Free Baseball Tickets

[randallscott35]

That Florida economy is booming.

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?...d=aUPr2CpTzcUk

[MaTH716]

It's really sad. They are a legitimate contender and can't draw a crowd on a night they can clinch a playoff spot.
What's going to happen when they have a down year?

[Rudeboyelvis]

That's what 14% unemployment, home values plummeting 40%, and over 60% of the existing mortgages underwater will do. 10 homes in my cul-de-sac and 6 of them are either foreclosed or up for short sale.

People not living here have no idea how bad it is. Add on the fact that the resorts are still struggling from the false perceptions all summer that the oil spill has ruined the beaches and you can add those jobs on to the pile as well...Virtually everyone I know has been impacted, either have lost their jobs, or are working 60+ hours a week just to keep what they have.

The last thing anyone gives a sh1t about after a 10-11 hour work day is driving an hour to a ghetto to pay 25.00 to park their car to eat 8.00 hot dogs after listening to overpaid athletes whine about how they don't like the fact that people don't want to pay whatever they have left over on watching them do their job.

Hopefully they get the point that they need to adjust their pricing when it's full tomorrow, but I doubt it.

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

That's what 14% unemployment, home values plummeting 40%, and over 60% of the existing mortgages underwater will do. 10 homes in my cul-de-sac and 6 of them are either foreclosed or up for short sale.

People not living here have no idea how bad it is. Add on the fact that the resorts are still struggling from the false perceptions all summer that the oil spill has ruined the beaches and you can add those jobs on to the pile as well...Virtually everyone I know has been impacted, either have lost their jobs, or are working 60+ hours a week just to keep what they have.

The last thing anyone gives a sh1t about after a 10-11 hour work day is driving an hour to a ghetto to pay 25.00 to park their car to eat 8.00 hot dogs after listening to overpaid athletes whine about how they don't like the fact that people don't want to pay whatever they have left over on watching them do their job.

Hopefully they get the point that they need to adjust their pricing when it's full tomorrow, but I doubt it.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

That's what 14% unemployment, home values plummeting 40%, and over 60% of the existing mortgages underwater will do. 10 homes in my cul-de-sac and 6 of them are either foreclosed or up for short sale.

People not living here have no idea how bad it is. Add on the fact that the resorts are still struggling from the false perceptions all summer that the oil spill has ruined the beaches and you can add those jobs on to the pile as well...Virtually everyone I know has been impacted, either have lost their jobs, or are working 60+ hours a week just to keep what they have.

The last thing anyone gives a sh1t about after a 10-11 hour work day is driving an hour to a ghetto to pay 25.00 to park their car to eat 8.00 hot dogs after listening to overpaid athletes whine about how they don't like the fact that people don't want to pay whatever they have left over on watching them do their job.

Hopefully they get the point that they need to adjust their pricing when it's full tomorrow, but I doubt it.

OOOOOOOOOO

[randallscott35]

David Price pitched Tuesday as though his life depended on it, and he knew he had to.

Hours after he took the unusual marketing step of complaining about fan support during the Tampa Bay Rays' playoff run, Price shut out the Baltimore Orioles and led the Rays to clinch their second postseason berth in three years.

And in doing so, he learned a valuable lesson. Don't bait the bear without plenty of meat.

"That was a nightmare," the Cy Young Award candidate said a day after calling the attendance for Monday's game "embarrassing."

"I knew if I didn't throw well, I was going to be done [with the fans]."

Price is nobody's fool, and he learned that as a communications tool, Twitter handles big thoughts the way two-year-olds handle a two-scoop ice cream cone. And criticizing the customers for not being more numerous is a big idea that almost never goes well.

"All day," Price said of the rain of abuse that landed upon both his head and that of third baseman Evan Longoria, who also complained about the empty seats. "Everything that led up to it was terrible. We want more fans here, obviously. We love our fans that come, that's not what I was saying last night."


Baltimore's Nick Markakis and the Rays' Carlos Pena chat at first base before dozens in Tampa. (Getty Images)
But it was what he and Longoria (who used the word "disheartening") were saying, that the fans were to blame for not loving the Rays with their wallets, and it stems from the basic misunderstanding that the fans are at fault for not showing up to express that love.

Nope. Sorry. The fans are voting with their feet, and their feet say they have better things to do with their money, and their feet, and it is the job of the team to convince them that their feet belong in the comfortable environs of the ballpark, not the other way around.

Let us repeat that. If the fans don't come, it's because the team didn't do enough to convince them to come, not the other way around. This is a common mistake made by people who believe in the divine rights of teams and the athletes they pay, and according to data from all the ballparks, the teams are learning face-first about that mistake.

The New York Times' Ken Belson reported that crowds have been down in a number of pennant- race sites, using the Rays as the jumping-off point to prove his point. And the Rays have responded by offering 20,000 free tickets for Wednesday's now-meaningless game against the O's. And when you're offering free stuff, it means you've got too much stuff on your hands. That's the message the fans have sent, for any number of different reasons -- the economy, school's back in, the economy, high school football season, and the economy.

