I think the Reds fans are a hardy bunch, considering what the franchise has been through, from the Marge Schott years onward. If another franchise, say Pittsburgh or Kansas City, had gone through all this, the team might well have been contracted or moved.
True, good point.Originally Posted by westofyou
It's just difficult for me to point the finger at someone else that they need to be going to games when I myself am loathe to spend 5+ hours of my time traveling to the park, watching a game, and traveling home (not saying that that's what you were implying, I understand that it's not).
If I want to go see a baseball game just to see a baseball game I'll go see the Legends.
Of course I love MLB and the Reds but until I see a true effort to put a winner on the field I'm going to be very selective in my Cincinnati Reds-related spending (see: a couple games a year at GABP). JMHO.
The Reds season high attendance was achieved 33 seasons ago, they are the only team that has that large of a gap, 90% of the other teams achieved their attendance high in the 90's, 33 years is a long time, especially considering how much the game and going to the game has changed in that span.We seem to have this discussion early year in the first week of the season. Kinda silly isn't it?
Cincinnatians were even slow to jump on that bandwagon. UC went to the wire to sell out a 35,000 seat stadium against Pitt and UC didn't sell out their home finale against Syracuse.
35,000 seats for six dates a year and a metro population of 2,100,000 couldn't fill every one of them last year. This, after a 10-3 season the year before.
It takes more than a flash in the pan to get this city to buy into a program. Until the Reds have success for more than a single season, then the Reds won't be in the top half of attendance in the NL.
All models are wrong. Some of them are useful.
Looks to me like the games are right in line with the recent weather and Easter holiday. Just sayin'.
Cedric 3/24/08It's absolutely pathetic that people can't have an opinion from actually watching games and supplementing that with stats. If you voice an opinion that doesn't fit into a black/white box you will get completely misrepresented and basically called a tobacco chewing traditionalist...
Today in Cincinnati:
Attendance: 12,876.
Weather: 50 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 13 mph, in from left.
Today in St/ Louis.
Attendance: 36,310.
Weather: 53 degrees, cloudy.
Just sayin..
I think it's a minor-to-major miracle that so many people went to UC Bearcats football games the last two years, after not having EVER done so. I sat in that near empty stadium since I started going to school there in 1979.
Kelly had only been there one year; not sure jumping on that bandwagon was what I would call slow?
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I fully admit that this is not the same town it was back in the 70's. I think this used to be a great baseball town, and as others here have said, I also do not think that it is anymore. Cincinnati, in many ways, is a dying town. Indy and even Columbus have passed us by as a place to do business. I hope we can hang onto the Reds for as long as we can.
sorry we're boring
GAC, much of what you listed are excuses that Reds fans use, but this is stuff doesn't really apply in several other big league cities and that's my point.
The Reds drew 35,000 combined fans to two weekend games when it was sunny and fairly nice weather outside. A little cool in the wind if you were in the shade, but if you had a jacket you were fine.
I'm watching the Brewers/Cubs game in Milwaukee right now, and they probably have more fans at that game right now than the Reds drew for both weekend games this weekend combined (in good weather here in Cincinnati at that). I guarantee you a large percentage of people at the game tonight in Milwaukee have to get up early for work tomorrow, have kids that have to get up for school tomorrow, or both ... but they still showed up to tonight's game, and they've already made more noise in an hour than I heard from Reds fans this entire weekend.
The Lost Decade Average Season: 74-88
2014-22 Average Season: 71-91
Exactly. This is Cincinnati, that was St. Louis. My point being Cincinnati fans are TRUE "fair weather" fans.
Cedric 3/24/08It's absolutely pathetic that people can't have an opinion from actually watching games and supplementing that with stats. If you voice an opinion that doesn't fit into a black/white box you will get completely misrepresented and basically called a tobacco chewing traditionalist...
Historically this franchise can not be supported by the Greater Cincinnati Area. It requires people to drive in from Lexington, Louisville, Indianapolis, Dayton, Columbus, and all the other little towns in between. I don't have a link, but Bob Howsam in the mid-70's did surveys showing where Reds fans drove. (They recorded license plates!) They found out that 40% of the fans were from outside of Hamilton County, and that 20-30% of them drove over one hour to get there.
Now, in the 70's, late 80's, most of the 90's and into 2000, arguably Reds Country was located in the above triangle. Since the Indians, Cardinals, and Braves got better, the draw to Cincinnati has shrunk.
When I was a kid, I knew a lot of Dayton fans that drove down to Cincinnati. They even used to have "Dayton Night" and it was one of the bigger crowds of the year. Now, the traffic, or late games, and the Dragons have taken away the casual fan.
I also think that the crowds in April and May had to be supported by those within a reasonable driving distance of GABP or Riverfront. April and May, are the local, hard-core fans who make the trip regardless of who, when, and what's going on. The kids still aren't out of school, and the parents aren't going to take them down with all the other stuff that goes on.
The lowest since the '76 season (without a strike) was 1983. Johnny Bench's last year. So, not even the last BRM cog around couldn't save a crappy year.
Some people play baseball. Baseball plays Jay Bruce.
I'm watching the same game and, to be fair, the roof is closed and the Brewers are playing a very big division rival that 'imports' lots of fans from Chi-town.
I also watched the Dodgers vs. Dbacks today and, in a closed stadium, the attendance was down about 35% from last nights' game. Vinny said it was due to today being Easter Sunday. Could be. But the fact that the Cubs/Brewers game is at night may have actually helped the attendance since many people didn't have to disrupt their Easter activities earlier in the day.
All in all, however, I agree that the attendance could be/should be much better.
Rem
Maybe some of the priests went overtime at St. Aloysius, St. Charles, or Transfiguration......
Some people play baseball. Baseball plays Jay Bruce.
It's a shame that people can't go to a game just to take in a ballgame. With young talent like Votto in house, it should be easy to pack up the family, catch a game and tell your child that (Votto/Bruce/Cueto/Volquez/etc) is going to be a great one.
Winning and actually being competitive would drive attendance up.
Pyrrhic victories just aren't doing it for me anymore.
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