Phil Castellini surprised that Opening Day tickets still unsold

[Slyder]

I suppose the trick is to thread the needle and insist you think you've got a pack of kids - India, Greene, Stephenson, Lodolo, Barrero - who are going to be stars and Reds fans have the chance to watch them as they ascend. Right? You sell people on this being a golden generation.

Just to watch them get traded when they start to get expensive? Like Winker?

[InsaneinthBrame]

If they want to sell tickets they should have a Phil Castallini punching bag night or dart board or have him in a dunk tank filled with sewer water

[Old school 1983]

Just to watch them get traded when they start to get expensive? Like Winker?

Then restock yes. Maybe pull a cornerstone or 2 out if they prove they are that. Or bring one in another way. Find studs to keep longer term and churn everyone else to backfill.

[InsaneinthBrame]

This map shows a very different picture of market potential than what a lot of people state about the Reds. This map shows the the areas and corresponding population to the ballpark that is closest to them. The Reds have the 6th largest population in this category.

[Larkin Fan]

If they want to sell tickets they should have a Phil Castallini punching bag night or dart board or have him in a dunk tank filled with sewer water

I am fully against the dunk tank idea. The Reds braintrust would use that as a way to scout and sign next year's opening day starter.

[westofyou]

This map shows a very different picture of market potential than what a lot of people state about the Reds. This map shows the the areas and corresponding population to the ballpark that is closest to them. The Reds have the 6th largest population in this category.

They also have a HUGE amount of of other pro sports to compete against too

[Old school 1983]

They also have a HUGE amount of of other pro sports to compete against too

Having lived in Louisville, I ran across way more Cubs and Cards fans than Reds fans.

[westofyou]

Having lived in Louisville, I ran across way more Cubs and Cards fans than Reds fans.

If I live in Columbus and have kids who like Pro sports I have Cavs/Pacers, Hockey Pens/BJ's/ 4 teams in NFL a couple hours away, then college, just a LOT of options.

The Reds used to make hay in the weekend, that's the surrounding area crowd, trains, weekends in the city... now aside from the myriad of options is the fact that the areas that used to "Go to the city" have almost all the features of the city. So the thing the Reds need to do is draw more local fans, fill up Thursday and Tuesday dates.


And that is why the best thing they could do to start that is part ways with Phil, he's poisoned the well, he's the guy who peed on the campfire.

See ya pal

[Bourgeois Zee]

Having lived in Louisville, I ran across way more Cubs and Cards fans than Reds fans.

Nope.

It's not close.

There are more Atlanta fans than either Chicago or St. Louis, but Cincinnati is far and away the most popular team in Louisville.

[Redsfaithful]

They also have a HUGE amount of of other pro sports to compete against too

Think this is true of much of the country's population though. I know Oregon and a lot of the west is different, but Cincinnati is pretty standard for the midwest and northeast.

I've also always found it really odd that people excuse low attendance with the Reds by pointing to things like high school football and the school year, as if other markets don't have competition for entertainment dollars or uh, kids going to school.

[Redsfaithful]

Most of the things we've heard since Marge Schott from ownership and local media are just nonsense.

The Reds are a small market in a lot of ways, but they also have advantages that don't get brought up enough outside of places like this. The tv viewership is massive, the fan loyalty has been higher than many markets for decades. They have a ton of fans outside the Cincinnati metro area. They have a long history to draw on that the majority of North American professional sports franchises do not have.

Think about Tampa's ownership - think they'd enjoy having a team as deeply embedded in the local collective consciousness as the Reds are in Cincinnati?

The Reds have just gone backwards so much in the last 20 years, it's wild how much they've squandered here. There are going to be a lot of days this summer where tickets sold is going to basically be the season ticket base. Should never happen in a market that loves baseball the way Cincinnati does. It's taken so much incompetence and outright malice towards the fans to create this state of affairs, and I don't see how the Castellinis ever dig themselves out at this point.

[Old school 1983]

Nope.

It's not close.

There are more Atlanta fans than either Chicago or St. Louis, but Cincinnati is far and away the most popular team in Louisville.

I lived there in part of 2018 and 2019. Maybe I just ran into a non-representative group of people.

[REDREAD]

Nope.

It's not close.

There are more Atlanta fans than either Chicago or St. Louis, but Cincinnati is far and away the most popular team in Louisville.

But that's largely because other than the Walt era, the Reds have been completely irrelevant since 1999.

[LeatherPants]

I lived there in part of 2018 and 2019. Maybe I just ran into a non-representative group of people.

When I lived there, back around 2016-17, it was a huge Reds area, probably because of the Bats being there. YMMV.


Best way I've found to tell is to go into a Mejier's and see what team sport gear they have on display. Indy, for example, has a big batch of Cubs gear and Reds gear, which makes sense to me.

Muncie has mostly Reds stuff, with a little Cubs.

[Old school 1983]

When I lived there, back around 2016-17, it was a huge Reds area, probably because of the Bats being there. YMMV.


Best way I've found to tell is to go into a Mejier's and see what team sport gear they have on display. Indy, for example, has a big batch of Cubs gear and Reds gear, which makes sense to me.

Muncie has mostly Reds stuff, with a little Cubs.

Makes sense to me. I likely got a non-representative sample. That was the busiest work period of my life. I didn’t get out much.