Archive for January 20th, 2010

Jan 20

Can Tampa-St. Pete Support Professional Sports? Vol. 4,624

Attendance Cork Gaines 18 Comments »

hangoverJohn Romano looks at the recent attendance struggles for the three local professional sports franchises and wonders if Tampa and St. Pete are capable of supporting pro sports.

At various points every calendar year, I am reminded of Tampa Bay’s struggles as a sports market. It could be when the Rays are playing the Phillies in a rematch of the World Series and draw a smaller crowd than the Pirates-Indians or Padres-Mariners on the same night. It could be when I take my son to a Lightning game and find groups of scalpers with tickets in their hands and panicked expressions on their faces. Or it could be when the Bucs have to fudge ticket sales to keep their games from being blacked out on local television.

This topic is certainly not new. I’ve written about the market’s shortcomings before, and it always seems to trigger a fair amount of angry reactions. Folks point out the economy stinks. And it does. They point out local ownership groups do not spend extravagantly. And that’s true. They point out won-loss records, parking prices, stadium locations and crappy $8 nachos. And I can’t argue with any of that.

But here’s the point I keep coming back to:

Those same complaints exist in a lot of markets across the nation, and yet Tampa Bay still seems to lag behind most communities when it comes to pro ticket sales. The Rays? They were 23rd in Major League Baseball in attendance in ’09. The Bucs? They were 27th. The Lightning? It is currently 22nd in the NHL for the ’09-10 season. And it’s only getting worse.

Is he right? No.

Romano says that this is “an observation that seems to reinforce itself every season in Tampa Bay.” He seems to think “every season” consists of 2009 and…well, that’s it.

Facts: The Rays once drew 2.5 million fans in a season (1998). And despite the economy, attendance at Rays games has risen each of the past four seasons and the 2009 attendance was 64.2% higher than the year before Stuart Sternberg and Co., took control of the team.

And Romano conveniently forgets that the Bucs once had a season ticket waiting list greater than 100,000. And he fails to mention that the Lightning were in the top 10 in attendance as recently as 2008 and were second in NHL attendance in 2006 and third in 2007.

Even if these periods of strong attendance were brief, Romano can’t just pretend like they didn’t happen. So while Romano wonders if Tampa and St. Pete can support professional sports, the real question is will they support professional sports. And maybe more importantly, when will they.

Jan 20

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Union Complaints, Upton’s Gap And Pena’s Weight

BJ Upton, Carlos Pena, Desmond Jennings Cork Gaines 9 Comments »

hangoverYesterday, the Rays avoided arbitration with three of their final four arbitration-eligible players. While most teams will continue to negotiate with players up until the hearings in February, the Rays have a team policy of cutting off negotiations once salary proposals have been submitted by both sides.

Guess who is not a fan of the policy?

“With respect to the file-to-go strategy, or the file-and-trial strategy, the [players] union has long believed, and has expressed to the commissioner’s office, that that strategy stands the purpose of salary arbitration on its head. Years ago, many clubs took the view that it didn’t make sense to talk until after we exchanged numbers, and to say that we won’t talk if you exchange numbers in our view is not consistent with the way the system was designed to operate. But clubs are entitled to negotiate as they see fit.’’

The problem with Michael Weiner’s (above) complaint is that there is no evidence that arbitration-eligible players for the Rays are making less in this process than players from other teams.

Not that it is scientific by any means, but based on arbitration cases from previous years, we projected this year’s crop of arbitration-eligibles to make $17.6 million in 2010. Those eight players will make $17.45 million*.

Meanwhile, the policy does help to avoid potentially contentious arbitration hearings, as BJ Upton will mark just the fourth such situation in Andrew Friedman’s five seasons.

*Figures do not include BJ Upton whose salary is yet to be determined.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Marc Topkin reports that the gap between BJ Upton and the Rays may only be $300K, with Upton asking for $3.3 million and the Rays offering $3.0 million. [Twitter]
  • Has Carlos Pena shed a few pounds? [Rays Revolutionary]
  • Joe Henderson on Desmond Jennings. [Tampa Tribune]
  • Joe Henderson looks at how the Rays manage to build a team that is ready to win now and yet still build the team for the future. [Tampa Tribune]