Why are the Orioles games not sold out right now?

[HokieOs]

If I still lived in Maryland, I'd certainly be there at many more games than I did. But living in Hampton Roads, Virginia, it's difficult to simply coordinate a bunch of people to drive the four hours to get up there. Did it once earlier this year and unforunately, outside of a playoff appearance, that's it for me this year.

[Frobby]

I was a kid then, so I can't speak for then. But I know my reasons for not going now isn't due to the losing. I went to games during the last 14 years, but none this year. Id love to go to the games. Gas is 2 dollars a gal higher now, I don't remember my parents utility bills being as high back then. Its more than just slightly higher. The only thing that is only slightly higher is the pay. And that hasn't been enough to make up for the huge cost of living increases. Im speaking of my situation only.

Well, I do think the economy is playing a role. If these were boom times more people would have money for leisure activities. But MLB attendance is up 4%, so obviously the economy is not generally more of a deterrent than last year, on average.

[SilentJames]

The crowd is sparse here 15 mins before the game starts.

Clear downtown, serious thunder in north Baltimore, Tornado warning in the county.

:::from the pressbox:::

[Jagwar]

Now that they got Saunders, crowds should start rolling in.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Well, I do think the economy is playing a role. If these were boom times more people would have money for leisure activities. But MLB attendance is up 4%, so obviously the economy is not generally more of a deterrent than last year, on average.

Yeah, some areas of the country are doing better than others. I wonder how much the Nats doing so well might be affecting things?

[Gurgi]

Why dont we sell out? Because we have sucked for 1......2......3.....4.....5........6.......7......8........9......10......11......12......13.......14 seasons.

A whole generation of kids dont know winning. Anyone in their 20's was a very young kid the last time we did. NO one has the habit of checking online for games and pulling out their credit cards.

That and the fact that 25% of our fan base has gone to the team with the best record in baseball.

We have years to turn this disaster show around.

[McLovin]

When I was young and without responsibilities, I had the Why Not O's and the great 95-96 teams. Tickets were cheap, and I didn't drink at the game.

Now I'm 38 and if I am going, so are my kids. Agree with DarkHelmet that it's no fun to go cheap when you do this. It costs us about $250 for the whole deal, and we go about 4 times a year.

I am not the problem though. What the O's are missing is the young fans like me in the 90's. I'm not sure those fans are abundant. You have an entire generation of kids that grew up with a horrible team, and have apathy towards the O's. Most of today's 16-26 year old's grew up not loving the O's...

Also, I'm not sure when, but the O's stopped allowing you to bring beer in about 10-15 years ago. That hurts attendance. We wouldn't have had Wild Bill and the Memorial Stadiums crowds with that rule.

[olehippi]

Why dont we sell out? Because we have sucked for 1......2......3.....4.....5........6.......7......8........9......10......11......12......13.......14 seasons.

A whole generation of kids don't know winning. Anyone in their 20's was a very young kid the last time we did. NO one has the habit of checking online for games and pulling out their credit cards.

That and the fact that 25% of our fan base has gone to the team( in Washington) with the best record in baseball.

We have years to turn this disaster show around.

I have to go along with these as the major contributing factors, and add to it rising ticket prices in a failing economy. The good news is that attendance is up.

2011 1,755,461 (81 games) 21,943 per game

2012 1,597,780 (62 games) 25,770 per game

The Orioles are almost guaranteed to pass the 2 million mark in attendance for the first time since 2007.

[RHall31]

When I was young and without responsibilities, I had the Why Not O's and the great 95-96 teams. Tickets were cheap, and I didn't drink at the game.

Now I'm 38 and if I am going, so are my kids. Agree with DarkHelmet that it's no fun to go cheap when you do this. It costs us about $250 for the whole deal, and we go about 4 times a year.

I am not the problem though. What the O's are missing is the young fans like me in the 90's. I'm not sure those fans are abundant. You have an entire generation of kids that grew up with a horrible team, and have apathy towards the O's. Most of today's 16-26 year old's grew up not loving the O's...

Also, I'm not sure when, but the O's stopped allowing you to bring beer in about 10-15 years ago. That hurts attendance. We wouldn't have had Wild Bill and the Memorial Stadiums crowds with that rule.

Good point. I grew up folllowing the birds through the late 60's 70's and 80's. It wasn't unusal for us to go to 15 or 20 games a year and we're an hour north of the city. In the late 80's we started buying season ticket(13 game plans) and had them until the early 2000's.

[crowmst3k!]

When I was young and without responsibilities, I had the Why Not O's and the great 95-96 teams. Tickets were cheap, and I didn't drink at the game.

