Attendance

[BradyBunch]

You can ignore facts all you want. I have traveled to a lot of cities and Cities like Columbus, San Antonio, San Francisco, Boston etc have a lot less violent crime than Baltimore. And don't even start comparing to Canadian and European cities. Baltimore has a very high crime rate no matter what your straw man argument about your cousin's experiences.

Okay.. let's do some stats for you.. Detriot, Oakland, St. Louis and Milwaukee are ahead of Baltimore in violent crime.

Baltimore and St. Louis share something in common.. they are independent cities and because they are independent cities they are counted as "counties" for statistic purposes when it comes to crimes. When a city like Columbus (which I live in) isn't counted that way. Since Columbus has suburbs in Franklin County, statistics get diluted. Numbers aren't dulited for Baltimore or St. Louis. Here is article (oped) which describes what I am talking about).

Now imagine Baltimore metro area being 2.7m being the base number for all crime in the metro area vs just the city as it's currently done because of it's independent status. Baltimore starts looking like Columbus, Ohio in everything but murder.

[BradyBunch]

I don't have a problem going to the games because of safety but I think it isn't fair to tell people Baltimore is safe. You get a few blocks from the stadium and you are on a side street you could find your self in trouble. Parking in the stadium lots is the best bet. Or near Pratt street. It is true they have a big police presence and odds are nothing will happen to you in those areas.

And nobody is saying that.. this is true of every major city.

[BradyBunch]

I know when I go to a "peaceful" protest, I always bring a bag of bricks. Just in case.

It's downtown, you know how easy it is to grab bricks from the sidewalks and around buildings from the area?

[notfast]

Here is an article from Nov 15 talking about how people view the city after the riots.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-riot-impacts-20151108-story.html

"About one-fifth of Maryland residents outside the city told University of Baltimore pollsters in September and October they expect to visit Baltimore's restaurants, tourist attractions and cultural venues less frequently in the coming year than they had in the past 12 months. About 10 percent of Baltimore City residents said the same.

Just 6 percent of respondents from metro-area counties said they expect to visit Baltimore more, according to the poll."

Like I said, whether you agree or not, it is an actual contributor to attendance being down. Does it keep me from going? Nope but it's a real issue.

That being said, pricing/promotions etc are more of a factor IMO.

[Frobby]

I certainly think the perception of the city not being safe is likely the smallest of the potential factors contributing to the attendance issues. I would think the price increase, the competition, the ease of MASN, and what I feel is a much less robust economy than the national numbers indicate are likely to be bigger contributors to the decrease.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I don't really understand the argument about MASN, HDTV, flat screen TV's etc. Every O's game has been on TV for many years, they've had HDTV for a long time, and they didn't just invent the flat screen. Those things might explain a part of the general drop over 10-15 years, but I think any impact on a drop between 2014 and now has to be minimal.

The responses in this thread convince me that the riots have had some lingering effect on perception that there are safety risks in going to OPACY. Personally I don't think it is any more risky today than it was in 2014, but what I think personally doesn't matter. Some people feel otherwise and I'm sure it's keeping some people away.

I think ticket prices and the lateness in getting pricing information to the season ticket base is the biggest factor. Also, in 2014 the O's gave playoff ticket priority to people who committed to buy season ticket packages for 2015, and that probably drove some 2015 season ticket sales. That factor didn't exist for 2016, and in fact the team was coming off its worst season in four years so I'm sure there was less enthusiasm to buy season tickets at increased prices.

[Frobby]

The raise in ticket prices has to have played a large part in the problem. But it's not just that prices went up, it's that casually selecting games to go to is confusing because of the different prices for different games. When it was just prime games for the Yankees and Red Sox, that was one thing, it made sense for those tickets to be more expensive. But, having three of four different level of prices to pay, depending on the opponent, day of the week, and or giveaway is overkill.

Let's remember that the objective is not to maximize attendance. The objective is to maximize ticket revenue. You have to be a little careful with that, to avoid alienating a large number of fans long term, but basically, if attendance goes down 10% due to a 20% price hike and higher prices for specific games, then the Orioles make more money, and so they'll live with the attendance drop. As a fan, though, it enhances my experience to be at the game when the crowd is large and enthusiastic.

[TouchemAll]

Price hike, safety, being able to watch every game on tv, and the fact that they refuse to do what is necessary to truely compete is why I don't take the family anymore. They may be in first place now but does anyone think this team is going anywhere in the playoffs with these starting pitchers and the hot and cold offense? They sat around and watched all their competition get better at the trade deadline and they did what they always do, go cheap. Well, I have decided to go cheap to which means I'll watch from my couch with a beer that cost me less than a dollar. I suspect a bunch of fans are doing the same thing.

AAaa YEP this ^^^^^^ nail meet hammer. Don't really agree that they are not trying to compete, but the rest is pretty much dead on

[fansince1988]

The price hike has kept many casual (non-season tickets holding) fans away. It used to be very easy to get into the ballpark for $10-15 for most games, and those days appear to be over. Even tickets on StubH are in the $20 plus range and even higher for weekend games. The biggest reason though above all else is the team in DC.

[Frobby]

The price hike has kept many casual (non-season tickets holding) fans away. It used to be very easy to get into the ballpark for $10-15 for most games, and those days appear to be over. Even tickets on StubH are in the $20 plus range and even higher for weekend games. The biggest reason though above all else is the team in DC.

The Nats' attendance is slightly down from last year and has been steady between 2.57-2.65 mm since 2013. So that has nothing to do with why Orioles attendance has dropped since 2014.

[fansince1988]

I was speaking in general terms, not date specific. If we were the only game in town we would easily be averaging 30-35K per game.

[Going Underground]

Not sure how people can say it is like every other major city.Boston has had like 25 homicides and Baltimore around 170.Shootings are 4 times as much.For major crimes in big cities is is top 5 or top 8 depending on how you do the findings.