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Sparse Crowd sees loss.

weams

By weams
in Orioles Talk

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ScGO's All-Star

ScGO's

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Just make The whole upper deck free until school is out.  This is going to be embarrassing. 

That would be awesome.  I would spend at least 20+ bucks on food and/or beer each game; better than no business at all.

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ScGO's All-Star

ScGO's

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29 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I would have thought a holiday weekend would boost attendance.

Same, more the reason for concern I would think.  People leaving town as opposed to coming to town for the holiday?

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OFFNY Hangout Grand Counsel

OFFNY

Posted
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On 4/1/2018 at 9:35 AM, sportsfan8703 said:

 

Just make the whole upper deck free until school is out. This is going to be embarrassing. 

 

o

 

In 1974 the WFL appeared to be off to a great start, with raucous, dense crowds for the first 2 games of the Philadelphia Bell's season at JFK Stadium.

It turned out ot be just a mirage.

 

 

World ‘Freebie’ League? Sun and Stars Appalled

(By Murray Crass)

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/07/archives/world-freebie-league-sun-and-stars-appalled-freebies-cause-stir-in.html

 

o

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Chito Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

Chito

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2 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Coming off an offseason where we added Javy, Miggy and Raffy. Plus I believe we resigned Ponson. And we chased Vlad. 

That was actually the winter of '03-'04. I remember we hosted Boston to open the '04 season. Big Sunday night game on ESPN. 

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theocean Major Leaguer

theocean

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2 minutes ago, Natty said:

Being named America's most dangerous city cant help tourism.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-usa-today-homicides-20180219-story,amp.html

I think this is a big part of it. Baltimore has an image problem. There's a lot of scared-suburbs-type-of-folks out there who'd rather go to Buffalo Wild Wings and watch the game in a room wallpapered with 1,000" Plasma 3D Supersonic HD TVs.

I also agree with the season tickets thing. Always felt that season ticket plans weren't something a regular fan buys, just since it's a big chunk of change to throw down. It's more of a business/corporate thing - and a lot of those businesses probably have been going with the Nationals lately. 

The Orioles have also always had crappy attendance in April. It's cold and rainy and awful outside. If they're playing well in May, I think you'll start to see people coming out.

 

 

 

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SteveA Hangout Grand Counsel

SteveA

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Posted

The bottom line here is that season ticket sales have gone down several years in a row, and I suspect they took a BIG drop this past offseason, after our first losing season and then an offseason where we did nothing until late February.  (Most decisions to buy or renew season tickets are made in Dec/Jan/Feb).

I'll bet our season ticket sales are at an all time low for OPACY.

So we will have small crowds all year except for:

   -- games that people targeted for advance purchase, mainly the top giveaways or premium opponents

   -- days with huge walk up sales

You ONLY get huge walk up when the weather is fantastic, it's not a school night, the team is playing well.  There will be very few such games until June.

It is what it is.  The O's knew this was coming, that's why they lowered some concession prices and are letting kids in free.  Anything to stem the drop-off.

But the drop-off is primarily season ticket based and can't be fixed this year unless we go on a 1979 or 1989 type run that utterly captures the imagination of the city.

And the reasons for season tickets being down are plentiful.  I believe the biggest is that we had a losing season and the fanbasr sees we have not tried to keep Manny or Schoop, and even casual fans realize what an albatross the Davis contract is.  But the perception of the city is also a factor, as is a general decline in attendance in spectator sports in the age of hi def TV, the aging and declining size of the baseball core fan base, and the presence of the Nats.  Another factor is the ease of using services such as StubHub to get tickets, so buying season tickets or individual games way in advance is less necessary.  

 

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Tx Oriole Hangout Grand Counsel

Tx Oriole

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4 hours ago, weams said:

Nats, anti-Baltimore sentiment.

Build a new stadium with iconic and unique elements that give an experience outside of the game state. Include DisneyWorld2 in the project.

And no prices were not raised, are very low. The opportunity to go inexpensively is second to no other franchise in the majors. Heck, kids can go free!

A World Series team would help.

 

Anti Baltimore sentiment. The riots I guess. Other cities have had those too.  To me that's sad. Maybe some are using that as an excuse not to go to games. World Series would be sure to help attendance. 

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thatbearflies Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

thatbearflies

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1 hour ago, tntoriole said:

I suspect a lot of business and corporate season ticket buyers that were in the DC suburbs of both MD and VA gradually migrated over the last ten years and  now almost all buy Nats. 

I know the Finnegan, Henderson, blah, blah, intellectual property law firm used to give their employees Orioles Dugout Club tickets. That's actually how I went to my first game when I was a kid. Then when the Nats arrived, it only made sense for them to switch to the team that was located right in the same city. 

I looked at the other team numbers and only a few teams had attendance similar to the Orioles and the only one that was considerably lower  (around 4k) was the Marlins. Most teams were around 33k and up. I saw a lot of Orioles fans were talking about it's the day before the Easter!, but that didn't seem to impact most other attendance numbers. If it did, I guess they would have drawn 40k, but had to settle for the 33k. I don't know. I read all the reasoning and yeah, maybe it is the colder weather, but I just don't think the enthusiasm for this team is there. When we are winning or supposed to win, I think they are there, but I think mediocre and below isn't going to draw noteworthy crowds in Baltimore. 

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Enjoy Terror Hangout Grand Counsel

Enjoy Terror

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Tx Oriole said:

More dangerous than El Paso,  Chicago, Detroit or New York? 

Using homicide as a measure of “most dangerous” is misleading. With exceptions, homicides are drug related. Property crime and assault is my biggest concern down here. 

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