Now I'm 38 and if I am going, so are my kids. Agree with DarkHelmet that it's no fun to go cheap when you do this. It costs us about $250 for the whole deal, and we go about 4 times a year.

I am not the problem though. What the O's are missing is the young fans like me in the 90's. I'm not sure those fans are abundant. You have an entire generation of kids that grew up with a horrible team, and have apathy towards the O's. Most of today's 16-26 year old's grew up not loving the O's...

Also, I'm not sure when, but the O's stopped allowing you to bring beer in about 10-15 years ago. That hurts attendance. We wouldn't have had Wild Bill and the Memorial Stadiums crowds with that rule.

One of the big missing links is my generation. I was 12 years old when they were in the playoffs before, so I certainly have fond memories and am not alienated. The problem is: I'm 27 now, and I'm more into my career, have more responsibilities, and less disposable income. If the Orioles were contending 5 years ago, when I was 22, just getting out of college, living at home, etc...I probably would have gone every night.

Now because money is tight, and leisure time is harder to come by, I had to go as far as not renewing my 13 game plan.

[actorgersh]

If the date works, I have a great idea to get some good value on Orioles tickets. If you haven't redeemed your free birthday certificate yet, you can redeem for it in September regardless of when your birthday is for any non prime game. Use it for the just scheduled DH on September 24th and get two games for the price of none!

[Bradysburns]

Two words: Washington Nationals.

[sambowen]

I don't often agree with Angelos but he was spot on regarding the Nats negative affect on the Orioles attendance. I grew up in Baltimore and have lived in Rockville for 31 years. From 1983 to the time the Nats came into existence the Orioles

controlled the DC market. There were lots of Yankees fans and some Red sox fans but by in large when Camden Yards opened the O's were DC's team. There was the Orioles store and player visits. All of that is now gone and so is about

10,000-15,000 depending on the night from DC. The Nats now control the market. There are a few fans in their 20's

early 30's who support both teams. Baltimore is a SMALL market consisting of parts of Howard County to the south to Harford County, parts of Cecil. When you get to Delaware it is Phillies market. Southern PA is small part of their drawing area which is now almost exclusively the Baltimore area. The days of Camden Yards selling out on a regular basis are gone forever. Angelos was right!!

[Going Underground]

Season ticket sales are a big part. The Twins are lousy but sold over 2 million tickets before the season started and had 24,000 season ticket renewals. The O's have about half that number in season ticket sales. The O's only sell advance tickets for mostly the Yanks,Phillies ,Nats and Red Sox games.What would the attendance be without these fans from other teams? The O's losing and the Ravens winning have turned off alot of fans and will take time to get them back.

The club has renewed 85 percent of its 25,000 season tickets from last year. St. Peter said the team should enter the upcoming season at about 24,000, down a bit from the first two seasons at Target Field but still ranking among the top seven or eight teams in the league

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/blog/sports-business/2012/01/twins-ticket-sales-down-but-still.html

[TonySoprano]

I don't often agree with Angelos but he was spot on regarding the Nats negative affect on the Orioles attendance. I grew up in Baltimore and have lived in Rockville for 31 years. From 1983 to the time the Nats came into existence the Orioles

controlled the DC market. There were lots of Yankees fans and some Red sox fans but by in large when Camden Yards opened the O's were DC's team. There was the Orioles store and player visits. All of that is now gone and so is about

10,000-15,000 depending on the night from DC. The Nats now control the market. There are a few fans in their 20's

early 30's who support both teams. Baltimore is a SMALL market consisting of parts of Howard County to the south to Harford County, parts of Cecil. When you get to Delaware it is Phillies market. Southern PA is small part of their drawing area which is now almost exclusively the Baltimore area. The days of Camden Yards selling out on a regular basis are gone forever. Angelos was right!!

Yes...and no. Yes, the Nats drew some fans away from Baltimore, but Angelos' mis-management of the franchise was a bigger factor.

Angelos also said the area couldn't support two franchises. He was wrong. The Nats average this year is 29,899 and the Orioles average is 25,770 with combined total attendance of 3,391,778. For the year, they should draw around 4.5 million.

Here is the Orioles' attendance for the last 15 years. Note the attendance in 2004 when the O's last had the market to themselves, 2.7 million.

1997	3,711,1321998	3,684,6501999	3,433,1502000	3,297,0312001	3,094,8412002	2,682,4392003	2,454,5232004	2,744,0182005	2,624,7402006	2,153,1392007	2,164,8222008	1,950,0752009	1,907,1632010	1,733,0182011	1,746,111