Orioles Attendance Article

[Going Underground]

2 hours ago, atomic said:

I am not saying that Woodberry is not family friendly area.  I would say the Casino area is pretty dangerous.  Even if an area has businesses does not mean it is not dangerous. 

Agreed.The stadium area is the next upgrade.I know T.Rowe Price almost moved the whole thing to Owings Mills.Also why Constellation Energy moving to Harbor East 

[Frobby]

20 hours ago, spiritof66 said:

By the way, does anyone know whether the kids who get in for free are counted as part of paid attendance? If they are, the Orioles' gates receipts are declining even faster than the official attendance figures would suggest.

It’s a good question, and I don’t know.   Regardless of the answer, it would be interesting to know how many tickets have been handed out as part of that program.  

[O's are Legends]

O's need to lower prices for those wearing O's gear at the box office when they play teams such as the Sawx and the Yanks and if tickets are purchased over the web and your billing address is in the DMV area, Pennsylvania etc you should receive a discount versus these two teams. There is nothing worse than going to the Yard with 80% annoying red sox or yankees fans while dropping nearly $30 just to sit in the upper levels.

Regarding attendance across baseball, maybe people are tired of seeing the same teams all the time. Having nearly half of your games against the same clubs when you have 162 games gets tiring.

[NCRaven]

On 6/21/2018 at 1:03 PM, Going Underground said:

But they also have not responded to the Sun about why no streaming of Oriole games and no games not on regular tv.

Perhaps one of the reasons in person attendance is down is that the market is already saturated with video viewing opportunities.  Just one, and not the most important, but it is a factor.

[wildbillhiccup]

On 6/21/2018 at 4:24 PM, Going Underground said:

Agreed.The stadium area is the next upgrade.I know T.Rowe Price almost moved the whole thing to Owings Mills.Also why Constellation Energy moving to Harbor East 

T. Rowe Price does have a pretty large complex in Owings Mills. I think it's more of their hub then the downtown location. I worked at the downtown location years ago and never felt any safety concerns. 

[wildbillhiccup]

On 6/21/2018 at 11:31 AM, Jetranger said:

Sorry...... as far as being safe at a game..........I have never had a problem inside or outside the ball park.

Agree with this. Every city has sections that are more riddled with crime then others. Baltimore is no different, it's just been on the unfortunate end of some national news stories over the last few years. The Wire certainly didn't help things either...which is ironic because the real beauty of the show was that it humanized all of the characters. Even the drug dealers on the corners. 

[Chavez Ravine]

32 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Agree with this. Every city has sections that are more riddled with crime then others. Baltimore is no different, it's just been on the unfortunate end of some national news stories over the last few years. The Wire certainly didn't help things either...which is ironic because the real beauty of the show was that it humanized all of the characters. Even the drug dealers on the corners. 

People seem happy to go to Cubs games despite this:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/05/us/chicago-weekend-shootings/index.html

I think the existential driver of declining attendance is the fact that Baltimore was the 6th largest US city by population in 1950, 30th in 2018. Some of that loss is perhaps folks fleeing crime, but most if it is broader socioeconomic changes.

[MurphDogg]

I live 1,000 feet from home plate in a neighborhood filled with families and University of Maryland graduate students. It is very safe. If you leave your car unlocked, someone may walk by checking doors and steal your change from the center console, but beyond that there isn't much crime.

You are much more likely to be a victim of a home invasion in your suburban oasis than you are to be a victim of a crime walking to and from an Orioles game. Yeah, some guy may ask for change and that may make you uncomfortable. There is also the guy with his practiced speech about how he is a little league baseball coach raising money for the kids. But those people get ignored and shot down all day. They won't hurt you.

[Rojo13]

24 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

I live 1,000 feet from home plate in a neighborhood filled with families and University of Maryland graduate students. It is very safe. If you leave your car unlocked, someone may walk by checking doors and steal your change from the center console, but beyond that there isn't much crime.

You are much more likely to be a victim of a home invasion in your suburban oasis than you are to be a victim of a crime walking to and from an Orioles game. Yeah, some guy may ask for change and that may make you uncomfortable. There is also the guy with his practiced speech about how he is a little league baseball coach raising money for the kids. But those people get ignored and shot down all day. They won't hurt you.

I've lived in Baltimore for 5 years. I lived in Federal Hill, I've lived in Canton and I just moved to Mt. Washington.

I would agree that the area near the ballpark - to the east of it - is safe. But downtown isn't all that safe.  A friend was robbed at knife point at the corner or President and Pratt streets - just a few blocks from the aquarium. Another person I know (female) cancelled her membership at the FX Stuios/Under Armour gym because she didn't feel it was safe to walk ther from her office in the mall (Gallery at Harborplace). It's a 3 or 4 block walk but she was constantly getting harassed during her walk and said there was no way she'd do it in the winter when it was dark out. Once she was so scared while pregnant she went up to a stranger and had him act like her husband.

What is more important than reality is the perception. And the perception is it is dangerous.  The article states that 30% of county residents have reduced their trips to downtown. That's a fact.

