Why are the Orioles games not sold out right now?

[Dipper9]

One thing to note is that Houston has about 4x the people in the metro area that Baltimore does. It's an absolutely massive city (typing from West U right now). Additionally, the Astros give out tons of free tickets once school lets out. I can go to Astros games for $1 about once a week as a Rice student. It's also air conditioned in downtown Houston, which is a huge plus for walk up types.

See, the Orioles don't do enough of this kind of stuff. The Orioles sit back and think, "we're winning now, people should come" instead of making it impossible NOT to come. I mean, seriously, if the O's offered decent seats for $5, I'd be there all the time, even if I just go alone and leave the family at home. MASN has been telling us all week how bad the crowds are, and how they are only expecting 7000 fans today. So then why isn't there a MASSIVE effort on the part of the Orioles PR and Marketing giving away discounted seats, hell, FREE seats, just to get people into the Park? It makes no sense. The O's EXPECT people to come instead of making wise moves to MAKE people come. That is why their attendance stinks!

[Dipper9]

I spend more than 50 for myself every game. Between gas, tolls, parking, ticket and beer (mostly beer) I usually drop well over 100.

I'm OK with people going once in a while. I get that its an ordeal, and expensive. I just think people are rationalizing why they aren't going a LOT in this thread.

Maybe its because I've lived outside of Baltimore for a while. Not being able to go whenever I feel like it has made me appreciate it more, perhaps.

When I lived in Florida, I never went to the beach. It was a 10 minute drive, and free. But I never went, because I knew I could go whenever.

You said earlier in this thread that your kids aren't as excited about the O's as you are. Do you have to take them with you? Why can't you have a night with your lady friend at the park? Or your friends?

Here's the bottom line for me - The Orioles have sucked since I was in high school, and my 32nd birthday is this weekend. They might well suck again for another 15 years after this season. But right now, we are in a pennant race. You'd think that losing for SO long would make people so thirsty for this. But it hasn't, and I'm disappointed.

I agree with everything you say here. I spend alot when I go too. The wife and I DO go alone most times we go. I get to about 10 games a year, and I KNOW this thread is not directed at me. My point is we aren't talking about US? We're talking about the jaded fans who the Orioles have turned their back on for 14 straight years, and really for the better part of 3 decades! Those are the ones who can easily use the excuses in this thread. Those are the ones that the Orioles Organization needs to find a way to bring back. And unfortunately, believe it or not, 5 months of winning baseball won't do it alone.

However, what is gonna piss me, and alot of us off, is when the dedicated, die hards like everyone on this site, can't get playoff tickets because suddenly 50 thousand people are filling the Park at playoff games. That's when this guy is gonna go ballistic!

[Moose Milligan]

The reason its so disappointing is because Baltimore is supposed to be a GREAT baseball town. For years we were able to dismiss the low attendance as a result of Big Pete and a crappy team. We don't have a crappy team anymore, and the attendance is still very low (this week anyway).

I know this doesn't change anything, but the perception around the country will be very similar to how Tampa is viewed.

I'm not sure where the perception of a GREAT baseball town came from. I don't really understand what makes a GREAT baseball town. Passionate fans? Friendly fans? The only sports team in town? Wearing the team colors? What makes a GREAT baseball town?

Tampa has a legit excuse. That ballpark is like watching baseball inside of White Marsh mall. Its so unbelievably bad. We, on the otherhand, have a phenomenal ballpark.

I'm just really disappointed with the whole thing. There should be no reason why fans aren't coming out, buying the 10 dollar tickets (if money is the issue) and watching the O's more. I'm not buying any of the excuses put forth in this thread. I'll accept that I'm probably wrong in thinking this way, but I'm still disappointed all the same.

Time to face facts, OPACY is 20 years old. And while it's still a great place to watch a game and the improvements over the years are nice...let's not act like the novelty is there anymore. It used to be that people would go to OPACY just for the experience, it was the cool thing to do. People would come from all over the region just to catch a game.

It's not that way anymore. It's been 20 years and a lot of other towns have their shiny new stadiums (granted, they probably aren't as nice as OPACY). At the time it opened, it was revolutionary. Not so much anymore.

At some point people wanted to come to OPACY to see the team, not just to say they've been to OPACY and what a great place it is.

I think the fans that have been beaten down and scared away for the past 15 years are still waiting for the other shoe to drop. As I said before, I don't believe one summer of good baseball completely erases everything that's happened over the past decade and a half.

If we're in another pennant chase this time next year, I think you'll see an increase in attendance. All winter long we're going to hear stories about how the Orioles can't repeat what they did this summer, how they had a negative run differential and pythag, pythag, pythag.

One year won't erase the mess of the past 15. Sustained excellence is the only thing that will help.

[Dipper9]

I'm not sure where the perception of a GREAT baseball town came from. I don't really understand what makes a GREAT baseball town. Passionate fans? Friendly fans? The only sports team in town? Wearing the team colors? What makes a GREAT baseball town?

Time to face facts, OPACY is 20 years old. And while it's still a great place to watch a game and the improvements over the years are nice...let's not act like the novelty is there anymore. It used to be that people would go to OPACY just for the experience, it was the cool thing to do. People would come from all over the region just to catch a game.

It's not that way anymore. It's been 20 years and a lot of other towns have their shiny new stadiums (granted, they probably aren't as nice as OPACY). At the time it opened, it was revolutionary. Not so much anymore.

At some point people wanted to come to OPACY to see the team, not just to say they've been to OPACY and what a great place it is.

I think the fans that have been beaten down and scared away for the past 15 years are still waiting for the other shoe to drop. As I said before, I don't believe one summer of good baseball completely erases everything that's happened over the past decade and a half.

