D'Rays Not So Hot Off The Field As Merchandise Sales Drag

On-Field Success Does Not Translate Into Merchandise Sales

Despite the D'Rays' recent on-field success, sales at retail outlets nationwide of team merchandise "are down about 60[%], compared with the same period last year," according to SportScanInfo data cited by Alan Snel of the TAMPA TRIBUNE. From January 1-June 27, fans purchased $1.56M of D'Rays caps, T-shirts and jerseys, down from $3.8M in the same six-month span in '03. D'Rays merchandise sales ranked 28th out of the 30 MLB teams, ahead of only the Rockies and Blue Jays. However, SportScanInfo's sales data does not include sales at Tropicana Field. D'Rays VP/PR Rick Vaughn said that the "merchandise sales have increased 70[%] at a team-owned store in Tampa and have increased slightly at Tropicana Field" (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 7/3).