earliest, or ideally mid-late june. You're blowing things out of proportion on such a statistically insignificant sample size. I've noticed on this board it happens a lot, and its not limited to just the attendance figures.

[Birds of B'more]

My fear is that the fans will not come back even when the team turns the corner.

To what degree do you think they might not come back? I agree that they may never have seasons of over 3.5 million like they did in the mid 90s. But very few teams reach those numbers now anyways. And the fans did not leave en masse overnight, so they won't return that quickly either. But a period of sustained success could eventually draw somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 million a season....certainly a conceivable number for a team in a metro-area with only 1 other pro team, and still draws a lot of fans from the DC area. And of course, like it or not, we'll probably still see NY and Boston fans in noticeable numbers when they are in town too. But ~3 million would put the O's well in the upper half in MLB attendance and maybe even Top 10 some years.

[Gurgi]

Like the last poster said. Sustained winning is the only fix for the Orioles. They have driven most of the good will out of this city.

The bed they made.

[LookitsPuck]

Weather has nothing to do with it.

Its all about pre-season sales and while they improved for the O's, they still have a long way to go.

Grimed1 is right...The prime game ticket increases are a joke. The Orioles went overboard with that.

Its one thing to charge $5-10 more..I get that. But 30 or more? That's ridiculous.

You're being incredibly naive if you think weather has nothing to do with it. Does it have everything to do with it? Of course not. There are a multitude of factors: economy (hell look at the NFL and tickets, for example), prime pricing, the slow start to the Red Sox, rained out games, etc. etc.

[LookitsPuck]

To what degree do you think they might not come back? I agree that they may never have seasons of over 3.5 million like they did in the mid 90s. But very few teams reach those numbers now anyways. And the fans did not leave en masse overnight' date=' so they won't return that quickly either. But a period of sustained success could eventually draw somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 million a season....certainly a conceivable number for a team in a metro-area with only 1 other pro team, and still draws a lot of fans from the DC area. And of course, like it or not, we'll probably still see NY and Boston fans in noticeable numbers when they are in town too. But ~3 million would put the O's well in the upper half in MLB attendance and maybe even Top 10 some years.[/quote']

Agreed. I think people are incredibly ignorant when they say that winning teams don't increased attendance. Mark Viviano is one of the culprits with this in bashing the Tampa Bay Rays, however:

2007: 66-96, last in AL East. AVG attendance: 17,131

2008: 97-65, 1st in AL East. AVG attendance: 22,370

2009: 84-78, 3rd in AL East. AVG attendance: 23,148

2010: 96-66, 1st in AL East. AVG attendance: 23,025

The Rays had an increase of 5k+ on average from their losing 2007 to a winning 2008 in a historically terrible sports city/state. Their overall attendance in 2007 was only 1,387,603. Last year? 1,864,999. Hell, 2009 was 1,874,962. 2008? 1,811,986. The Rays sold 424,383 more tickets in 2008 then in 2007. 5k more on average.

If the Orioles start winning, people will come. And I think 2.5+ million isn't out of the question.

[Birds of B'more]

Agreed. I think people are incredibly ignorant when they say that winning teams don't increased attendance. Mark Viviano is one of the culprits with this in bashing the Tampa Bay Rays, however:

2007: 66-96, last in AL East. AVG attendance: 17,131

2008: 97-65, 1st in AL East. AVG attendance: 22,370

2009: 84-78, 3rd in AL East. AVG attendance: 23,148

2010: 96-66, 1st in AL East. AVG attendance: 23,025

The Rays had an increase of 5k+ on average from their losing 2007 to a winning 2008 in a historically terrible sports city/state. Their overall attendance in 2007 was only 1,387,603. Last year? 1,864,999. Hell, 2009 was 1,874,962. 2008? 1,811,986. The Rays sold 424,383 more tickets in 2008 then in 2007. 5k more on average.

If the Orioles start winning, people will come. And I think 2.5+ million isn't out of the question.

And the Rays have one of the worst ballparks that is terribly located for many fans in the region. The Orioles would have no such obstacle to overcome.

[notfast]

Just a fun fact.

Wed Apr 6 vs Detriot. Bleacher ticket bought 10 mins after game started. $19.

Tues Apr 26 vs Boston. Bleach ticket bought 10 mins after game started. $32.

68% more.

Ridiculous. I will straight up not be attending NYY/BOS games. I could have saved $2 buying it in advance. I can save $10 buying my parking in advance.

[OFFNY]

I also think that many Orioles fans are at a point where, because of the fact that the consecutive losing seasons have been so numerous (13 straight), and have come in every which way shape and form (starting the season in first place for almost half the season, and then doing a severe nose dive ......... starting horribly like last season, and even a late-season push was nowehere near enough to get us anywhere near the 82 win total .............. or seasons that we just flat out consistently play between .400 - .440 baseball for the entire season) they really need to see A LOT of success over a LOOOOOOOONG portion of the season before they start "believing" again. I mean, 2005 could not have been more of a tease, could it ???. I mean, if you are in first place for almost half the season, and EVEN THEN you can´t manage to somehow stumble into at least 82 wins by the final game of the season .......... It´s almost at a point where the average Oriole fan is feeling "Look, when I see the number ´82´ in the win column before October 1st, THEN I will believe that we indeed have this thing turned around and moving in the right direction." And frankly, I cannot blame them.

.

[eddie83]

I attend about 8-10 games a year. In the last couple of years I have taken advantage of some buy one get one ticket offers but I haven't seen those offers this year. I have bought the Opening Day 4 pack the last three years and this year they took away a prime game that was part of the package in previous years. The attendance to me is fine. If you either don't have the money or the desire to buy a season ticket package why are you going to go to weekday games at premier prices to boot when the team is under .500. The attendance is much better on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Why would someone who doesn't want to buy a season package have interest in going to weekday games when they can wait until a better chance of weather or go to a weekend game. If you are only going to go to a couple of games(or less than 13 games a year) it makes perfect sense why you wouldn't buy games in April during the week.