If we're in another pennant chase this time next year, I think you'll see an increase in attendance. All winter long we're going to hear stories about how the Orioles can't repeat what they did this summer, how they had a negative run differential and pythag, pythag, pythag.

One year won't erase the mess of the past 15. Sustained excellence is the only thing that will help.

Well, half naked cheerleaders might help as well!

Otherwise, excellent post!

[McNulty]

Time to face facts, OPACY is 20 years old. And while it's still a great place to watch a game and the improvements over the years are nice...let's not act like the novelty is there anymore.

Go to ONE game this year before you throw this one around brah. The stadium is better than ever this year.

[joeyc]

Any serious spike in attendance will be a gradual ascension over time. You can't expect to average 38,000 when you suck for 15 years and then have a good 4 months.

I agree 100% with this. This is what losing for 15 years gets you. People decide screw them and find other things to do with thier life, so now that we are winning, it takes time for people to get into them again. I also feel that most people think we are pretenders anyway. They are just waiting for the wheels to fall off the cart. They think there is no realistic possibility that we are going to continue to stay in the race. They feel like in the end we will not make the playoffs

[Miller192]

I've said it in other threads but I'm pretty accustomed to watching O's games on the TV. The losing has zapped all desire for me to go to the ballpark on a regular basis.

I'm going to go in September. Not because I really want to, but because I want to show the team my support and I'm sort of embarassed that no one shows up anymore. I might do as many as 3 games.

[Moose Milligan]

Go to ONE game this year before you throw this one around brah. The stadium is better than ever this year.

I went to a game earlier this summer, I'll probably go to one in September. But a party deck over the batters eye and the lowered wall above the out of town scoreboard doesn't really mean a whole lot to me.

It's nice that they keep tinkering with it and making improvements but let's stop pretending this is some totally new stadium. This isn't like the Bears gutting Soldier Field or something.

[FlipCup]

From the looks of the crowd now (I know it's only the first), I think there will be 10,500.

[Frobby]

But the Rays are completing their 5th consecutive winning season. This is only the Orioles' 1st winning season in a long time.

I think that we would have to wait at least until the Orioles string together a few winning seasons in a row to see if we are viewed in a similar light as are the Rays viewed, currently.

If we have a winning season next year and draw less than 2.5 million, and then start 2014 well and are still on pace to draw less than 2.5 Million again by July of that season, that is when I think that a legitimate comparison can be made between the Orioles and the Rays, and their/our inability to draw in spite of consistently putting a winner on the field every year.

I think this is more or less accurate. Most teams that have a good season for the first time in a while get a further "bounce" the following season, especially if they remain good. For example, the Tigers were up another 450,000 the year after they went to the World Series.

I think it matters a bit whether the Orioles make the playoffs, because that will get people's attention more than a winning season that fizzles a bit a the end.

In any event, we are not the Rays, or the A's, or even the White Sox. I'd be pretty surprised if the team plays good ball next year and attendance isn't up.

[Dipper9]

I think this is more or less accurate. Most teams that have a good season for the first time in a while get a further "bounce" the following season, especially if they remain good. For example, the Tigers were up another 450,000 the year after they went to the World Series.

I think it matters a bit whether the Orioles make the playoffs, because that will get people's attention more than a winning season that fizzles a bit a the end.

In any event, we are not the Rays, or the A's, or even the White Sox. I'd be pretty surprised if the team plays good ball next year and attendance isn't up.

I agree with this. If we make the playoffs, I bet season ticket purchases will be great Christmas presents!

[Hank Scorpio]

I've said it in other threads but I'm pretty accustomed to watching O's games on the TV. The losing has zapped all desire for me to go to the ballpark on a regular basis.

I'm going to go in September. Not because I really want to, but because I want to show the team my support and I'm sort of embarassed that no one shows up anymore. I might do as many as 3 games.

I identify with this.

I love watching the games in my living room w/ the dog. That's all I really need.

[Dipper9]

I identify with this.

I love watching the games in my living room w/ the dog. That's all I really need.

Uh, lets hope HanksGF doesn't read this thread!

[Trackmaster]

The Expos were coming to DC. That wasn't changing. The only question was would they be in NOVA, SOMD or DC proper. If anything we got the best deal the team could get.

That's not exactly true. We irrevocably held their TV rights, and legally did not have to give them up unless we agreed to. Essentially, the Nationals could have come here, but all of their money would have had to have been earned by ticket sales, merchandise, stadium naming, etc. and not from the biggest source, which is TV. If you recall, in their first season, all Nationals games were blacked out in the Virginia, DC, MD area, even the ones on ESPN, TBS, and Fox. If we had stuck to our guns, they would have either decided not to come, relocated eventually, or been such a small presence that we would have had a fighting chance against them. Angelos was bribed into doing so with the sweetheart deal that he got. And I stress that he personally got the benefit, not the team and the fans. He got the network put in his name, with money going to him that he doesn't have to put back into the team, and we still have to pay the Nationals fair market value for their rights, and he got a minimum sales price for the franchise.

What would have benefitted us as fans would be a subsidy of 10% of any contract that we sign, and the ability to move to the NL East, while the Nationals take our spot in the AL East.

[Tony-OH]

Tampa has a legit excuse. That ballpark is like watching baseball inside of White Marsh mall. Its so unbelievably bad. We, on the otherhand, have a phenomenal ballpark.

I'm just really disappointed with the whole thing. There should be no reason why fans aren't coming out, buying the 10 dollar tickets (if money is the issue) and watching the O's more. I'm not buying any of the excuses put forth in this thread. I'll accept that I'm probably wrong in thinking this way, but I'm still disappointed all the same.

You're not wrong, you are just being hard-headed. You basically have taken on the position that everyone should be out there because you are and if they aren't they don't have any valid excuse. That's just not reality.