Tampa Bay Fans Suck

[anders5189]

On SportsCenter last night they said that the Rays, who are currently in 1st place and have one of the best records in the MLB, only drew 12,000 fans to their game against Toronto. Meanwhile, last April the Lightning, who were terrible, drew 17,000 fans to a meaningless game against Atlanta. Only in Canada would such misplaced priorities be normal, but this is Florida!

I have long thought that no baseball team had worse fans than the Marlins, but the people of Tampa Bay have hit a new low. Can you imagine a WS in Tampa with 12,000 fans in attendance? Of course if the Cubs win the NL their fans will buy up all the remaining tickets, but seriously!

 

[SideshowBob]

It's probably nmore accurate to say that the people of Tampa Bay who are not fans suck. The people who are fans show up to games. I actually admire the folks who have been fans of the club throughout its existance which has been nothing more than absolute crap. Those loyal folks desire this fine season for what they've had to put up with.

Tampa Bay, though, suffers from having too may transplants from other areas who are already fans of other (often, better) teams.

 

[skottey]

On SportsCenter last night they said that the Rays, who are currently in 1st place and have one of the best records in the MLB, only drew 12,000 fans to their game against Toronto. Meanwhile, last April the Lightning, who were terrible, drew 17,000 fans to a meaningless game against Atlanta. Only in Canada would such misplaced priorities be normal, but this is Florida!

I have long thought that no baseball team had worse fans than the Marlins, but the people of Tampa Bay have hit a new low. Can you imagine a WS in Tampa with 12,000 fans in attendance? Of course if the Cubs win the NL their fans will buy up all the remaining tickets, but seriously!

I live in St. Petersburg, the second largest city in the Tampa Bay region (after Tampa) and home of the (Devil) Rays. There are two problems....

1- there are not that many fans of this local baseball team
2- we live in a pretty expansive region with over 3 million people in the immediate few counties that make up the Tampa Bay region, but the team is based in St. Petersburg, which is inconvenient to get to from much of the region for games.

I would like to see the team moved to Tampa. Either near the Raymond James stadium or near downtown Tampa. Unfortunately, there has been a big push to build them a new stadium in St. Pete on the waterfront. Never mind the 20 years remaining on the lease of the Tropicana Field where they play now. The mentality is to build the new stadium. I am against the stadium. It would cost US too much money and ruin our sexy waterfront. The good news is for whatever reason, they have backed off on the waterfront stadium drive. I say move the team to Tampa. I may go to one game a year and it is right here in my little city. I would still go to one game a year if they moved to Tampa, but the benefit would be all the fans from around could actually get to the stadium in a reasonable amount of time. MOVE THE TEAM, let Hillsborough (Tampa) County property owners pay for it. There are fans, they just find it easier to watch the games on TV due to the location of the stadium.

Personally, I am a HUGE hockey fan and yes, I attend many more Lightning games. The Lightning play in Tampa, where the Rays should too, and we have a lot of hockey fans here. We also have a Stanley Cup winning team.

The Rays were losers for so long. I think if this winning streak keeps up, they might gain some attendees, but they would gain many more if they moved to Tampa, win or lose.

 

[Jimbo]

On SportsCenter last night they said that the Rays, who are currently in 1st place and have one of the best records in the MLB, only drew 12,000 fans to their game against Toronto. Meanwhile, last April the Lightning, who were terrible, drew 17,000 fans to a meaningless game against Atlanta. Only in Canada would such misplaced priorities be normal, but this is Florida!

I have long thought that no baseball team had worse fans than the Marlins, but the people of Tampa Bay have hit a new low. Can you imagine a WS in Tampa with 12,000 fans in attendance? Of course if the Cubs win the NL their fans will buy up all the remaining tickets, but seriously!

Could be worse, try being a Braves fan, they make the playoffs year in and year out and STILL don't show up to the PLAYOFF games !

Jimbo

 

[anders5189]

Could be worse, try being a Braves fan, they make the playoffs year in and year out and STILL don't show up to the PLAYOFF games !

Jimbo

Not this year. As someone who used to live in Atlanta when the Braves were good I know firsthand how pathetic Atlanta fans are, but in their defense they still were getting 40,000 people to their games. They just weren't selling them out. And when the Braves first became good in the early 90's the Braves DID sell out every game. It was only after they turned into the Buffalo Bills of baseball that people got tired of them.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Something is seriously wrong if they are in first place and only sell 12,000 tickets!

I thought the Tigers where doing bad, but atleast their games are almost sold out everytime!

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Probably too many steps for all those retiree's to climb. With all that Alzhiemers and dimentia, they may have forgotten they have a team.

 

[skottey]

Probably too many steps for all those retiree's to climb. With all that Alzhiemers and dimentia, they may have forgotten they have a team.

The crummy team is easy to forget, but not because of memory problems with the fans. This community has for decades been a spring training hotbed and there are a lot of transplants that have enjoyed their home team at training camp. Then they gave us our own team, and honestly, for a community our size (3 million +), there isn't much of a fan base. Now that the "Rays" are doing well, you hear more buzz about them, but they still are not treasured by the community like other teams.

