Attendance 2019

[atomic]

16 minutes ago, Punchandjudy said:

“Also, the stigma of the city, however undeserved it is, sticks around with people to an extent”

the stigma is completely deserved at this point.  I’m a lifelong resident and owner of two homes in the city.  A neighbor of my parents (70+ year old) was carjacked and assaulted returning home from Easter mass celebrations yesterday by 3 juveniles at noon yesterday in Guilford, a relatively safe neighborhood with its own private security.  People justifiably don’t feel safe and when they look to their “leaders” they see the city being led by an unethical crook who tried to swindle the city using his home as a rental property while he lived in the county...and he is only there bc he is replacing an unethical mayor who is out on leave hoping her scandal will blow over.  It’s sad and unfortunate, but calling the city’s rep “undeserved” is disingenuous, especially after all the hard work it’s taken for the criminals (both elected and otherwise) to earn that reputation.  

Gangs of guys drive dirt bikes through the city running red lights and crossing center lines with no repercussions.  The fact that they aren't even trying to stop this is a symptom of how bad the city has become. 

[TouchemAll]

Attendance is a simple matter... WIN and they will come. JMHO

[Frobby]

9 minutes ago, TouchemAll said:

Attendance is a simple matter... WIN and they will come. JMHO

Mostly.   But it was a worrisome sign in 2016 when the O’s won a wild card spot after a very tight race that went down to the final day, and yet attendance was down 100,000 from the year before when they finished .500 and had spent a lot of that year below .500.     I attribute that drop to two things: (1) the riots and their aftermath from 2015 deterring some people from going, and (2) a price hike announced fairly late in the offseason, the first price hike in several years if I recall.

[Going Underground]

5 minutes ago, TouchemAll said:

Attendance is a simple matter... WIN and they will come. JMHO

Not sure if it is as simple as that for baseball anymore. Cleveland wins and doesn't draw well.People can sit at home as posters have said and be comfortable and not pay outrageous prices for food and drink and hassle of getting to the stadium. As for the city it has huge problems and gross mismanagement. But the Billy Joel concert sold out at Camden Yards in a few hours. Granted resellers buy up many of the tickets.The play now at the Hippodrome is basically sold out except for a few seats.Hamilton will sell out for its month run in Baltimore  The Royal Farms Arena has hosted many country shows that have sold out.The MECU Pavilion (formerly Pier Six) has more shows then ever this year in Baltimore. These are things you cant watch on your big screen and people will come into the city to see ,crime and all.

[Going Underground]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Mostly.   But it was a worrisome sign in 2016 when the O’s won a wild card spot after a very tight race that went down to the final day, and yet attendance was down 100,000 from the year before when they finished .500 and had spent a lot of that year below .500.     I attribute that drop to two things: (1) the riots and their aftermath from 2015 deterring some people from going, and (2) a price hike announced fairly late in the offseason, the first price hike in several years if I recall.

Besides the price hike ,that was the year they did away with the 13 game plans.Got greedy and had to reinstate the 13 game plans anyway.Backlash from that move hurt them.Season plans were done very late because of all the changes back and forth.

[MikeAD]

5 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

Not sure if it is as simple as that for baseball anymore. Cleveland wins and doesn't draw well.People can sit at home as posters have said and be comfortable and not pay outrageous prices for food and drink and hassle of getting to the stadium. As for the city it has huge problems and gross mismanagement. But the Billy Joel concert sold out at Camden Yards in a few hours. Granted resellers buy up many of the tickets.The play now at the Hippodrome is basically sold out except for a few seats.Hamilton will sell out for its month run in Baltimore  The Royal Farms Arena has hosted many country shows that have sold out.The MECU Pavilion (formerly Pier Six) has more shows then ever this year in Baltimore. These are things you cant watch on your big screen and people will come into the city to see ,crime and all.

Yes the Orioles need to start doing what similar market-sized teams are doing.  Look at the A's.  Working deeply on community involvement, started the A's pass to give cheap access to all/most games, they have a family package with a low yearly and monthly option, you can drag the whole family to family friendly areas of the park.  Its a common topic here but MLB is losing the demographics war and is far behind the competition when it comes to keeping eyeballs on the product.  While NBA ratings and attendance are at all time highs, theres millions more who watch nothing but clips, vines, snapchats, and Instagram posts and still follow and give their money and generate ad revenue.  The Orioles especially are behind most MLB teams and really sit down with the Pirates in terms of doing squat to engage the fan base in recent years.  This does not extend to the players who are very involved on their own, but the team as a whole.  The A's have started an entire community engagement department within the team and did another round of hiring before this season.  These staff are out in schools, building partnerships with community leaders.   The Orioles need to focus on developing a new relationship with the fans during this rebuild.  Go after families, children, triple down on every business for ticket reduction and 2 for 1 promotions.  

I was very optimistic when the free Kids ticket program started, and I hope theres more of that in the near future.  A start would be giving up the iron hold on streaming rights so that fans can actually watch the games without having to pay for cable.  All that much harder to engage the public when they can't even watch from home.  

