2011 MLB Attendance overview

[Fenway]

MLB itself is down 178,617 as of today....

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

averaging 35,000 or more

Philadelphia holds the #1 spot as a very good team and Citizens Bank Park continue to attract fans. That franchise has been transformed by leaving The Vet and the Phillies are closing in on the Eagles as #1 in the area.

NYY never sells out but they are still a solid #2 ( they will not reduce the price of those club seats )

SF - Basking in the afterglow of winning the World Series and a great park.

Twins - fans in the TC area love Target Field

Anaheim - will outdraw Dodgers for the first time ever

St. Louis - They love their Cards

Boston - A gold mine

Cubs - Big question is will the season ticket holders renew?

Dodgers - Fans will not come back until McCourt is gone

Milwaukee - Smallest MLB market but a good team has fans going back and back to Miller Park

Texas - Dallas has now passed Philly as the #4 market

Colorado - You have to wonder why MLB waited so long to go to Denver - good baseball town

averaging 25-30,000 a game

Mets - That franchise has had everything go wrong since the 2006 NLCS

Detroit - They are averaging 30,000 a game in an area with a bleak economy.

Atlanta - people in the South love them - except the people who LIVE in Atlanta

Cincinnati - Team has been a disappointment

Houston - As bad as the Astros are the fans are still coming out in decent numbers

San Diego - they may soon be the only pro team there

averaging 20,000 - 24,999

White Sox and Pirates are in a dead heat - at least baseball was fun again in Pittsburgh

Seattle - people in the Northwest are starting to forget about them

Arizona - team is having a great year but only averaging 24,155??? ( and you must assume they had ticket plans tied into the All Star Game )

Washington - Attendance is one thing - but their TV numbers on MASN is a major concern to MLB - some home games have more people at the park than watching at home :?:

Toronto - A friend in Toronto says on top of being stuck in the AL East - people in GTO just despise Rogers Telecom ( #1 cable and #1 cellphone provider ) - and Skydome has aged badly ( just 22 years old )

Cleveland - Fans are starting to drift back - but economy in Northeast Ohio is worse than Michigan

Baltimore - Peter Angelos could be the worst owner in MLB

Kansas City - Eugene Kauffman is rolling in his grave

Tampa Bay - Nobody knows if a new stadium on the Tampa side would change things that much - a very poor metro area ( many on fixed incomes )

Oakland - Selig has to rule that they can at least try to build in San Jose

Miami - Will the new stadium turn things around?

[amsteel]

The 3 teams in the top 10 for attendance that aren't also in the top 10 for fan cost index are Minny (13th) Milwaukee (23rd) and LAAAAAAAAAA (27th).

I didn't realize LAAAAAA was so cheap and Minny was so expensive. I guess they have to pay for all that limestone somehow.

[skobabe8]

We've moved into the 25,000+ category.

[bridgeportcopper]

We've moved into the 25,000+ category.
and Pittsburgh passed us this week....

[Lamp81]

Thinking back to Toronto. When Skydome opened, it seemed so cutting edge, state of the art, futuristic, and was always packed. But baseball has turned retro, and Skydome seems not much different than Olympic Stadium, with a hotel in it.

Now that Toronto is making a push for an NFL team, I wonder if they will try and renovate Skydome to get the seating numbers up. What will that do for baseball?

NFL renovation ruined Oakland's stadium. Selig has to get the A's into San Jose. The Giants are in a great position and can afford to give up San Jose.

I wonder if the Sox said, we are moving to Schaumburg or Evanston, do the Cubs have any territorial rights to prevent them moving North? What if the Cubs wanted to rebuild Wrigley Field in Gary, IN, like the Bears threatened. Could the Sox stop them?

[WhiteSox5187]

Thinking back to Toronto. When Skydome opened, it seemed so cutting edge, state of the art, futuristic, and was always packed. But baseball has turned retro, and Skydome seems not much different than Olympic Stadium, with a hotel in it.

Now that Toronto is making a push for an NFL team, I wonder if they will try and renovate Skydome to get the seating numbers up. What will that do for baseball?

NFL renovation ruined Oakland's stadium. Selig has to get the A's into San Jose. The Giants are in a great position and can afford to give up San Jose.

I wonder if the Sox said, we are moving to Schaumburg or Evanston, do the Cubs have any territorial rights to prevent them moving North? What if the Cubs wanted to rebuild Wrigley Field in Gary, IN, like the Bears threatened. Could the Sox stop them?

Why would they want to?

[asindc]

Why would they want to?

This.

[Lamp81]

Why would they want to?

Why should the Giants be able to say San Jose is off limits to the A's?

