23 replies to this topic

[hardw0od]

I'd like to, if I may, clear up some falsehoods that I keep hearing in the media and which are being presented here on this website.

Much is being said about the Marlins "expecting" more than 3 Million fans coming through the gates in year one. Basically, the Marlins brass expected 81 sell outs during the season? If you multiply 37,000 X 81 you don't even reach 3 million, just a tad under. Also, if the Marlins brass truly expected 81 home game sell outs, then they must all be fired because we did not achieve that during our inaugural season even though we did reach the 3 million mark in 1993.

Now, there is no denying that Miami is a fair weather town, but there is a direct correlation that these fire sales have with the crappy attendance.


1993-1995 - Attendance was good even with 2 strike-shortened seasons in 94 and 95.
1996 - The Marlin attendance was not great at 1.7 Million but that still meant that 20,000 fans were showing up to the games.
1997 - The Marlins had 2.4 Million fans come to the games during the first championship year, just under 30,000 fans a game. People showed interest with a solid product and the attendance was respectable.

1998-2002 - The Marlins attendance suffered from bad management, an inferior product, and fire sale #1 culminating in the worst attendance year 2002 in which the Marlins only drew 800,000 fans.

2003-2005 - The Marlins had their second championship run and attendance jumped by more than a million fans in 2005 from 2002. The Marlins ended the year close to 1.9 million fans in 2005 or more than 20,000 a game.

2006 - 2011 - The Marlins had their second fire sale and attendance suffered. Although the Marlins fielded competitive teams there was a decline in attendance

2012 - Attendance was a RESPECTABLE 2.25 million. For this town that is a decent number considering they gave up 3 months into the season.


Conclusion: When competitive or a decent team is on the field people do show up for the games. The team last year was really tough to watch and more people showed up to the new stadium since the 1997 World Series team. The Marlins organization is unrealistic and the action they took will surely result in terrible attendance numbers next year, but Samson and Loria don't care because they stand to make $100 million dollars from revenue sharing next year before anyone even enters the stadium.

[Erick]

I'd like to, if I may, clear up some falsehoods that I keep hearing in the media and which are being presented here on this website.

Much is being said about the Marlins "expecting" more than 3 Million fans coming through the gates in year one. Basically, the Marlins brass expected 81 sell outs during the season? If you multiply 37,000 X 81 you don't even reach 3 million, just a tad under. Also, if the Marlins brass truly expected 81 home game sell outs, then they must all be fired because we did not achieve that during our inaugural season even though we did reach the 3 million mark in 1993.

Yes? Isn't that what happens in the first year of a new ballpark in like every other city?

[hardw0od]

We are not "every other city." We are a fair weather town and the payroll should reflect the amount of tickets sold, i.e. we should have a team salary that is justifiable for 2 + million fans. If Loria and Samson thought they were going to have 81 sellouts, then they don't know the market well enough to own the team.

[Wild Card]

If this team started off the season winning they could have snowballed into a lot more sellouts. Unfortunately they stumbled out of the gate and even with a record breaking May it was tough to recover after that.

[Erick]

We are not "every other city." We are a fair weather town and the payroll should reflect the amount of tickets sold, i.e. we should have a team salary that is justifiable for 2 + million fans. If Loria and Samson thought they were going to have 81 sellouts, then they don't know the market well enough to own the team.

Payroll was high last year.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to, if I may, clear up some falsehoods that I keep hearing in the media and which are being presented here on this website.

Much is being said about the Marlins "expecting" more than 3 Million fans coming through the gates in year one. Basically, the Marlins brass expected 81 sell outs during the season? If you multiply 37,000 X 81 you don't even reach 3 million, just a tad under. Also, if the Marlins brass truly expected 81 home game sell outs, then they must all be fired because we did not achieve that during our inaugural season even though we did reach the 3 million mark in 1993.

Yes? Isn't that what happens in the first year of a new ballpark in like every other city?

No..

[BenderRobot]

No, not 81 sellouts, not by any stretch of the imagination.
81 games with at least 20-25k, though? Maybe!

[Erick]

When was the last time attendance was as low as ours the first year of a new ballpark?

[BenderRobot]

When was the last time attendance was as low as ours the first year of a new ballpark?

When was the last time a new ballpark had only 36,000 seats?

[Out of the Past]

When was the last time attendance was as low as ours the first year of a new ballpark?

I think early in the season the attendance was over 30k which is fine. After the team threw in the towel fans stopped going and the blame on that falls on the team, not on the fans.

[el penguino]

They were supposedly expecting 32,000ish as an average, I recall.

[pierremvp1]

The attendance was problematic and evident by the end of June.
I thought the management addressed the getting used to new stadium issues well enough and I was surprised at the time that they didn't have bigger crowds out of the starting gate. By June enough perfect days with no weather or school excuse had passed to make it clear that the limit in this market was something other than what Samson forecast to be "the hottest ticket in town".

[SilverBullet1929]

But do we need to sell the place out to have our attendance be considered successful? Isn't part of having this new ballpark about having all the attendance profits even if it isn't sold out nightly? How about all the teams with worse attendance than the Marlins? Nobody talks about their attendance being a problem.

According to ESPN, Atlanta, a playoff team, only averaged about 2,000 more people than us. How come nobody in Atlanta is complaining about attendance? The Mets only averaged 1,000 more than us... how come they aren't shutting down Citi Field over their attendance issues?