Forget my previous thoughts of moving the team into Tampa. Maybe they should move it out of the region and state. Anybody want a baseball team? We have hockey and football, with a championship having gone to each over the last few years. The football and hockey teams have plenty of energized fans

 

[HD MM]

A few reasons....

1. The team is an expansion team and has only been in existence since 1998, so they don't have much of a history or dedicated fan base.

2. This area is compromised of many retiree's transplanted from other areas in the country, so they have no affiliation to the Rays.

 

[skottey]

A few reasons....

1. The team is an expansion team and has only been in existence since 1998, so they don't have much of a history or dedicated fan base.

2. This area is compromised of many retiree's transplanted from other areas in the country, so they have no affiliation to the Rays.

1- Our hockey team was an expansion team and has only been around since the mid 90's and is very popular.

2- Yes, there are many transplants, including me, but many of us became fans of the local team. I used to like the Red Wings and the Lions back in MI, but now I like the Lightning and the Buccaneers here in Tampa Bay. Many fans change to the team of their new location.

The bottom line is that we don't have a lot of baseball fans in St. Petersburg. If the team was kept, it should be moved to the city of Tampa to make the best of the fans they do have.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Skottey, where in Michigan are you from?

 

[skottey]

Skottey, where in Michigan are you from?

I grew up in western Michigan in Ludington (north of Muskegon). I have lived in FL since 1995.

 

[cybok0]

IMHO why baseball doesn't draw many fans in Florida...Miami and Tampa Bay....is two reasons.

1. The stadiums suck

2. It's just too damn hot there to watch a game in July and August.

 

[jerseyfla]

I partially blame George Steinbrenner because the Yankees still have an OTA Radio affiliate in the area (WQYK AM 1010). You would think that Rays ownership would tell MLB to put the kabosh on this since this is Rays territory and the Yankees only affiliation to the area is their Spring Training home being in Tampa. The area wanted a team but mostly the northerners so that they could see their team from home play down here. I am a Rays and Mets fan because they never face each other which is caused by MLB ignoring interleague matchups between East-East except for "rivalries". I don't think the Rays and Mets have met since 2004.

 

[cybok0]

I partially blame George Steinbrenner because the Yankees still have an OTA Radio affiliate in the area (WQYK AM 1010). You would think that Rays ownership would tell MLB to put the kabosh on this since this is Rays territory and the Yankees only affiliation to the area is their Spring Training home being in Tampa. The area wanted a team but mostly the northerners so that they could see their team from home play down here. I am a Rays and Mets fan because they never face each other which is caused by MLB ignoring interleague matchups between East-East except for "rivalries". I don't think the Rays and Mets have met since 2004.

I don't think that's right, I have seen the Pirates play the White Sox, plus they have played the Indians, Twins, Royals, and Tigers.

I think it all goes in cycles.

I just looked it up, the Pirates play the AL Central next year, so see it all goes in cycles.

Indians to visit Pirates in 2009 - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

 

[televisionarchives]

On SportsCenter last night they said that the Rays, who are currently in 1st place and have one of the best records in the MLB, only drew 12,000 fans to their game against Toronto. Meanwhile, last April the Lightning, who were terrible, drew 17,000 fans to a meaningless game against Atlanta. Only in Canada would such misplaced priorities be normal, but this is Florida!

I have long thought that no baseball team had worse fans than the Marlins, but the people of Tampa Bay have hit a new low. Can you imagine a WS in Tampa with 12,000 fans in attendance? Of course if the Cubs win the NL their fans will buy up all the remaining tickets, but seriously![/quote
The team needs to move . If they located them between Orlando and Tampa they would get fans from both cities.

 

[skottey]

IMHO why baseball doesn't draw many fans in Florida...Miami and Tampa Bay....is two reasons.

1. The stadiums suck

2. It's just too damn hot there to watch a game in July and August.

Well, the Rays play in an indoor stadium that is air conditioned. But the idiotic team wants to build an outdoor stadium along our waterfront, which would be pretty damn hot.

 

[cybok0]

Well, the Rays play in an indoor stadium that is air conditioned. But the idiotic team wants to build an outdoor stadium along our waterfront, which would be pretty damn hot.

I know it's indoor, hence reason number 1, the stadium sucks, from everything I've heard about the dome is that it's terrible.

 

[skottey]

"If they located them between Orlando and Tampa they would get fans from both cities."

They don't need to move "between" Tampa and Orlando. They need to move to Tampa. They are currently in St. Petersburg, which is west/southwest of Tampa by about 20-25 minutes. Orlando is only 1.25-1.5 hours away from Tampa, which is within reach of Orlando (the same way Magic fans in Tampa go see them play). They need to be in Tampa near the Raymond James (Bucs) stadium, downtown, or near I-4 and 75, which would be best for Orlando fans. But they don't need to move out east of Tampa.

 

[skottey]

I know it's indoor, hence reason number 1, the stadium sucks, from everything I've heard about the dome is that it's terrible.

Actually, it isn't that bad. They would have you believe it is garbage because they want a new stadium, but it isn't that bad. It is perfect for baseball and was pretty good for concerts too (such as Ozzfest). Now most of the concerts have moved to other venues, but they still have baseball and expos there.