While the Ravens are supported by Baltimore's "hard-
core football audience," there's no "football fever" in the
city, according to John Eisenberg of the Baltimore SUN, who
wrote, "Overall, the Ravens are still lagging behind the
Orioles, who remain the local secular religion." Ravens
President David Modell said the team needs to win to attract
new fans: "I think we're in a town that loves football and
is poised for an explosion of enthusiasm, but we have to get
off our butts and provide a winner. If you keep losing, you
can lose fans and potential fans." The Ravens have "strong"
sales of tickets, corporate sponsorships and team
merchandise, but were 29th in the NFL out of 30 teams in
local TV ratings last year. Modell: "Maybe the original
expectations (of interest) were too high. Bringing a team
back to a market that's lost a team obviously isn't the same
as starting fresh with an expansion team. ... So is it
Baltimore that's flawed, or is it that these teams take time
to reinstitute themselves?" (Baltimore SUN, 11/21).
