Archive for the 'TV Ratings' Category

Sep 23

The Continued Struggle for the Soul of the Florida Sports Fan

Attendance, Fans do silly things, Feed your mind, Minor League Affiliates, New York Yankees, Season Ticket Sales, Statistical projection, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays, Tampa vs St Pete, The Trop, Things that make us giddy, Things that shine a little less, TV Ratings, We are mad as hell, We need more Cowbell, Your thoughts please Jordi Scrubbings 12 Comments »

Jordi Scrubbings is back with his take on Rays attendance…

Last year, I wrote an article for this site entitled “The Battle for the Passion of the Florida Sports Fan”. In that article, I explored how the Rays were at the short end of a fight to get attention in a rapidly expanding Florida sports scene.

This year I have continued to track attendance and viewing trends. I have saved almost every post I can find from this site, other Rays sites, Bucs sites, Florida Minor League Baseball sites, and anywhere else that talks about the comings and goings of Florida sports fans.

Before I begin to dissect the year in attendance trends, I first want to share an interesting tidbit I recently discovered.

Did you know that in 2010 the Rays drew 95% of the combined attendance total of the Bulls, Gators, Hurricanes, and Seminoles last year?

Attendance of every 2010 home game of Florida State University, University of Florida, University of Miami, University of Central Florida, and the University of South Florida at their respective stadiums was 2,087,026. This number excludes only UF’s bowl game in Tampa and the UF vs. Georgia game in Jacksonville, as they were not true “home” games.

According to Baseball-Reference, the 2010 Rays drew 1,864,999 people to Tropicana Field in 2010. And another 112,854 during the playoffs. That’s 1,977,853 people and a 95% correlation. Which means almost the same amount of people that went to Rays games last year went to see a game at one of the five major college football programs in Florida.

There is no doubt Florida is still a college football state.

A lot of people would point to the above statistic and say it should be Exhibit A why the Rays should move from Florida – they can’t possibly compete in the Florida sports culture landscape. Baseball will regarded as a novelty especially as the University of South Florida grows in popularity and prominence and Florida State gets back on track, loses to Oklahoma withstanding.

I, of course, disagree.

Last year I argued that there was an oversaturation of Read the rest of this entry »

Oct 07

Rays’ Local TV Ratings Nearly Doubled The Rangers’ TV Ratings

TV Ratings Cork Gaines 5 Comments »

All the talking heads say the Rays have no fans and that we don’t deserve a team. But how do we know the talking heads aren’t crazy glue sniffers that sneak into your house, take money off the dresser and knock your daughter up? Because clearly, the talking heads never do any, you know, actual research.

Take yesterday’s local TV ratings for the ALDS. Game 1 drew a 5.9 rating in Dallas-Ft. Worth. Meanwhile, the same game had a 9.6 rating in the Tampa-St. Pete market. 

We believe that would make Read the rest of this entry »

Sep 15

Tuesday’s Game Was 2nd Most Watched Of The Year

TV Ratings Cork Gaines 3 Comments »

Monday’s local TV ratings for Sun Sports were big. Tuesday’s were bigger. Last night’s matchup with the Yankees drew a 10.1 rating (182,205 households). That is second only to the July 31 matchup against the Yankees that had a 10.7 rating (193,220 households). Also, Fox Sports Florida reports that the final hour of the game (10:00-11:00pm) had a huge 13.2 rating. For comparison, the monday night football matchup featuring the New York Jets, had a 14.2 rating…In New York.

Sep 14

More Big TV Ratings For Rays

TV Ratings Cork Gaines 5 Comments »

Rays fans continue to flock to Rays games in droves…at least on TV. Sun Sports today announced that last night’s matchup with the Yankees was the third highest rated Rays broadcast ever, drawing a 9.4 rating (169,925 househ0lds). That is just behind two of the games versus the Yankees during the July30-Aug1 series. The Saturday contest in that series drew a 10.7 rating (193,220 households).

Aug 02

Rays TV Ratings Continue To soar

Attendance, TV Ratings Cork Gaines 9 Comments »

The following info on the weekend series against the Yankees comes from Sun Sports

  • The 3-game series against the Yankees was the highest-rated regular season series in team history. The three games averaged a 9.9 rating (178,238 households). The previous record was for a series against the Red Sox 6/30-7/2, 2008 (9.0 rating, 160,426 hh).
  • Saturday’s game set a record for the highest-rated regular season game in franchise history pulling in a 10.7 rating (193,220 households). The previous record was 9.3 (7/2/08 vs Red Sox).

