Will the fans show?

[DrungoHazewood]

A big boost to sports is that they are DVR proof. Very few don't watch live, unlike scripted shows.

Yes, helps to sell advertising. But you can do the same thing streaming.

[Trackmaster]

Washington DC has pushed many poorer people out of the city. People are afraid that Baltimore will do more of that. That is why Port Covington will have affordable housing. Harborpoint and other developments near the stadiums,like Hammerjacks,Paramount,Game which is suppossed to be an entertainment district.

Suburban white people are so weird sometimes. They won't go to a baseball game because they can't stand the fact of having to walk past poor, ghetto dangerous black people. But then they throw all this money (yes, Section 8 is Federal and State tax credits, not city) when the city isn't ghetto ENOUGH for them.

[schittenden]

But as much? A lot of MASN revenues are from packages or basic cable. You want Discovery and the Food Network (or whatever), you have to pay ol' Pete $3 a month.

FiOS does not include MASN in its lowest level package. Xfinity doesn't include it in the bottom two levels. Unbundling cable channels is interesting, but I'm not sure it will take off. I think people will find the prices they have to pay to get just their preferred channels won't save them much if anything when they lose the subsidies from people buying because they want other channels. Cord cutting is a bigger problem, where people cut cable altogether.

[Tx Oriole]

I'm getting so tired of hearing about the attendance. Millionaires calling out working class people for not watching them play a game.

I lost everything materially that I had worked my whole adult life for during hurricane Sandy. I'm at an age where starting is not easy.

They want fans to support the team. It has nothing to do with the money they make. It's just being supportive of the team like Ravens fans do. Sorry you lost so much during a hurricane.

[schittenden]

A big boost to sports is that they are DVR proof. Very few don't watch live, unlike scripted shows.

Orioles and Ravens are about the only thing I watch live.

[Trackmaster]

I see gentrification as a good thing.

Most people don't think too much of it. Only people who would use the word gentrification think its evil and wrong. I think its inevitable, and has always happened, but we just called it revitalization or recognized it as the cycle of real estate. Surveys show that over half of lifelong residents that live in a gentrified neighborhood welcome the change. Most families own the houses, so they make out like bandits when he sell, and some rent. If its that bad they were probably trying to move out anyway. And if you're any angry renting protester, re-read your lease. Why would you think that you have claim to frozen rent and ownership of a place that you rent? If you want to own you buy.

[Trackmaster]

Exactly. So why in the hell are people suprised when attendance is down during the week when the Orioles charge more for tickets than less? If the Red Sox are such a draw then why in the hell aren't more fans going?

This weekend will do better but they have Prime pricing on Saturday and Select Sunday. Yes there are giveaways and that does help.

You hit on a good point. I can't speak for every fan, but I really couldn't care less about the division rivalries. At least about paying more to see a team in pinstripes or in Red socks. One thing I hate about the NFL and MLB is how unbalanced the schedules are. If I have a choice, I pick games against teams that we never play.

[OFFNY]

o

If Jones said this today, then his timing is bad, in my rat's ass of an opinion.

The Orioles had a chance to either gain ground or at least hold serve with head-on play against the Red Sox in the first 2 games of the series, and they lost both games.

I believe that as the team leader, it's Jones' job right now to be consoling and reassuring his teammates that they are still very much alive for a playoff berth first and foremost right now, and to be trying to help Showalter in any way he can to get them ready for the next game ........ not complaining about the apathy of Oriole fans.

I think Adam needs to shut up and play better, personally. Also, it would be nice if he withheld his strange racialist views on the sport of baseball.

o

I don't have a problem at all with Jones commenting on serious social issues, such as everything that has been surrounding Colin Kaepernick's actions and the attention that they have stirred among the public at-large.

Fan attendance at a game is a completely different matter.

Even if he was somewhat misquoted (he apparently said that low attendance at Oriole Park it was eerie, but not necessarily sad), his role as the team leader should be getting his teammates to believe in themselves in the face of adversity ........ whether that adversity be a losing streak, a heartbreaking loss to a division rival, or a low amount of fan support for the team.

[ChangeRoadUnis]

I agree. It has gotten to the point where I'm more excited when they score off doubles and singles than I am when Trumbo or whoever hits a 420ft solo HR.

I agree also. I usually end up just getting upset at the stupidity of swinging at every pitch in the dirt (with maybe the exception of Hardy, Kim and Weiters). Frankly, if I were the opposing pitcher, I would never throw most of our hitters a strike because they will eventually swing at some horrible pitch and get themselves out if you wait long enough. As for the starting pitching, I have hope for the future for Tillman, Bundy and Gausman, but right now no one is consistently good and it's very frustrating to watch day in and day out.

[Tx Oriole]

Maybe with better crowd support they'd be doing better. Yes, I'm serious. It must be very deflating to have a 6-3 road trip, beating Detroit and Boston, and then find out that your fans aren't coming out to support you in critical games.

I am with you on that Frobby. Its sad just sad that some fans on this board seem to be fare weather fans.

[Trackmaster]

I don't think I am wrong in saying that the bulk of baseball fans are from the suburbs and are middle class.

That may be true, but think about the megacities. This is the BALTIMORE Orioles. A tiny city with a small population, where well over half of that population is in poverty and couldn't care less about baseball. Contrast that to a city like NYC, where they have 14 million people living an easy subway ride away (and more considering all of the commuter rails that connect in).

So even if people need professional sports as an escape from suburban moreso than the cities with the extra things to do, with so many people, its not hard to fill a 40,000 person stadium daily.

[maybenxtyr]

They want fans to support the team. It has nothing to do with the money they make. It's just being supportive of the team like Ravens fans do. Sorry you lost so much during a hurricane.

I get that the players want fans there. I was just pointing out that everybody has a different set of circumstances, and spending money on baseball doesn't always fit in to the budget.

I was seriously on the phone with my wife last night making arrangements to go Saturday night or Sunday day when they fell apart in the 6th inning.

[eddie83]

That may be true, but think about the megacities. This is the BALTIMORE Orioles. A tiny city with a small population, where well over half of that population is in poverty and couldn't care less about baseball. Contrast that to a city like NYC, where they have 14 million people living an easy subway ride away (and more considering all of the commuter rails that connect in).

So even if people need professional sports as an escape from suburban moreso than the cities with the extra things to do, with so many people, its not hard to fill a 40,000 person stadium daily.

You are making my point. It explains why this team struggles to draw during the week.

[eddie83]

You hit on a good point. I can't speak for every fan, but I really couldn't care less about the division rivalries. At least about paying more to see a team in pinstripes or in Red socks. One thing I hate about the NFL and MLB is how unbalanced the schedules are. If I have a choice, I pick games against teams that we never play.

If price and day of week are equal than the Sox and Yankees would attract more fans. The fact is though Orioles fans have no desire to pay a premium to see those teams play, even more so during the week.

[Trackmaster]

If price and day of week are equal than the Sox and Yankees would attract more fans. The fact is though Orioles fans have no desire to pay a premium to see those teams play, even more so during the week.

It's just the market forces of the traveling and displaced Red Sox and Yankees fans... and the ones who just root for them because of their name and were raised here.