Rays' Home Attendance Continues To Lag Despite Record
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| Rays Not Drawing Fans Despite MLB's Best Record |
With the Rays, who are tied for MLB's best record, averaging “more than 10,000 fans below” MLB’s average in home attendance, the team’s front office “has to be troubled by the bad crowds,” according to Gary Shelton of the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES. Yesterday’s Rangers-Rays afternoon game at Tropicana Field drew only 10,927 fans. The Rays have "operated with the belief that if the team got better, the crowd would follow along. But what if it doesn’t? Does the question change from ‘How do we get a new stadium?’ to 'Why do we want a new stadium?’” If “first place won’t guarantee fans, a new place won’t, either.” No one is “laughing at the Rays anymore. Just at their market.” There are “those who would argue that the fans need more time, that attendance is a lagging trend when it comes to victories.” And two months is a “lot of time to erase 10 years worth of scars.” But at this point, “believing in the market is about hope and faith. There isn’t enough evidence to be sure” (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 5/29).
RAY OF HOPE: Jeremy Savazza, the manager of a Team Choice store in Melbourne, Florida, estimated that sales of Rays and Marlins merchandise “have increased 50-75[%] this year,” as both teams are currently having resurgent seasons. Savazza, who has worked at the store since ’04, said that “no other year compares to this one.” He “credits the Rays’ uniform change for part of the increase, but he also noted a major shift in fans’ allegiances” (FLORIDA TODAY, 5/29).
SKIPPING TOWN: A ST. PETERSBURG TIMES editorial written under the header, “What Will Happen If The Rays Leave Town?” stated, “So far City Council members seem more interested in counting pro and con yard signs than on the potential loss of a major league franchise. At the least, such a prospect deserves a prominent line on any public policy ledger that weighs the pluses and minuses" of the Rays’ proposed $450M waterfront stadium (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 5/24).
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