[Going Underground]

3 minutes ago, MikeAD said:

Yes the Orioles need to start doing what similar market-sized teams are doing.  Look at the A's.  Working deeply on community involvement, started the A's pass to give cheap access to all/most games, they have a family package with a low yearly and monthly option, you can drag the whole family to family friendly areas of the park.  Its a common topic here but MLB is losing the demographics war and is far behind the competition when it comes to keeping eyeballs on the product.  While NBA ratings and attendance are at all time highs, theres millions more who watch nothing but clips, vines, snapchats, and Instagram posts and still follow and give their money and generate ad revenue.  The Orioles especially are behind most MLB teams and really sit down with the Pirates in terms of doing squat to engage the fan base in recent years.  This does not extend to the players who are very involved on their own, but the team as a whole.  The A's have started an entire community engagement department within the team and did another round of hiring before this season.  These staff are out in schools, building partnerships with community leaders.   The Orioles need to focus on developing a new relationship with the fans during this rebuild.  Go after families, children, triple down on every business for ticket reduction and 2 for 1 promotions.  

I was very optimistic when the free Kids ticket program started, and I hope theres more of that in the near future.  A start would be giving up the iron hold on streaming rights so that fans can actually watch the games without having to pay for cable.  All that much harder to engage the public when they can't even watch from home.  

Very good points. 

Pittsburgh  did this and most fans care about the Steelers  and Penquins:

After poking just over the 30,000 tickets sold per game threshold in the playoff years 2014 and 2015 seasons, the Pirates on field performance took a turn for the much worse in 2016. Thanks to strong season ticket sales boosted by back to back to back Wildcard seasons, attendance remained relatively strong that year. Fans were angry that the front office didn’t spend to upgrade the team after they posted the second best record in baseball in 2015. Season ticket sales sank and another shaky performance in 2017 lead to a decrease in attendance of roughly 5,000 fans per game. This triggered a payroll decrease that included jettisoning team stars Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole. Fans protested by staying home in 2018 with the Pirates drawing almost 12,000 fewer fans per game.  The per game average of 18,786 was the third worst in baseball. This came despite the Pirates adding aggressively at the trade deadline and the team posting an above .500 season.

After another unremarkable offseason, attendance could decline further still. The Bucs and fans are now caught in a downward spiral. The gate revenues decrease, which leads to a drop in payroll. The drop in payroll then leads to more animosity and fewer fans showing up which in turn leads to another payroll decrease. Naturally, tickets sales aren’t the only stream of revenue for the Pirates, but you can still see how this trend doesn’t lead to a sustainable business model.

 

As for the Orioles,I have spoken to some business people who have never seen the Orioles COO unlike the Raven COO, who is very much out in the community. I know they got him from Miami and have also heard rumors he might be going back to Miami soon. We shall see.

 

http://www.thepointofpittsburgh.com/imagining-a-pittsburgh-without-the-pirates/

[Going Underground]

8,555 tonight.Better then the four games against the Rays.Things are looking up.

[atomic]

50 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

8,555 tonight.Better then the four games against the Rays.Things are looking up.

Kids were off of school today.

[Going Underground]

2 minutes ago, atomic said:

Kids were off of school today.

I was being sarcastic. 

[Frobby]

First 10 games 2018: 194,597

First 10 games 2019: 174,886

That’s about a 10% drop.   However, this year we had the Yankees in town for the opening Saturday/Sunday, whereas last year we had the Twins for the equivalent series.    Also, the April weather has been way better this year.   I’m thinking our attendance will drop more like 20% than 10%.

[eddie83]

9 minutes ago, Frobby said:

First 10 games 2018: 194,597

First 10 games 2019: 174,886

That’s about a 10% drop.   However, this year we had the Yankees in town for the opening Saturday/Sunday, whereas last year we had the Twins for the equivalent series.    Also, the April weather has been way better this year.   I’m thinking our attendance will drop more like 20% than 10%.

Games like last night and the second game of the DH don’t help. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

10 hours ago, Going Underground said:

I was being sarcastic. 

Why ruin a perfectly good day off school by subjecting the kids to an Orioles blowout.

I’ll agree with Moose on the home experience being a good alternative to the ballpark. Mostly because of the prices and hassle of getting there. 

Moved into a new house last year and was looking forward to watching Orioles baseball in my home theater. And the Orioles decide to have their worst season in franchise history. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

[Moose Milligan]

14 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Why ruin a perfectly good day off school by subjecting the kids to an Orioles blowout.

I’ll agree with Moose on the home experience being a good alternative to the ballpark. Mostly because of the prices and hassle of getting there. 

Moved into a new house last year and was looking forward to watching Orioles baseball in my home theater. And the Orioles decide to have their worst season in franchise history. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

It's what it's all about.  My couch is ridiculously comfortable.  65 inch screen.  Finally solved the problem of working around MLB.TVs blackout effectively, I can stream the games with no problem, it comes in perfect.

Last night I fell asleep by the 4th inning.  No big deal.  

[Orioles1954]

Took my 11 year-old son to the DH on Saturday. After being approached by multiple crazy/street people on the way from the Chicken Box to the game, he kept telling me how scared he is of Baltimore. Couldn't really enjoy the game because he was worried about going to the parking garage. Don't have to worry about that at home or in Frederick. With the crap city/team, I wonder if minor league attendance has been affected?