2009 Reds Attendance

[westofyou]

10 franchises haven't hit 3 million in attendance, two play in a shared town, 4 have moved (the A's moved twice),6 are expansion franchises.

Marlins
Nationals
Pirates
Reds

Royals
A's
W.S.
Rangers
Rays
Twins

[RedsManRick]

Fans come out to support teams that they think are going to win. When you have a surprise team, like that 1999 squad, it takes the fans awhile to figure it out. You have to create an expectation of success before you can sustain the attendance you need to surpass 2.5M, let alone approach 3M.

[BCubb2003]

I remember the 1999 season as being a fierce neck-and-neck race with Houston in the last month. Exciting, but most of it happening at the end.

[Heath]

GAC, thanks for the support, but I am going to bring up this point.

The Greater St. Louis Area can't support the Cards either.

They require that the folks from Columbia, Hannibal, Jefferson City, all those towns in Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, Memphis, Joplin, etc, to drive in to watch the El Birdos.

Again, you can go to St. Louis on weekdays and good seats are available, but weekends are usually tough to get tickets. The Reds were like that for a while.

There is a similarity to the Cards and Reds regional fans. They each at one time had a 50,000 watt clear channel voice beaming out PBP of baseball. Where I lived in West Central Ohio, it was not hard in my upstairs northeastern room to pull out a transistor radio and get St. Louis on KMOX, Cleveland on WWWE (now WTAM), Detroit on WJR, Pittsburgh on KDKA, Cincinnati on WLW, Atlanta (on a super clear night) on WSB, and Yankee baseball on WCBS. Those powerful airwaves create fans. Those fans will travel to a "big city" and make a game or two a year.

It's not unfeasable to think NY, Chicago, and LA can cover their teams fan wise, but I would argue that the other 24 teams will require other areas to draw fans, not just the greater metropolitan metroplexes.

[M2]

Fans come out to support teams that they think are going to win. When you have a surprise team, like that 1999 squad, it takes the fans awhile to figure it out. You have to create an expectation of success before you can sustain the attendance you need to surpass 2.5M, let alone approach 3M.

Good point, even when things went wrong in 1989, 1991 and 1993, the Reds did start each of those seasons with some expectations and fans mostly stayed with the club even as it scuffled.

Yet the other thing I'd add is that style counts. For most of my life the Reds played one of the most athletic brands of baseball around - offense, defense and speed. It started before the BRM and it kept going through the '90s. The '95 Reds ranked 2nd in OPS in the NL, 1st in SB and 1st in DER. That team was a blast, one of the best tickets in baseball even if it didn't make the World Series.

In any given season from 1956-2000, the Reds had some big bats, some Gold Glove-caliber defenders and some game-changing speed. For 45 seasons, if you paid the ticket price, you were going to see some top-drawer talents - Robinson at the plate, McMillan in the field, Pinson on the bases (or in the late '80s Eric Davis, Eric Davis and Eric Davis).

That whole action baseball ethos is gone. 2000 is the last time we saw it. I think some of the complaints about the Reds in recent years have been a misguided yearning for that brand of baseball. The Reds didn't need to be scrappier and the players who were supplying the offense weren't villains for not supplying other things, but it wasn't the full package Reds fans are used to. The club needed more defense and speed, not at the expense of the scoring, but in addition to it. The Reds have been failing at big things, not small things, things that used to be an assumed part of the product.

So, yeah, the Reds are a bad team, but worse they've become an anonymous brand. Show up and they'll play some baseball in front of you. It needs to be more than that.

[GAC]

Do casual fans fall away quicker then the die hards? And are there far more casual fans in Cincy then true die hards?

[membengal]

GAC...yes to both.

[Cyclone792]

And it's unfair to compare Cincinnati to Chicago and other larger cities. To St Louis? You get no argument. But I think that city is a truly, loyal baseball town, and not as fickle as Cincinnati. They love their baseball in St Louis. Now it also helps that they've consistently had a successful organization there for many years too. Now maybe if they too would incur the same problems if their organization was ran similar to the Reds as of late.

I don't disagree with anything you said in this post, GAC, but what I was pointing out were the reasons you listed previously for people not showing up to games (i.e. weeknights and kids have to go to bed, weather, etc.).

In many, many other baseball cities, people go out of their way to find an excuse to attend a game. In Cincinnati, people tend to go out of their way to find an excuse not to attend a game.

I'd be really curious how many season ticket holders the Reds have. Actually, what I'd really be curious is this:

Is the Dayton Dragons current season ticket holders plus the amount of people on their waiting list greater than the number of Reds season ticket holders? If so, by how much? And if so, the real question is why?

[KittyDuran]

Is the Dayton Dragons current season ticket holders plus the amount of people on their waiting list greater than the number of Reds season ticket holders? If so, by how much? And if so, the real question is why?

That's interesting... wasn't Marge against putting a minor league team in Dayton because of the proximity? FWIW, I'm a weekend season ticket holder for the Reds and have been on the 17-game waiting list for the Dragons since 2001 - I might mess up the numbers.

[GAC]

I don't disagree with anything you said in this post, GAC, but what I was pointing out were the reasons you listed previously for people not showing up to games (i.e. weeknights and kids have to go to bed, weather, etc.).

But those are still valid reasons though.

Is the Dayton Dragons current season ticket holders plus the amount of people on their waiting list greater than the number of Reds season ticket holders? If so, by how much? And if so, the real question is why?

I know some people who now go to Dragon games and don't go to Red games anymore. For them - it's closer in proximity, and they say they find it more enjoyable.

[jmcclain19]

The Brewers should be a recent great example of proof that winning (or the constant idea of winning) showing up by having more butts in the seats.

I enjoy beating the dead horse of Florida as a viable MLB home for one franchise, let alone two.

Not even two world series trophies gets fans out to see baseball in Miami. Other than Tampa's 1st season the State of Florida's combined attendence is just a hair over 33k a game, which is about what Houston has averaged over that timespan.

[Cyclone792]

I just picked up five tickets to tomorrow night's game against the Braves.

The Reds are coming off a 7-3 roadtrip, all against NL Central teams, and they're now 9-6 overall and hanging around the top of the division. Tomorrow night is a Friday night, and the weather is supposed to be beautiful. It may be a tad breezy, but plenty warm and no threat of rain. The nice weather is supposed to extend through the weekend as well.

All that being said, it's time for Reds fans to get their tails down to the ballpark. This 7-3 roadtrip absolutely deserves the support of the fans in Cincinnati this weekend, and GABP needs to be packed with crazies. Anything less will be highly disappointing.

[membengal]

My bro and I will be there all weekend. That's six more that they would not ordinarily sell.

[OnBaseMachine]

Big walk-up crowds expected this weekend at GABP:In anticipation of large walk-up crowds this weekend, the Reds would like to remind fans the Great American Ball Park ticket windows open at 9 am each day. Walk-up tickets can also be purchased at kiosks on Crosley Terrace at GABP…and on Fountain Square and at the Skyline Chili at 4th & Sycamore in downtown Cincinnati. Internet ordering: go to Reds.com. By phone: 513-381-REDS or 877-647-REDS (7337).

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs...cincinnati.com

[pedro]

I'm in San Francisco this week and the Giants yesterday had their smallest crowd since their new park opened. 26,000 fans.