Royals' attendance is up about 11,500 per game; why did that never happen here?

[CA-ORIOLE]

We have a winner here! I live 2 hours south of KC, and this Front office went out and replaced the departed players from last years world series team, and the fan base is on board. KC knows that it has an opportunity in the here and now and they are trying to capitalize on it. And IMO, if Kris Medlin comes off the DL at the all star break and pitches anything like he did for the Braves it will be lights out in the AL Central.

Kendry Morales is working out well but I'm no so sure how shrewd that was. Who replaced Shields?

[theobird]

Kendry Morales is working out well but I'm no so sure how shrewd that was. Who replaced Shields?

Edinson Volquez, who has also been very good.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Edinson Volquez, who has also been very good.

Yes he has.

[birdcrazy]

The first issue is the Nationals. In the late 90’s. the Orioles were pulling 40K a game, and were heavily reliant on the DC suburbs for that number. Back then there were tons of people from DC riding the MARC train, or making the drive up there. Growing up in the DC area, 90% of the baseball fans I knew rooted for the Orioles. Especially during the Ripken era. What is funny is Baltimore fans never really took to the Redskins when they lost the Colts (despite the Redskins being good when Baltimore had no team). However, the Senators fans embraced the Orioles pretty strongly. I am guessing because when the Senators left town, they had never been a winning team, and the Orioles for a while were a model franchise.

When the National's came to town, two things happened. First, the obvious, having two teams split up attendance. Casual fans have no issue rooting for a closer team and hopping on a bandwagon.. The second thing that happened is that because the Orioles fought the team relocating so much, many of the fans who did switch, decided they now hate the Orioles. The MASN dispute has made this worse. I personally am fine with both teams, and will watch both, as long as they are not playing, then I am an Orioles fan. However a lot of the Nats converts plain hate the Orioles, even though they used to root for them. There is not a ton you can do because the Orioles have taken a financial hit from the Nationals being there.

The other issue is the riots and all the crime that has been happening in Baltimore. If you live south of say Anne Arundel county, would you rather ride the Metro and see a better team, or drive to Baltimore?

[birdcrazy]

Most people do forget that before Camden Yards, the Orioles did not have great attendance. I remember looking back through attendance stats, and the Orioles only drew more than 15K fans a game once before 1978. There were not many people in the stands for their glory years.

There used to be a saying. In Baltimore they'd have to have a bat day to sell out the WS.Its better now. But not much.

[theobird]

My point being that Dayton Moore maintained the Buzz that was going on from the World Series run. I think they are an even better team this year than last years team. And all of this from the team that not too long ago was looked at as the Major Leagues Minor League team. A small market team that realized that if they put a winner on the field the fans will pay for the product. KC has always adored the Royals. Back in the George Brett, Hal MacRae, Amos Otis days that placed was packed nightly. That is what is going on now. Royals fans are not wondering why management would not dish out to field a winner, because they are. They still have obvious $$$ constraints, and that is why they never entered into talks with Shields. But the Royals did everything that they could, and even got creative with the Madsen and Medlin signings. Madsen has been brilliant by the way, and I think Medlin will put them over the top. I have to tell you, I wish Dayton Moore was employed by the Orioles.

[ChuckS]

When the O's finally started winning, they had noticeable attendance jumps, but nothing huge. The Royals are on pace to increase by more than 900,000 this year. Why did the O's never experience a huge leap like that?

The long and short answer is that they don't have much else to do or get excited about in Kansas City.

[Why Not?]

When the O's finally started winning, they had noticeable attendance jumps, but nothing huge. The Royals are on pace to increase by more than 900,000 this year. Why did the O's never experience a huge leap like that?

Baltimore never had a one-year jump like KC has had this year, but the increases in attendance since the teams' resurgences is similar.

KC went from 21k in 2013 to 32k in 2015

Balmer went from 21k in 2011 to 30k in 2014

[El Gordo]

The long and short answer is that they don't have much else to do or get excited about in Kansas City.

Obviously you've never been to KC.

[theobird]

The long and short answer is that they don't have much else to do or get excited about in Kansas City.

This is just not true. My guess is that you have never been to Kansas City.

[Why Not?]

Most people do forget that before Camden Yards, the Orioles did not have great attendance. I remember looking back through attendance stats, and the Orioles only drew more than 15K fans a game once before 1978. There were not many people in the stands for their glory years.