You are not going to have any walkup sales as long as the team has a losing record. I have two kids and is much easier to find a babysitter during a weekend game as well as not having to get up early to go to work the next day, it is just common sense. I signed my daughter up for the Dugout Club this year and I am looking to take advantage of that, it is a great deal.

The prime pricing as others have pointed out is about out of town fans not Orioles fans. You are asking people to spend more to hang out with fans from other teams and we aren't really competitive with those teams. Fans get to pay a premium to hang out with fans of the two teams we hate the most and we have struggled against them, sounds like fun to me.

[Sports Guy]

You're being incredibly naive if you think weather has nothing to do with it. Does it have everything to do with it? Of course not. There are a multitude of factors: economy (hell look at the NFL and tickets, for example), prime pricing, the slow start to the Red Sox, rained out games, etc. etc.

I'm naive? LOL

I worked in ticket sales for the damn team and no exactly how this works.

Most of the tickets are sold before the season. If the weather was great every home game, the attendance would be barely better.

Please spare me your bs. You have zero idea what you are talking about...I know that is usually the case but in this argument, you are beyond clueless.

Attendance blows because the Orioles have been a laughing stock and a joke of a franchise for 13 years....Trying to figure out any other reason is a waste of time.

[LookitsPuck]

I'm naive? LOL

I worked in ticket sales for the damn team and no exactly how this works.

Most of the tickets are sold before the season. If the weather was great every home game, the attendance would be barely better.

Please spare me your bs. You have zero idea what you are talking about...I know that is usually the case but in this argument, you are beyond clueless.

Attendance blows because the Orioles have been a laughing stock and a joke of a franchise for 13 years....Trying to figure out any other reason is a waste of time.

Spare me your condescending crap and tunnel vision.

Keep living in your little fantasy world where you think that working in ticket sales gives you some sort of clue on how 23 games into a season (for ONE team) represents exactly one thing. It's not because the Orioles are a laughing stock. It's because:

1. Weather

2. Attendance is down across ALL Sports

3. Extremely small sample size

4. Economy

5. The Orioles have been bad in the past

If you're naive enough to think it's all because #5, then you're hopeless.

[LookitsPuck]

There are only *9* teams whose attendance is UP this year:

1. Reds

2. Rockies

3. Twins

4. Athletics

5. Phillies

6. Padres

7. Giants

8. Rangers

9. Blue Jays

Whose attendance is down the most?

1. Mariners

2. Dodgers

3. Rays

4. Mets

5. Cubs

6. Royals

7. Yankees

8. Astros

9. Orioles

10. Diamondbacks

11. Braves

12. Cardinals

13. Angels

14. Brewers

15. Nationals

16. Tigers

17. Indians

18. White Sox

19. Marlins

20. Pirates (only down 245)

21. Boston (only down 63)

That's OVERALL attendance. That's right, the YANKEES attendance is down more than the Orioles. Surely it's because the Yankees suck. Right?

How about difference per game? The worst:

1. Dodgers

2. Mariners

3. Rays

4. Mets

5. Cubs

6. Royals

7. Braves

8. Yankees

9. Astros

10. Diamondbacks

11. Orioles

.

.

.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/current_attendance.shtml

Attendance for baseball is down ACROSS THE BOARD. 210k to be exact, or 590 per game. Not awful, but when 21 of 30 teams are posting negative attendance, surely something is to consider than "they just suck."

[Going Underground]

I attend about 8-10 games a year. In the last couple of years I have taken advantage of some buy one get one ticket offers but I haven't seen those offers this year. I have bought the Opening Day 4 pack the last three years and this year they took away a prime game that was part of the package in previous years. The attendance to me is fine. If you either don't have the money or the desire to buy a season ticket package why are you going to go to weekday games at premier prices to boot when the team is under .500. The attendance is much better on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Why would someone who doesn't want to buy a season package have interest in going to weekday games when they can wait until a better chance of weather or go to a weekend game. If you are only going to go to a couple of games(or less than 13 games a year) it makes perfect sense why you wouldn't buy games in April during the week.

You are not going to have any walkup sales as long as the team has a losing record. I have two kids and is much easier to find a babysitter during a weekend game as well as not having to get up early to go to work the next day, it is just common sense. I signed my daughter up for the Dugout Club this year and I am looking to take advantage of that, it is a great deal.

The prime pricing as others have pointed out is about out of town fans not Orioles fans. You are asking people to spend more to hang out with fans from other teams and we aren't really competitive with those teams. Fans get to pay a premium to hang out with fans of the two teams we hate the most and we have struggled against them, sounds like fun to me.

They have not had any BIGI free discounts yet this year. Last year,they had a couple of discounted specials. Facebook and Happy day promotion had discounts for lower reserve and upper reserve for most of the year. Travelzoo also had discounted specials on tickets. The O's might have to run some specials to get people into the stands. I will keep my eyes and ears open to see what happens. This is also the first year in a couple that season ticket holders did not get t-shirts.

[Sports Guy]

Spare me your condescending crap and tunnel vision.

Keep living in your little fantasy world where you think that working in ticket sales gives you some sort of clue on how 23 games into a season (for ONE team) represents exactly one thing. It's not because the Orioles are a laughing stock. It's because:

1. Weather

2. Attendance is down across ALL Sports

3. Extremely small sample size

4. Economy

5. The Orioles have been bad in the past

If you're naive enough to think it's all because #5, then you're hopeless.

What percentage of ticket sales do you feel are done before the season starts?