The riots scared a lot of people.  The muder rate is out of control. I enjoyed living in the thick of it but when we wanted to have a kid, we moved to the north of the city as it only takes one robbery to scare the crap out of you.

I don't get why everyone here is blaming the Orioles. To me, their marketing efforts this year have been unreal.

1) Kids go free. Repeat. Kids go free. People are complaining about games not being on tv for free? Guess what, you can go to the game for free.

2) They've added all sorts of promotions. You can now take your dog to the park twice a year. Game of Thrones night. They literally are trying everything.

The reality is it is a hassle to go to a game and it's much easiera and cheaper to watch on tv. When I lived in Fed hill and could walk to the games, I went all the time. Now that I'm a new dad and it's 25 minutes away, I don't go very often.

 

 

[MurphDogg]

6 minutes ago, Rojo13 said:

I've lived in Baltimore for 5 years. I lived in Federal Hill, I've lived in Canton and I just moved to Mt. Washington.

I would agree that the area near the ballpark - to the east of it - is safe. But downtown isn't all that safe.  A friend was robbed at knife point at the corner or President and Pratt streets - just a few blocks from the aquarium. Another person I know (female) cancelled her membership at the FX Stuios/Under Armour gym because she didn't feel it was safe to walk ther from her office in the mall (Gallery at Harborplace). It's a 3 or 4 block walk but she was constantly getting harassed during her walk and said there was no way she'd do it in the winter when it was dark out. Once she was so scared while pregnant she went up to a stranger and had him act like her husband.

What is more important than reality is the perception. And the perception is it is dangerous.  The article states that 30% of county residents have reduced their trips to downtown. That's a fact.

The riots scared a lot of people.  The muder rate is out of control. I enjoyed living in the thick of it but when we wanted to have a kid, we moved to the north of the city as it only takes one robbery to scare the crap out of you.

I don't get why everyone here is blaming the Orioles. To me, their marketing efforts this year have been unreal.

1) Kids go free. Repeat. Kids go free. People are complaining about games not being on tv for free? Guess what, you can go to the game for free.

2) They've added all sorts of promotions. You can now take your dog to the park twice a year. Game of Thrones night. They literally are trying everything.

The reality is it is a hassle to go to a game and it's much easiera and cheaper to watch on tv. When I lived in Fed hill and could walk to the games, I went all the time. Now that I'm a new dad and it's 25 minutes away, I don't go very often.

 

 

The stadium is nowhere near the corner of President and Pratt street. If a random O's fan was a victim of a mugging before or after a game, you would hear about it. I remember when it did happen to some couple 5-10 years ago who got lost driving home and ended up in a bad neighborhood. A member of the Orioles grounds crew got jumped walking home from work by himself at midnight and it was a big story. Fans are extremely safe. The odds of being a victim of a crime while going to an O's game are minuscule. You are orders of magnitude more likely to be injured on the drive to the stadium.

[Rojo13]

5 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

The stadium is nowhere near the corner of President and Pratt street. If a random O's fan was a victim of a mugging before or after a game, you would hear about it. I remember when it did happen to some couple 5-10 years ago who got lost driving home and ended up in a bad neighborhood. A member of the Orioles grounds crew got jumped walking home from work by himself at midnight and it was a big story. Fans are extremely safe. The odds of being a victim of a crime while going to an O's game are minuscule. You are orders of magnitude more likely to be injured on the drive to the stadium.

I mentioned President and Pratt St to show you areas that appear safe in fact aren't. And some stuff happens near the stadium. Take a look at this crime map. I can't figure out how to change the dates but scroll over the stadium and you'll see thefts/robery/assault.

https://data.baltimorecity.gov/Public-Safety/Color-Coded-Crime-Map/xugk-a6qb/data

 

Update: Type in Camden Yards into this link:

https://www.crimereports.com/city/Baltimore%2C MD

[eddie83]

5 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

I live 1,000 feet from home plate in a neighborhood filled with families and University of Maryland graduate students. It is very safe. If you leave your car unlocked, someone may walk by checking doors and steal your change from the center console, but beyond that there isn't much crime.

You are much more likely to be a victim of a home invasion in your suburban oasis than you are to be a victim of a crime walking to and from an Orioles game. Yeah, some guy may ask for change and that may make you uncomfortable. There is also the guy with his practiced speech about how he is a little league baseball coach raising money for the kids. But those people get ignored and shot down all day. They won't hurt you.

So that guy isn’t a little league coach? 

 

[LookinUp]

The beggars are everywhere too. That’s simple to fix, but there’s no political will.

[MurphDogg]

1 minute ago, eddie83 said:

So that guy isn’t a little league coach? 

 

I have no idea. If he is, that team must have gold plated uniforms. Because that guy has been raising money for their uniforms for at least ten years.

[eddie83]

Just now, MurphDogg said:

I have no idea. If he is, that team must have gold plated uniforms. Because that guy has been raising money for their uniforms for at least ten years.

Haha. I think I know exactly who you are talking about. I have seen it at Ravens games also.