You have to take that 15K number in context though. Baltimore was typically in the middle of the league in attendance before OPCY.

Not great support, but pretty typical in that era, when 22K might league the league.

[TonySoprano]

Maybe KC fans believe their ownership wants to win a World Series.

2003 offseason Angelos opens up the vault (or that was the perception, not the reality)and signs Tejada, Palmeiro, and Lopez. Payroll actually dropped from $73.8M in 2003 to $51.6M in 2004 but that was like the Wizard of Oz behind the screen, no one paid attention to that. The Orioles were for the first (and last) time one of the big headlines at the Winter Meetings. The Nationals were still in Montreal. Orioles attendance went up......

289,545

Yeah, the Nats grabbed folks away, but attendance dropped from 3.7M in 1997 to 2.7M in 2004 all before the Nats arrived. 5.2M people went to games in D.C. and Baltimore last year, or 1.5M more than the Orioles ever drew when they had the region to themselves. The market for the Orioles was there before 2005, and terrible leadership threw it all away. It is coming back but at a slower pace than K.C. and what the OP asks is why.

After all, K.C. had one winning season from 1995-2012 , that's one winner in eighteen years. The Orioles at least made the playoffs in 1996-97. Before last season, K.C. hadn't been to the playoffs since 1985. K.C. metro population, 2.07M, Baltimore (without D.C.) almost 2.8M. So what's the excuse that a Baltimore metro area that is 34.5% larger than KC can't have an even larger increase in attendance? You can't hang that all on the Nats.

Could it be Baltimore, like it was when the Colts were here, is still primarily a football town? There is precedent for that, albeit dated. 1983, the Orioles win the Series. Five months later, the Colts load up the Mayflower trucks for Indy and 1984 Orioles attendance goes up...0.18% or 3,713 total.

Marketing is a part of that, but the Orioles have done a little better in that department the last few years.

[InsideCoroner]

It's not financial, either. KC's household income is 10% higher than in Baltimore, but their tickets are 20% more expensive (roughly $30 on the average to our $25).

Orioles ticket prices have only increased 10% in the past decade. In that same time span, Royals ticket prices more than doubled -- including 20% this past off-season alone.

[Going Underground]

Marketing is so much better with the Nationals. They have many days during the week of $5.00 tickets.They also put coupons in the Washington Post for discounts for food and merchandise. I,had a Sunday plan with the Nationals last year. They called me many times to renew.They still send me discount codes for tickets and other things.The giveaways and the promotions for the Nationals used to be way better. The Orioles have gotten better at giveaways. I noticed this year that the Nationals fans are so much more into the game and team.Later,I will try to find the Boswell article about Nationals attendance this year. He mentioned that Angeles said DC could never support a major league team. The Orioles did not handle ticket sales that great this year.They were going to do away with 13 game plans then it was too complicated and they left it.Invoices went out late and new ticket holders were contacted very late in the process. The Orioles did a bad job of keeping the new ticket holders informed. Also Camden Yards is not new and the go to place it was when it first opened. The Orioles lost fans during the terrible years and many people don't like Mr.Angelos.Many years I was at the games late in rhe season with the other 10,000 baseball fans.Corporate tickets went way down during the bad years.It has come back somewhat but not like it used to be.Go on the suite level and you will see many suites that are not sold to corporations.The Orioles said season ticket sales were way up,this year. No percentage figures given so let's see how much the increase in attendance will be.I wish they would give the percentage increase in season ticket sales.Some teams even give out exact season tickets sold.The stadium was financed through the state with bonds,etc.

[weams]

I've said for years that the Orioles marketing efforts tend to be hyper-conservative and they never do what a lot of larger teams do and that's create a demographically-based marketing drive.

For example, in NYC, the Yankees have an entire marketing program aimed toward spanish-speaking fans. If I were in the Orioles marketing department, I would definitely find ways to target the African-American and Latino residents of the area.

You could definitely play up Adam Jones' participation as well as the historical diversity of the Orioles team.

I work in the entertainment industry in Hollywood and I've seen how movie trailers and other marketing efforts are altered for the sake of attracting wider demographics. I've worked on marketing drives in the past and have often scratched my head at why the Orioles fail to aggressively market themselves across the region.

They have the story built-in already, but they have to really put together a year-long marketing program to remind people why going to baseball games are cool.

MSK

This is a really good post. Thanks.