It seems like its just the trendy thing to complain about Miami's attendance, even though they're just barely below the middle of the pack.

[SilverBullet1929]

Considering we were a last place team, I dont see how attendance was problematic. This isn't Philly New York Chicago Boston, our attendance seemed fitting for our team record. If we were a first place team all year and then our attendance didn't increase, then we can bring this up. But judging by the April crowds, the market is here, it just needs to coerced with consistent winning.

[hardw0od]

We are not "every other city." We are a fair weather town and the payroll should reflect the amount of tickets sold, i.e. we should have a team salary that is justifiable for 2 + million fans. If Loria and Samson thought they were going to have 81 sellouts, then they don't know the market well enough to own the team.

Payroll was high last year.

What I meant by this is that we did not hit the "3 Million" mark that they expected and came in at 2.25 Million. Instead of slashing all of the payroll, they should have trimmed it 25-30% as a market correction. They did slash it by that amount in July, but what they did now was uncalled for. Its all or nothing with these guys. If we are not a championship contender, we will field the cheapest team possible.

One more thing. Beinfest is a TERRIBLE GM. He has been living off of the success seen with players acquired by Dombrowski for almost a decade. The only player they've knocked it out of the park with is Stanton and Hanley in the Boston trade.

[BroncoBob27]

When was the last time attendance was as low as ours the first year of a new ballpark?

When was the last time a new ballpark had only 36,000 seats?

If those other ball parks and Miami were selling out every game, then this would be a legitimate excuse. As it stands, it is just another poor excuse.

[BroncoBob27]

But do we need to sell the place out to have our attendance be considered successful? Isn't part of having this new ballpark about having all the attendance profits even if it isn't sold out nightly? How about all the teams with worse attendance than the Marlins? Nobody talks about their attendance being a problem.

According to ESPN, Atlanta, a playoff team, only averaged about 2,000 more people than us. How come nobody in Atlanta is complaining about attendance? The Mets only averaged 1,000 more than us... how come they aren't shutting down Citi Field over their attendance issues?

It seems like its just the trendy thing to complain about Miami's attendance, even though they're just barely below the middle of the pack.

Not too much to argue about in this post. I think we ranked 18th in attendance. And as always, that's sold tickets, not actual attendance. But that's what every team is judged by, so it's fair.

You are right about the "trendy" comment. But when the team is at or near the bottom of the list almost every year, that makes it trendy. Ticket sales were going way down next year as it was. Probably by as much as half. But now we will reclaim that bottom of the list. This trade will only cloud the real issues and mask the fact sales were plummeting to start with.

[Fishes on the Pond]

And many may continue to support the team via television and not go to the game to line someone's pockets either in revenue or team worth.

[Entendu101]

And many may continue to support the team via television and not go to the game to line someone's pockets either in revenue or team worth.

Speak for yourself. I'm not watching this shitshow next year on TV. I could make a list of things I'd rather do for 3 hours a day.

[squall]

And many may continue to support the team via television and not go to the game to line someone's pockets either in revenue or team worth.

Speak for yourself. I'm not watching this shitshow next year on TV. I could make a list of things I'd rather do for 3 hours a day.

You will really only need to watch for about an hour. The games will pretty much be over by then.

[legacyofCangelosi]

I'd like to, if I may, clear up some falsehoods that I keep hearing in the media and which are being presented here on this website.

Much is being said about the Marlins "expecting" more than 3 Million fans coming through the gates in year one. Basically, the Marlins brass expected 81 sell outs during the season? If you multiply 37,000 X 81 you don't even reach 3 million, just a tad under. Also, if the Marlins brass truly expected 81 home game sell outs, then they must all be fired because we did not achieve that during our inaugural season even though we did reach the 3 million mark in 1993.

Yes? Isn't that what happens in the first year of a new ballpark in like every other city?

Smaller stadium, last place team, worst recession since the 70s.

[TheUFO]

Much is being said about the Marlins "expecting" more than 3 Million fans coming through the gates in year one. Basically, the Marlins brass expected 81 sell outs during the season? If you multiply 37,000 X 81 you don't even reach 3 million, just a tad under. Also, if the Marlins brass truly expected 81 home game sell outs, then they must all be fired because we did not achieve that during our inaugural season even though we did reach the 3 million mark in 1993.

It just goes to show how out of touch our current F/O is... I wish they would sell...

[hardw0od]

One more thing as I don't want to continue harping on this. The Marlins did finish 18th in attendance. If they had 81 sellouts, they would have finished 10th and I'm pretty sure this would have happened anyways.

[JetsMania]

I'd like to, if I may, clear up some falsehoods that I keep hearing in the media and which are being presented here on this website.

Much is being said about the Marlins "expecting" more than 3 Million fans coming through the gates in year one. Basically, the Marlins brass expected 81 sell outs during the season? If you multiply 37,000 X 81 you don't even reach 3 million, just a tad under. Also, if the Marlins brass truly expected 81 home game sell outs, then they must all be fired because we did not achieve that during our inaugural season even though we did reach the 3 million mark in 1993.

Yes? Isn't that what happens in the first year of a new ballpark in like every other city?

Smaller stadium, last place team, worst recession since the 70s.

Smaller stadium is only an excuse if they sold out every game. Marlins were averaging around 73% capacity for the season.

Either way, I think this season, the team will be around the 50% range.