ALWC Game 1 Attendance

[spleen1015]

20 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

I don't mean this as any kind of personal slight toward you. Please do not take this as such.

But people/fans showed how they felt about this team who has been a loser for almost 4 months. And largely continued to hedge (beyond the Eflin addition) at the deadline.

I bet you who did not have a bunch of empty seats for their playoff game yesterday .... San Diego. IMO it is because of the effort that they put in to continue to engage the fanbase.

You can't sell people on the "homegrown" stars idea and no need to add a lot of outside talent. And then some of those "homegrown stars" who were so hyped flop. And then not extend the ones who turn into stars. That communicates a lack of investment by the org.

Now when you add that up in the economy/2024 inflation and combine that with all of the other entertainment choices that people have in 2024; things like this will happen.

Empty seats during a playoff game = an unengaged/unexcited fan base. The org has to own much of this.

Not disagreeing with you, but need to point out that San Diego has done a lot of winning lately, almost catching the Dodgers. That gives your fans a lot of faith to show up for a playoff game.

[LGOrioles]

They likely sell out for a 7pm game. Tough schedule being at 4pm but that coupled with how bad/boring they have been the last 3 months, it’s not surprising they didn’t sell out. The excitement is just way down this year for good reason and that’s on the team, not the fans. Nobody wants to go watch your favorite team struggle to get 5 hits and 3 runs. You can watch that on the TV for free.

[orioleslist]

Just want to echo other posters' sentiment on pricing. I bet it was a more decisive factor than the team's recent struggles for people who could have gone to the game but decided not to.

Family of 4 here, we're a 10-hr drive (or 1.5-hr Southwest flight) from Baltimore. Kids are on fall break this week and both my wife and I could take a couple of days off work, so we seriously looked into making the trip for the first 2 WC games.

Cheapest ticket available when we started planning was $110. Times 2 games times 4 people = $880. On top of transportation, hotel for 1 or 2 nights, meals, that simply made it too expensive.

I realize prices went down a lot over the past couple of days. That's fine for locals, but it was too late for us.

$30-$40 range and we would be in town today.

[LookitsPuck]

3 hours ago, Bemorewins said:

I don't mean this as any kind of personal slight toward you. Please do not take this as such.

But people/fans showed how they felt about this team who has been a loser for almost 4 months. And largely continued to hedge (beyond the Eflin addition) at the deadline.

I bet you who did not have a bunch of empty seats for their playoff game yesterday .... San Diego. IMO it is because of the effort that they put in to continue to engage the fanbase.

You can't sell people on the "homegrown" stars idea and no need to add a lot of outside talent. And then some of those "homegrown stars" who were so hyped flop. And then not extend the ones who turn into stars. That communicates a lack of investment by the org.

Now when you add that up in the economy/2024 inflation and combine that with all of the other entertainment choices that people have in 2024; things like this will happen.

Empty seats during a playoff game = an unengaged/unexcited fan base. The org has to own much of this.

San Diego’s game was also at 5:38, a full hour and a half difference and they didn’t have weather complications. That said, they pulled 6k more in attendance. To be honest, that’s not that big of a difference. The Brewers and Astros both pulled 40k, less than the O’s. And both of them play in domes!

Edited 2 hours ago by LookitsPuck

[Bemorewins]

3 hours ago, spleen1015 said:

Not disagreeing with you, but need to point out that San Diego has done a lot of winning lately, almost catching the Dodgers. That gives your fans a lot of faith to show up for a playoff game.

They had great attendance last year and did not even make the playoffs.

[LookitsPuck]

Just now, Bemorewins said:

They had great attendance last year and did not even make the playoffs.

Probably because they were coming off a playoff run the year before and had an obnoxiously high payroll.

[Bemorewins]

3 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

Probably because they were coming off a playoff run the year before and had an obnoxiously high payroll.

I don’t find ownership investing in the team on the field obnoxious. To each their own.

I actually find it obnoxious when billionaire owners want to nickel and dime players over a few millions. But that’s just me.

[Fiver6565]

Not sure why we would even compare ticket sales in San Diego of all places to Baltimore.  Superstar laden team, beloved ballpark (OK yeah we have that one too), a team that has been red hot for nearly three months, and basically guaranteed perfect weather.  Its not apples to apples.

[LookitsPuck]

4 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

I don’t find ownership investing in the team on the field obnoxious. To each their own.

I actually find it obnoxious when billionaire owners want to nickel and dime players over a few millions. But that’s just me.

I don’t disagree. But a payroll near $300m was obnoxious. Baseball needs a real salary cap and a salary floor. There are very few teams that can afford that kind of payroll. 

[Sammy Seagull]

I have tickets for Wednesday's game