Rays Starting To See Impact At Box Office From On-Field Play

Hinske Says Fans Starting To Show Up At Rays Games

Eight of the Rays' 16 best-attended games ever at Tropicana Field have "come in the past 10 days and 10 in the past 13," according to Dennis Maffezzoli of the Sarasota HERALD-TRIBUNE. The Rays drew 31,112 fans for last night's 3-1 win over the Red Sox, which gave the team a 2 1/2 games lead in the AL East, though that is down slightly from the 34,145 fans that attended Red Sox-Rays Monday night. For the season, the Rays' total attendance through 45 home games is 932,905, up 41% over 663,706 through the same point in '07 (Sarasota HERALD-TRIBUNE, 7/2). Rays RF Eric Hinske said of attendance at Tropicana Field before the start of the Red Sox series, "They're starting to show up a little bit more, but we'd definitely like to have a packed house. It used to be 10,000, now it's 20,000, so that's good" ("First Take," ESPN2, 6/30). Rays Exec VP/Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman said the Tampa-St. Pete region "has never really tasted a pennant race before so the bandwagon is growing and the environment was outstanding" for Red Sox-Rays Monday. Friedman said before last night's game, "I think we're 10-1 in games where we have 30,000 (fans) or more here and the players really thrive off the excitement in the crowd" ("First Take," ESPN2, 7/1). Rays RF Gabe Gross said of Monday night's game, “It really was kind of a special atmosphere, especially for us here at the Trop. To have the place sold-out, it had an extra little buzz in the air” (“Outside The Lines,” ESPN, 7/1). Boston Globe report Chris Gasper said the Red Sox-Rays series is "really big for the franchise and it goes beyond baseball. I think it goes to their long-term viability in that marketplace” ("The Globe 10.0,” NESN, 7/1).

VIEWERS TUNING IN: In St. Petersburg, Marc Topkin reports TV ratings for Monday's Red Sox-Rays game were the "highest in franchise history." WXPX-ION for its coverage of the game drew a peak rating of 12.8/20 at 10:00pm ET making the game the "most watched show in the Tampa Bay market." The game drew a combined 271,000 HHs in the Tampa Bay and Orlando markets, also a record (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 7/2).

NOT GOING AWAY: Also in St. Petersburg, John Romano writes at this season's "trading deadline, the Rays will be buyers." Romano: "The team forever on a budget is not worrying about the bottom line. ... It's good to know ownership is buying into this pennant fever business" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 7/2).