Devil Rays Managing General Partner Vince Naimoli
"turned to" St. Petersburg Mayor David Fischer, Tampa Mayor
Dick Greco and Central FL Chamber of Commerce officials
yesterday "for ideas on turning around the team's slumping
attendance," according to Steve Huettel of the ST.
PETERSBURG TIMES. Devil Rays VP/Sales & Marketing John
Browne said that the team, which has seen a 27% drop in
attendance from its inaugural season last year, "isn't doing
well drawing fans from North Tampa or outlying areas such as
Pasco, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota counties." Florida 2012
President Ed Turanchik said that a "target of criticism" was
the Devil Rays' "Off the Wall" ad campaign, and added the
team should market itself more around its "marquee players."
Naimoli acknowledged the "Off the Wall" criticism and said
that he "wished the team had splashed its stars on
billboards earlier" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 8/11). In Tampa,
Eric Miller writes that other suggestions from the meeting
included having area Chambers "encourage their members to
sell more tickets to Devil Rays games" (TAMPA TRIBUNE,
8/11). For more on the Devils Rays attendance, see (#29).
