Where Is Outrage Over Cincinnati Reds Attendance?
Attendance, Peter Gammons June 8th. 2010, 12:00pm
Two weeks ago, Peter Gammons called the Rays attendance “shameful” and remarked that the Rays should be drawing 30,000 fans a game. This was after Gammons previously wrote that the Rays should move to New Jersey or Connecticut. Joe Sherman of the New York Post also called for the Rays to move to Connecticut.
So if this is what these, and many other people, think of the Rays, then why are they not writing the same columns about the Cincinnati Reds?
The Reds are also in first-place, are supposedly in a “good baseball town” and play in a ballpark that is less than 10 years old. And yet, the Reds are drawing fewer fans than the “shameful” Rays.
Let’s compare the numbers…
Maybe it is time for the talking heads to shut up and admit they were wrong about the Tampa-St. Pete area. Maybe the Bay Area will never draw 4 million fans in a season, but if one were to rank big league cities by how well they support major league baseball, the Rays are far from the biggest problem.
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The reason nobody says nothing about Cincy is because they don’t play in the AL East. Their attendance does nothing for the egos of those living in New York or Boston. Since they can’t write how the Rays are going to fold down the stretch this year, they’re instead going to pick on the fans. That’s right, chowdah head, you wan win the attendance battle all you want! I’ll take the AL East!
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Toronto and Baltimore are also underneath the Rays in 2010 attendance figures and I have heard no rumblings to their demise……yet.
Even with Toronto pushing the top tier to hustle this season, they are currently ranked 27th and have drawn just over 1/2 a million fans.
Rays might be ranked 22nd right now, but they have also played only 27 home game and are within shooting range ( if this is a great home stand) of hitting the top 20 teams in attendance….surpassing the Reds numbers, who have played 31 homes gams so far this season. In the end, the Rays will show a increase, but weill it be enough to keep the media propaganda machine silent until past October on the issue?
And what about Oakland? I don’t know their total attendance figures, but the fans certainly weren’t turning out that one series the Rays played there, at which point both the teams were in first place. How many people saw Braden pitch on the fateful Mothers Day?
Beth,
Weird as it might seem, the A’s actually draw more on the road than at home so far in 2010…Almost 10,000 more on average.
But they do average 18,195 souls on days that the Giants do not play,do Giant fans flock to O-town…..I think not.
Prof,
Dusty Baker manages there and Joe Morgan used to play there. Everything related to the Reds is immune from logic or criticism.
This post is another reason why we need RI to stay independent. Rays fans need the truth somewhere.
[...] Back in June we wondered why the national media has been so critical of the Rays attendance and yet they appeared to be giving the Red attendance problems a pass. Now comes word, that like the Rays, the second-place Reds are starting to see the team’s success pay off in the form of ticket sales… “We knew even toward the middle of last week how big this (Atlanta) series was going to be (at the gate),” said John Davis, Reds vice president of ticket sales. “Our walkup numbers have been good, but the last couple of weeks we’re seeing people buying tickets a week, two weeks, a month ahead of time. They’re planning their weekends.” [...]
[...] out there who bag on this area as a rotten sports town, either start screaming about San Diego (or Cincinnati) or shut the hell up! Last Joe checked, the Chargers are expected to win the AFC South. Can’t [...]