Thus when Price and Longoria had their moment of ill-considered marketing expertise, they were fighting against the shifting tide of fan demand in a difficult job market. They also were discovering the vagaries of entertainment inventory (there's too much), improvements in the home viewing experience (why leave the house to watch a game when you can stay inside and watch the game?).

They also learned that one should never belittle the customer until the customer actually has paid. To be fair, Price and Longoria are finding out what many teams never have -- that the fans may not have a lot of leverage in this relationship, but when they use it, there is hell to pay.

And they use it by staying home and then ripping the players and executives who rip them for staying home. They do so with a vengeance, and they do so with the help of the insatiable media. They call the radio chat shows. They write e-mails.

Oh, and they Tweet, too. And not in the big thoughts that Twitter cannot convey, but in small thoughts like "Drop dead."

So lessons learned all around, I guess. David Price and Evan Longoria got a quick primer on a vengeful customer base, and on who is responsible when the lure isn't good enough.

Maybe next time, Price and Longoria will Tweet the marketing department. More likely, though, they will avoid this little third rail of public relations forever and ever and ever again.

So maybe Twitter can handle big thoughts after all. Just not in the way the users intended.

[Cannon Shell]

I have a hard time believing that the announcement management made a few weeks ago that they would be reducing payroll next year doesn't play a role as well. Even if you are planning on doing so, why throw cold water on a great season?

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I have a hard time believing that the announcement management made a few weeks ago that they would be reducing payroll next year doesn't play a role as well. Even if you are planning on doing so, why throw cold water on a great season?

They're in a bad situation - they want to get out of their lease, but have no where to go. The current lease doesn't expire until 2025, and the city (St. Petersburg) has been resolute in their stance that they will not break the lease unless they relocate to a stadium site within city limits - unfortunately there is absolutely funding - public, private or otherwise available to move out Tropicana Field, and really no better location in St. Pete.

The Tampa mayor, Pam Iorio, has made it perfectly clear that not one dime of city tax money will go to supporting a new stadium in Tampa, and very little private equity is available to do so in the area's current financial straits, even if they could break the lease.

They have some of the highest television ratings of any team in MLB and I can tell you that practically everyone I know follows the team religiously, they just don't go because the location blows (absolutely nothing around the place save for one sports bar, zero public transportation, horrible neighborhood, etc.), and the economy is complete sh1t.


The last study done indicated that, of the demographic population that would attend games regularly in the Tampa Bay area, 19% live within 30 minutes of the dome. That is the worst in MLB. By comparison, Seattle is second worst at 42%.

With all of that against them, they still out draw 5 other teams in the AL:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/te...D/attend.shtml

So it's patently unfair to blame fans for not attending, and it is equally unfair to assume the area doesn't support Major League Baseball.

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. The popular opinion is that St. Pete will have no choice but to break the lease, and then to integrate a new ball park in Tampa with the Obama Train - 66 billion of stimulus cash to build a high speed rail from Orlando to Tampa - the trip is estimated to take 25 minutes, the station can be built into the park ala the new Twins stadium, and opens up the team up to 3 million+ more potential new market fans and visitors from the Orlando attractions, not to mention they would quadruple their demographic draw locally.

Problem is finding someone to take a billion dollar gamble that the train will actually get built and operate as advertised, that the fans will come, and that they'll ever see a profit....

[TheSpyder]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

That's what 14% unemployment, home values plummeting 40%, and over 60% of the existing mortgages underwater will do. 10 homes in my cul-de-sac and 6 of them are either foreclosed or up for short sale.

People not living here have no idea how bad it is. Add on the fact that the resorts are still struggling from the false perceptions all summer that the oil spill has ruined the beaches and you can add those jobs on to the pile as well...Virtually everyone I know has been impacted, either have lost their jobs, or are working 60+ hours a week just to keep what they have.

The last thing anyone gives a sh1t about after a 10-11 hour work day is driving an hour to a ghetto to pay 25.00 to park their car to eat 8.00 hot dogs after listening to overpaid athletes whine about how they don't like the fact that people don't want to pay whatever they have left over on watching them do their job.

Hopefully they get the point that they need to adjust their pricing when it's full tomorrow, but I doubt it.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Free Tickets are a hit with Rays Fans:

The Rays played in front of a full house last night in their regular season home finale against the Orioles, with an announced attendance of 36,973 — thanks to the 20,000 free tickets the club gave away

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humanin...cle1125055.ece

[randallscott35]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Free Tickets are a hit with Rays Fans:

The Rays played in front of a full house last night in their regular season home finale against the Orioles, with an announced attendance of 36,973 — thanks to the 20,000 free tickets the club gave away

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humanin...cle1125055.ece

Free tickets are a hit. Who'd have thunk it?