Manny wants more fans at the games

[Stotle]

There is a pattern with Orioles fans. Weekend games like everywhere do better but weekday games struggle. Right or wrong it is what it is at this point and school will make things worse. The pricing tiers cause non season tickets holders to skip weekday games vs Boston due to prices.

Fair enough, but some of the cheapest tickets you'll find in baseball.

I haven't seen the numbers -- my hope is that Baltimore is not unique in its attendance amongst competitive teams.

[webbrick2010]

Washington is not killing it either. As for Manny, money always wins out in end. But I agree, he isn't signing here. Hence you move him this offseason and start a rebuild and develop a new core of young talent for 2018 and beyond.

Sadly the O's need to move Manny, Schoop, and Britton

in part to pay for bad/horrible contracts given to Davis and O'day

[eddie83]

Fair enough, but some of the cheapest tickets you'll find in baseball.

I haven't seen the numbers -- my hope is that Baltimore is not unique in its attendance amongst competitive teams.

TV ratings are the highest they have been since they started winning again. When I listen to sports talk radio it isn't like before 2012 when it was all Ravens. Ton of people wearing Orioles gear. It has to be about things other than a lack of passion for the team. Orioles fans love giveaways as well. The tiered pricing system had blown up in their face for weekday games for years. I think all the teams do this stuff now but here it hasn't worked for non weekend games.

[eddie83]

Sadly the O's need to move Manny, Schoop, and Britton

in part to pay for bad/horrible contracts given to Davis and O'day

If the Davis deal costs them those players then he never should have been signed.

[InsideCoroner]

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If Machado is coming out and saying that he wants more fans at the games, that sounds to me like Machado sees himself as an Orioles through and through ........ hence, that would appear to me that he has a vested interest in this team, and doesn't have eyes on jumping ship via free agency in 2019.

That's how I'm choosing to view it.

You, sir, are a more positive man than I. I just read it as Manny saying, "Hey, while we're in the thick of things in the stretch drive, can you please come out and keep us fired up? Oh, and Cito sucks."

[Going Underground]

Most teams do ticket specials. The Nats do a Harris Teeter family thing and a Beer and Brew ticket. $1.00 hot dogs,ice cream. Once in awhile B1G1 free tickets in the Post with other food deals. Also Ollie Bargain Night on Tuesday went away. Just look at all the promotions the Rangers do during the year.

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/tex/ticketing/specials.jsp

[Creamsicle]

There are times, not too often but occasionally when watching him jog to first base, when fans want more Manny at the games.

[T. Legend]

I guess it varies team by team, in how much players thrive on the fans being there to support them. I see nothing wrong at all in what Manny is saying as it's proof that they do so much better at home. But it does make me wonder how teams such as the golden era Orioles teams were able to pull it off with the poor attendance they had at Memorial Stadium. Is it just a commentary on how the current crop of players were raised, being very conscious of the attendance and the game as a spectacle, whereas maybe it didn't really matter as much to the players of yesteryear? The comforts of the clubhouses are better now. They surely make more money and are probaly more "comfortable" in what they earn for a living. Is it just an indivdual psyche thing? I do want more folks at the ballpark as he says, though. It's a tight pennant race, we're going head to head with the hated Red Sox at home, the O's play far better at home than on the road. I get it. I want them to have every advantage they can get.

I would guess that attendance was much lower across the sport back then.

[FlipTheBird]

Dan Connolly is talking about this subject on Twitter right now, calling out the fans.

When was the last time he had to buy tickets to a game? The 80s?

[Redskins Rick]

PA wants more fans too. We all do. For the sake of keeping Manny it might be important as well.

As for a small decrease percentage-wise, that statement doesn't accurately reflect the context behind such poor attendance for the best home-record in MLB. If this team were merely .500 at home this year, it could be disastrous. Something's afoot behind the terrible attendance numbers and trust me, it will impact future signings. No one here has acknowledged this prediction that I have pointed out ad nauseum but it is an ominous sign IMO.

Baltimore is not terrible attendance.

That would be Tampa Bay at 16K per game.

Cleveland is doing worse than Baltimore, 19.5K per game and they are in first place.

[FlipTheBird]

Baltimore is not terrible attendance.

That would be Tampa Bay at 16K per game.

Cleveland is doing worse than Baltimore, 19.5K per game and they are in first place.

Tampa is a joke, it's hilarious that they still have a team. I was there in 2008, the year they went to the World Series. First place most of the season and people still weren't showing up. That franchise needs to move, ASAP.

[Tx Oriole]

Exactly. It's all about the $$$. Introduce a few late season deals, like they did a couple years back, and you'll put more butts in seats.

That's not a good fan then. I will only come if the O's give me something? How about supporting the team? Think how great it will be if the O's win the WS.

[FlipTheBird]

Okay, but who has the best home record in MLB? Answer: The team with the 20th best attendance.

It's alarming. That's terrible. I don't care how you spin it. Not something to gloss over or to merely cherry pick other teams to somehow put a smiley face on.

Totally disagree.

It's a complex issue that I'm sure the Orioles' brass has taken a look at. I chalk it up part to ticket prices, part to general declining interest in the team (regardless of success - football has long since become king in MD), part the Nats... Lot of stuff.

[FlipTheBird]

That's not a good fan then. I will only come if the O's give me something? How about supporting the team? Think how great it will be if the O's win the WS.

They don't have to give fans anything. It wouldn't hurt to make games more affordable to the common man, though.

Don't dare try to say that people that can't afford rising ticket prices aren't "good fans."

[eddie83]

When was the last time he had to buy tickets to a game? The 80s?

Probably.

If the interest level is this high then common sense says it is about money and the riots. To what extent for each we can debate.