This year's MLB All-Star Game events in Miami have quickly been marked by what is one of the weakest ticket markets ever for the event, showing another level of fan malaise in the South Florida locale. As of late yesterday, primary market tickets were still available at the official allstargame.com for tonight’s Home Run Derby and tomorrow’s All-Star Game. And N.Y.-based ticket aggregator TicketIQ said yesterday average secondary market listing prices for the All-Star Game were $415 per ticket, down 19% from $512.10 at a comparable point prior to last year’s event at Petco Park in San Diego and down by nearly half from levels seen two years ago in Cincinnati. TicketIQ also found many resale listings for tomorrow to be below face value. Home Run Derby resale ticket values, meanwhile, are averaging $348 per ticket, up 29% from last year, and get-in pricing for tonight starting at $148 is actually higher than a get-in figure of $141 for the All-Star Game tomorrow (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
SMALL FISH IN A BIG POND: In Ft. Lauderdale, Dave Hyde wrote the weak ASG ticket market numbers can be blamed on costs ($280 list price for the game), Marlins Owner Jeffrey Loria, or baseball "dying on the vine" in Miami since the Marlins have the "longest stretch in the sport without a winning record," dating back to '09 Maybe South Florida fans are just "waiting for the big event to start buzzing about it." Hyde: "But I'm surprised by this. I figured all the baseball fans here who have complained they'll come back when Loria leaves would go out of their way to join this fun" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 7/9). In Miami, Greg Cote noted not only is the ASG not the biggest event on Miami's sports calendar this year, it "might not even be the biggest event this month." That would be the July 29 Barcelona-Real Madrid friendly that will "fill huge Hard Rock Stadium." Baseball has "failed to remotely cut into the Dolphins' hold on this as a football town, or even challenge Heat basketball for second place." Instead, it is just the "debilitating malaise of the enthusiasm-killing Loria reign that has left general nonchalance for baseball where passion otherwise might be" (MIAMI HERALD, 7/9).
MAYBE WASN'T MEANT TO BE: The AP's Steven Wine wondered does MLB "belong in Florida?" Wine: "Perhaps not, given the failure of the Rays and Marlins to develop a robust fan base." Many spectators who do show up "care more about the visitors -- even if that means booing them." Marlins fans were "badly outnumbered in June against the visiting Cubs and Mets." Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, "It would be nice to have a packed house with Marlins fans, so Cub fans or Met fans can't get tickets. But that's not the case. What are you going to do?" (AP, 7/9).
