Manny wants more fans at the games

[Creamsicle]

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

The post hoc fallacy: http://skepdic.com/posthoc.html

[eddie83]

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.

The Ravens didn't sell out their games right away like normal.

[TINSTAAPP]

It would be embarrassing if the team isn't filling the stadium through a playoff push. Also, probably not the best advertisement for convincing a guy like Manny that it's where he wants to spend his next contract (long shot that it is).

The biggest problem with Orioles attendance is that they have a very small number of season ticket holders. I'm almost certain they have less than 10,000 season ticket holders. You're not going to get walk up crowds of 25,000+ people on weekdays. Very few teams do. So attendance is not really an indictment on Orioles fans per se. It only means there aren't many people in Baltimore with a large disposable income. That's why PA was so obsessed about not having a team in the DC market. A large majority of Orioles season ticket holders were affluent people from the DC/Northern Virginia area. When Washington got a team, most of those season ticket holders switched over to the Nationals and Orioles attendance has never really recovered.

[hendu]

It was also as hot as hell last night. I was going to take my family, but I decided against it last second. We're going tonight.

I was quite shocked at the lack of people at the season ticket holder event, to lend credence to the lack of those buyers.

I do find it somewhat amusing that many of the critics are those that don't feel as if they can go. Last I checked, flights come into Baltimore every day. I'm pretty sure that 70, 83 and 95 still come through the city as well.

[eddie83]

Seems to me Orioles fans care more about day of the week, pricing and giveaways then they do the team the Orioles are playing. The Astros game on a Friday will have cheaper prices then Sox series. Prime game Saturday but it is a giveaway.

[Phantom]

The weather this year has been awful. Rained all May and has been hotter than hades the last month plus. I'll watch the o's as much as possible, but weather determines my attendance more than any other factor, since it influences my enjoyment more than any other factor.

[webbrick2010]

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.

Careful with your criticism

If Tampa does lose their team the O's move up one spot to the next team to be re-located Consider:

1. Poor attendance

2. One of the oldest stadiums in the majors

3. Tough times in B'more a city that has a problem maintaining basic safety for its residents/tourists

[O's are Legends]

From what I saw/heard last night the Orioles fans in Baltimore should be pretty ashamed of how Boston centric that crowd was. I know people are going to come out tell me I'm flat wrong and they were at the game and it was very loud for the Orioles, but perception was on the NESN feed that it was very pro Boston.

I was at the game, took 2hrs 20 minutes from Fairfax. It was 50/50 fans.

The O's fans didn't have much to cheer for as they kept chasing pitches by their neck and didn't get their first hit until the 7th. Once Betts hit his 2nd home run all the energy that was created in the bottom of the 7th was gone.

Not sure the direct connection but the traffic from VA, Bethesda, Silver Spring has gotten much worse over the years. This probably has a effect on people trying to make the commute to a game during the week.

[Redskins Rick]

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.

Not cherry picking anything.

Tampa is the worse team for fan support and has been for some time.

Cleveland happens to be a 1st place team with worse attendance.

At 20th, that means there are 12 worse teams.

[OFFNY]

o

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."

I also read it the same way that you read it.

I just read something additional into it. 2019 is still a long way off, but for Machado to come out and verbalize something in an Adam Jonesish manner like that leads me to suspect that he's essentially laying out where he casts his ballot as to who his clan is.

Admittedly, my added interpretation is a reach/wishful thinking.

[Creamsicle]

The Ravens didn't sell out their games right away like normal.

Memorial Stadium in the mid-90s was pretty crappy. Still: the Vens outdrew the Stallions there, and the latter were champions!

[Moose Milligan]

Adios, Manny. It's been real.

[WEAVERMAN]

o

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.

Well said Patrick.

[InsideCoroner]

As far as the season ticket events go, maybe people just realized that all it consists of is Buck and Dan talking in cliches and there's no benefit to going.

Riiiiight. Because everyone goes to fanfest to hear the GM's speech. Rather than, you know, meet and interact with players, get an autograph, maybe win something, and interact with fellow fans. "Daddy, I don't care if we're next in line to meet AJ. Duquette's about to start talking, let's go!"

[slakattack]

When I go to games or watch games on TV in the lower bowl you see more fans up underneath in LF then in LF lower box. Some sections in the club level no seats at all. It is all about prices. I would run deals that series as well as the Boston series later in September. They also start a series vs Tampa on a Thursday. Friday- Sunday games they can leave as is. The club should want as many fans in the stands down the stretch as possible.

Special ticket pricing is based upon purchaser's zip code.