Oh yeah, and three sellouts. And yet Bob Ryan will go on WEEI this morning in Boston and declare that the Rays franchise shouldn’t exist. Well, that is one way for the Red Sox to make the playoffs this season.

Jul 27

Rays Among MLB Leaders In TV Ratings

The Trop, TV Ratings Cork Gaines 22 Comments »

After the Rays last homestand, we saw that attendance is down 5.2% from last year at the same point. But don’t think for a moment that nobody cares about the Rays. TV ratings for the Rays are at an all-time high and are showing the Rays to be one of the most popular teams in MLB.

Notes on the Rays TV Ratings…

  • The Rays Regional Sports Network (RSN) should also include Sun Sports.
  • The Rays local TV ratings rank 7th in MLB and are up 70.9% from last year. Only the Washington Nationals have had a higher jump from 2009 (139.3%)
  • The average number of households watching Rays games ranks 8th in MLB and is up 69.4% from last year. Again, this trails only the Nationals (140.7%).
  • The Red Sox, who had the highest ratings the last 6 years, are down to 5th this year.

Much of this has to do with fact that the Rays are now available in more households than ever before. Still, to see that only 7 teams have more households turning in to watch their games is truly mindboggling. And it just adds more support to the argument that Rays attendance is all about the stadium.

May 10

What Increased TV Ratings Mean For Rays (Hint: Not Much)

Attendance, TV Ratings Cork Gaines 11 Comments »

Stephen Nohlgren and Tom Jones took a closer look at the Rays different revenue streams. Most of the numbers in this piece are educated guesses, so there is no way of knowing how accurate the assessment is. But what is important, is that all the talk of the increased television ratings, will mean little for the Rays bottom line until 2016…

Local television contracts can also bring in millions, but after the Rays renewed their contract with Fox Sports Florida in 2008, they are now locked in until 2016, according to Sports Business Daily…Fox, which carries games all over the state on its FSN and Sun Sports channels, pays the Rays an annual fee, then collects the bulk of advertising revenue, as well as payments from cable companies that want to carry the games. The amount of the contract was not disclosed…According to Fox, an average of 94,000 households in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market tuned into Rays games this April, compared with 47,000 last April…That compares to an average annual viewership of 31,000 households in 2007 and 62,000 in 2008, the World Series year.

The Rays may not benefit directly from the up-tick in ratings, but there are some longterm benefits. The Rays will be in a better negotiating position when the time does come for a new television contract. And it could even put the Rays in a position to start their own network. The higher ratings also show that people in Tampa and St. Pete are more interested in the Rays. That may not be reflected in ticket sales, but if this level of interest continues to rise, eventually more people will find their way to The Trop.

Oct 12

Rays TV Ratings Had As Good A Season As Pat Burrell

Attendance, TV Ratings Cork Gaines 15 Comments »

Last week we took a look at the final attendance figures for the Rays and how they showed only a 4% increase over 2008 despite hope for a big World Series bump at the gate.

One of the excuses for the poor showing at the ticket office is the economy and that any increase was impressive with ticket sales down for many teams. Well, if that is the case, certainly the people not going to the games were watching at home.

Not so much. The Biz of Baseball shows that TV ratings were down for baseball and breaks down the ratings for each ball club. And while attendance was up for the Rays, their TV audience was down.

Fox Sports Florida ended up with a 3.13 rating which is down 9.8% from last year. The 57,00 households is down 8.1%. The ratings were a little better for SUN Sports (3.54 and 65,000 households). This was the first year Rays games were broadcast on SUN, so no comparable data from 2008 was available.

If we average the Households for each network (61,000), the Rays ranked 20th in Major League Baseball, which is better than their 23rd place showing in attendance. Of course the 10 below the Rays are a who’s who of craptastic baseball (OAK, MIL, CLE, FL, WAS, BAL, SD, PIT, CIN, KC).

What does this mean for the Rays? Certainly last year’s numbers were boosted by the September pennant race. But to see an actual decrease in ratings must be disappointing for the Rays who had to be hoping that the TV audience would continue to grow. We are not sure how much revenue the Rays bring in from their TV deals, but these numbers will certainly cost the Rays money next time they negotiate and brings into question whether a Rays (Sunburst?) TV Network could ever be a viable option.

MLB Sees National TV Ratings Down for 2009 Regular Season [The Biz of Baseball]