BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[cboy4]

Marlins' 37,000 seats might be too many

:rofl:

July 6, 2009 6:05 PM

In a couple of weeks they're going to officially break ground for the Marlins' new, publicly financed ballpark, and famous Floridian Carl Hiaasen couldn't be more thrilled. Money quote:

As this is being written, the Marlins are playing some pretty good ball. They're in second-place in their division, only a half-game behind the Philadelphia Phillies. Home games at Landshark are drawing an average of 17,688 fans.

The good news: Attendance is slightly up. The bad news: The new ballpark will hold 37,000 seats. Only in 1993 -- its inaugural season -- has the team filled more than 37,000 seats per game, and it hasn't come close ever since.

Nothing underscores the community's chronic indifference more than what happened in 2003. The Marlins were on their way to being the best team in baseball, yet they sold on average a pitiable 16,089 tickets during the regular season.

Eventually, word got out that the Marlins made the playoffs, and big crowds showed up in time to see them win the World Series.

For a variety of reasons, the new stadium -- theoretically to be funded by hotel bed taxes -- had tepid public support, except for die-hard fans. By contrast, most local politicians swooned for the proposition that the team's fortunes would change with an extravagant new venue.

If we build it, they said, people will come.

That's way beyond optimism. It's $634 million worth of wild delusions.

The question isn't if the fans will go back to ignoring the Marlins after the ballpark is built. The question is how soon.

With a dismal prospect of 20,000 empty seats per game, they must be painted so deceivingly that nobody will notice.

At least until the bills come due.

The year after the Marlins won the 1997 World Series, they finished 13th in the league in attendance. That's excusable, as the owner decided that winning was yesterday's news and so the Marlins lost 108 games. But a few years later the Marlins won another World Series. The next year they did try to win, and did win 83 games ... and finished 14th in the league in attendance.

The Marlins and the Miami-Dade voters are about to conduct a grand experiment, and there's really no telling how it'll turn out. The fans probably will show up in drove in 2012, when the new ballpark opens. After that, though? There's little reason to think they'll show up in great numbers after that, even if the Marlins have good teams. Which doesn't mean they won't. Perhaps the accumulated weight of seasons and history will expand the fan base, to the point where the Marlins' attendance matches (or at least approaches) the market size.

And if not? I don't mean to minimize the impact of $634 million -- I would rather see that money plowed into schools and low-income housing and other social goods -- but over a number of years, $634 million is little more than a rounding error. What bothers me about this deal is that the Marlins franchise is now locked into its current home for many, many years. Even if nobody shows up to see them play, they'll be stuck there and some other, more suitable locale will be left without a baseball team. I'm far from a reactionary capitalist. But when you inhibit the free flow of money, you can wind up with some ugly situations.

(H/T: ShysterBall)

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-4-17/Marlins--37-000-seats-might-be-too-many.html

[Upton]

1. Sounds like Hiaasen agrees with cboy and Upton...

The Marlins front office would have us believe that attendance will skyrocket at the new location in Little Havana, on the former site of the Orange Bowl. And that rosy prediction will be true for a while -- when the place is brand new, it shouldn't be hard to fill.

But once they get a bellyful of downtown traffic, particularly during rush hour, fans from Palm Beach, Broward and even South Dade will quickly lose their enthusiasm for schlepping to week-night games.

Then the team will be stuck with the same old problem: A sea of empty seats. Expensive empty seats, too, at least 80 percent of them bought and installed with public tax dollars. Having suckered both the city and county commissions into bankrolling the ballpark and parking garages, the Marlins can't afford the humiliation of deserted bleachers. Neither can the politicians who foolishly voted for the project.

That's why it is essential to paint the seats in a way that spares everybody from embarrassment, once South Florida forgets about baseball again.

On a big TV screen, black or navy isn't much more subtle than orange, while white is too bright. Dusky earthtones might work visually, or perhaps an autumn pastel, depending on the lighting and shadows.

One possibility is to alternate the colors, creating a vast checkerboard effect that in long camera shots would create the illusion of occupancy.