What if Gary wanted to make a big splash. They were spurned by the Bears. The build a retro Wrigley, complete with on-site parking, stores, restaurants, etc. Then they give it to the Cubs for free. Cubs have complete control.

Could the Sox stop this and say, Gary is our territory? Just like the Giants are saying San Jose is their territory.

[Fenway]

Why should the Giants be able to say San Jose is off limits to the A's?

What if Gary wanted to make a big splash. They were spurned by the Bears. The build a retro Wrigley, complete with on-site parking, stores, restaurants, etc. Then they give it to the Cubs for free. Cubs have complete control.

Could the Sox stop this and say, Gary is our territory? Just like the Giants are saying San Jose is their territory.

Goes back to 1968 when Finley moved to Oakland. He was given the 2 east bay counties and the Giants kept SF, Santa Clara and Marin. They were later given San Mateo.

Chicago is simple, both teams have Cook and any county Cook touches.

[Brian26]

What if Gary wanted to make a big splash. They were spurned by the Bears. The build a retro Wrigley, complete with on-site parking, stores, restaurants, etc. Then they give it to the Cubs for free. Cubs have complete control..

I don't think Ricketts is THAT stupid, but I'd be happy to watch if he decided to commit franchise suicide.

[pythons007]

Thinking back to Toronto. When Skydome opened, it seemed so cutting edge, state of the art, futuristic, and was always packed. But baseball has turned retro, and Skydome seems not much different than Olympic Stadium, with a hotel in it.

Now that Toronto is making a push for an NFL team, I wonder if they will try and renovate Skydome to get the seating numbers up. What will that do for baseball?

NFL renovation ruined Oakland's stadium. Selig has to get the A's into San Jose. The Giants are in a great position and can afford to give up San Jose.

I wonder if the Sox said, we are moving to Schaumburg or Evanston, do the Cubs have any territorial rights to prevent them moving North? What if the Cubs wanted to rebuild Wrigley Field in Gary, IN, like the Bears threatened. Could the Sox stop them?

Gary already has the Railcats. The Railcats are better than the Cubs.

[Hitmen77]

Goes back to 1968 when Finley moved to Oakland. He was given the 2 east bay counties and the Giants kept SF, Santa Clara and Marin. They were later given San Mateo.

Chicago is simple, both teams have Cook and any county Cook touches.

What I have heard is that the Giants didn't get rights to Santa Clara County until 1992. The reason at the time was that the Giants themselves were planning to move to San Jose. That's what this article suggests:

http://kron4.net/News/ArticleView/tabid/298/smid/1126/ArticleID/969/reftab/36/t/Santa-Clara-Supervisors-Ask-SF-Giants-to-Relinquish-Territorial-Claims-in-South-Bay/Default.aspx?&dnnprintmode=true&SkinSrc=


EDIT: Here is a summary of the MLB Territory rules. The general rule is that teams have rights to their home city plus the surrounding counties:
http://www.cbabaseball.com/rules/index.php?title=Territorial_Rights_%28MLB%29
(http://kron4.net/News/ArticleView/tabid/298/smid/1126/ArticleID/969/reftab/36/t/Santa-Clara-Supervisors-Ask-SF-Giants-to-Relinquish-Territorial-Claims-in-South-Bay/Default.aspx?&dnnprintmode=true&SkinSrc=)

[Fenway]

I mixed up the 2 south bay counties - Giants always had San Mateo, San Jose came later


What I have heard is that the Giants didn't get rights to Santa Clara County until 1992. The reason at the time was that the Giants themselves were planning to move to San Jose. That's what this article suggests:

http://kron4.net/News/ArticleView/tabid/298/smid/1126/ArticleID/969/reftab/36/t/Santa-Clara-Supervisors-Ask-SF-Giants-to-Relinquish-Territorial-Claims-in-South-Bay/Default.aspx?&dnnprintmode=true&SkinSrc=


EDIT: Here is a summary of the MLB Territory rules. The general rule is that teams have rights to their home city plus the surrounding counties:
http://www.cbabaseball.com/rules/index.php?title=Territorial_Rights_%28MLB%29
(http://kron4.net/News/ArticleView/tabid/298/smid/1126/ArticleID/969/reftab/36/t/Santa-Clara-Supervisors-Ask-SF-Giants-to-Relinquish-Territorial-Claims-in-South-Bay/Default.aspx?&dnnprintmode=true&SkinSrc=)

[Fenway]

Pleanty of good seats available in Miami yesterday

347 in seats at first pitch

http://mt.nesn.com/.a/6a0115709f071f970b014e8af00da2970d-550wi

[amsteel]

Pleanty of good seats available in Miami yesterday

347 in seats at first pitch



Even if 60000K showed up for that, one game of the single ticket double header would essentially be a zero attendance game as far as the season average is concerned, correct?