Another plan -- painstaking, but bold -- would be to paint on each seatback the likeness of a chubby youngster. Some could be depicted wearing a Marlins jersey; others a cap. Some could appear to be waving one of those floppy foam fingers; others might be clutching a mitt, in hopes of snagging a foul ball.

However it might be achieved, the most important feature of the whole stadium -- even more important than the retractable roof -- is seats that don't look bare, even when they are. For three consecutive seasons, the Marlins have been dead last in attendance in the major leagues. :rofl: :rofl:

http://www.miamiherald.com/424/story/1126819.html

What an embarrassment the Florida franchise is...you don't have that kind of difficulty at AT&T Park because Giants fans, unlike in Miami or Pittsburgh, are REAL baseball fans and they show up to support their team.

[trumad]

2. I think the definition of an embarrassing franchise is a franchise that never won a World Series

You two crack me up.

No World Series championships---ever in your beloved San Francisco city

Now I know you've been close the last couple of times only to be beaten buy the Marlins franchise----which BTW--- fans turned out quite well for the humiliation of your beloved Giants---who---could not even be saved by their roid infested hero.

So let's talk about what Frisco has.

One: A tainted hero who cheated his way to a roid-stained HR record.

Two: A city that never won a World Series Championship.

Three: Two little douchebags with their impedant little dicks posting the biggest bunch on childish nonsense evah.

[cboy4]

3. And nothing is more embarrassing than having to beg the fans to

come to playoff games.

Nothing underscores the community's chronic indifference more than what happened in 2003. The Marlins were on their way to being the best team in baseball, yet they sold on average a pitiable 16,089 tickets during the regular season.

Eventually, word got out that the Marlins made the playoffs, and big crowds showed up in time to see them win the World Series. :rofl:

PATHETIC!

[inthebrain]

5. I don't think anything is more embarassing

Than fans who think their team is the bees knees going after the bottom feeders of the sport. There's a reason why you go after Pittshburgh, Washington and Florida relentlessly; You know the Giants are a sucky team. That's pretty much why you are your twin are boasting of leading the wild card IN JUNE AND JULY!!!!!

There's something to be said for "acting like you've been there before". Then again, the Frisco Giants never have.

[cboy4]

7. And I don't think there's anything more embarrassing than a male --

especially one under the age of 85, using the expression, "bees knees." :eyes:

[madinmaryland]

9. And I don't think there's anything more embarrassing than a male --

worshipping a known cheater.

Pathetic.

[trumad]

11. yep---

it was fun watching the Marlins kick the Giants ass in 97 and 2003.

[cboy4]

14. I bet. Tragically, you guys still have three fewer rings than us.

Pathetic.

[trumad]

16. Uh no we don't

Your city has does not have a world series win. Correct?

[cboy4]

17. Yea, the Giants have 5 World Series Wins.

[madinmaryland]

18. The NEW YORK GIANTS have FIVE World Series wins.

The San Francisco version has been a FAILURE.

[SteelPenguin]

6. That's funny

Talk to me after you attend at least 25% of the home games for the Giants after they've finished below .500 for a decade and a half and trade away their best players year after year after year and let me know what their vaunted average attendance is then.

Real fans.

What a fucking joke.

[MaineDem]

4. Man, you are one obsessed person.

:eyes:

[cboy4]

8. Hey, they broke ground in Miami for the new stadium. This is all news worthy

and timely sports talk.

The earth doesn't revolve around your lame ass Red Sox.

[Forkboy]

12. More so than the lame ass 55 years without a championship Giants.

Let's see...Red Sox...




















And then we have Frisco....

[cboy4]

13. Not surprisingly the lunatic showing his nasty ass toward Bonds

is a Dodger fan.

(I'd recognize those vomit yellow seats anywhere).

And look how he's behaving with a little boy sitting in front of him.

Appalling.

[Forkboy]

15. Yeah, because Bonds is a sterling example for kids.

Like you give a shit about right and wrong anyways.

[madinmaryland]

10. Kind of sad to see those comments coming from a DU'er and a "so-called"

REAL SPORTS FAN.

Sad. Just really sad.