While watching the latest installment of the Rays-Marlins series, I can only look in shame as to what is taking place. What should be a big series that’s the talk of all Florida sports news is just a blurb in the pages. The attendance in this ballgame was 23,000, which actually is a little bit higher than usual Florida games. By comparison, we have the Pirates nabbing 38,000 fans in their homestand, and they are by no means a decent ballclub. No need to insult the Pirates, but the Marlins and the Rays are thick in the playoff hunt, with the Rays remaining the best team in all of baseball. And plus this is supposed to be a statewide rivalry, similar to the popular Subway Series up north. The last Rays home game reached 25,000 and a week before that against the Blue Jays, the attendance was a meager 16,000. Why such low numbers? And in the state of Florida too.
We are in Florida, which (for the most part) is prime baseball country. This is a state that most likely contains more Hispanics than any other state that isn’t California or Texas, and is a state that has more diversity amongst the Hispanics mixed in. How can a state have two baseball clubs with weak attendance numbers when the sport is chock full of Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and other Hispanics all over the field? And, amongst old-timers, baseball is a favorite. Florida is full of retired folks and veterans, and Hispanics---two big demographics in baseball viewing. Why aren’t they in the games? Currently in 2010, Tampa Bay is 23rd in attendance, and Florida is dead last. Keep in mind; we are in the Sunshine State, a place with year-round warm weather, plenty of land and space, and plenty of people to watch these ballgames.
Major League Baseball isn’t as much to blame as the people that jump-started the two franchises, and the owners that follow. Let’s start with the Marlins. The Marlins were included in 1993, and to this day have yet to really find a massive audience. Oh, the team plays in Miami, a city with nearly 6 million people, and 65% of them being of Hispanic descent. Now why would the Florida Marlins, a team with two championships under its belt still have problems maintaining a decent audience?
We can start with the name. Florida Marlins? They are one of only two teams representing a state, when there’s another ballclub within the state (Texas Rangers and Houston Astros---15th and 16th in attendance). The Tampa Bay Rays were included in the late 90s, so why not give the team a bit more local pride and flavor by changing them to the Miami Marlins? Miami isn’t exactly a niche area, with it being the fourth largest metropolitan area in the country. Miami Marlins, has a nice ring to it. Then it would add to the so-called rivalry that it has against the Rays. The merchandise will definitely go up in sales, as the Marlins finally represent a city rather than a state. The Citrus Series would finally be an East Coast vs. West Coast series.
The owners truly don’t care down South, this is the sad truth. In both instances when Florida actually went all the way with good management and a good young squad, the owners dismantle the team the very next year because of low attendance and no attempts to maintain the team. It happens once, shame on them, it happens twice, why would Miami want to continue their support? In recent times however, Florida has been running on a good scouting and farm system that Tampa Bay is running on. But, the fans still aren’t there. The other reason is because of sharing stadiums with the Miami Dolphins. Argue all you want, but a football field should never be transformed into a baseball stadium, never ever. Can you imagine the Yankees playing in Giants stadium? Supposedly Miami is getting a new ballpark for the Marlins, so there is hope. But for now, a name change would be the best solution to the sluggish numbers.
The Tampa Bay Rays are in a terrible location, are in a terrible ballpark, and for the longest time had owners that simply didn’t care. At one point, even Lou Pinella couldn’t strip them away from last place, and even worse a team of groundskeepers left the team because they couldn’t take it anymore. Tampa Bay represents St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Ybor City, Treasure Island, amongst other little spots next to Tampa. However, they chose a more secluded and uglier part of St. Petersburg for the home team. If you’ve ever driven around there, the location is very tricky and somewhat confusing to reach. The surrounding area isn’t exactly the best area, and it takes 10 minutes of driving to even find the highway. The first thing that should happen is that the Rays get another ballpark, one more accessible and perhaps closer to the beach.
The name change was an excellent idea that should be adopted by more teams that aren’t doing so hot. Their entire image changed, and while the attendance numbers did change (17,000 to 22,000 from 2007 to 2008), their attendance has dropped lately. Why? I think the secret reason is that the fans are sick of playing in an indoor, lights-heavy, crammy ballpark. The Rays are 18-15 at home, far from the best home record in baseball. I am sure the sluggish numbers, the amount of empty seats, and lack of support (especially when the Yankees and Red Sox come into town) contributes to their weaker play in Tampa. In comparison, here are the home records of the teams with extremely high attendance: Yankees (24-10), Phillies (17-14), Dodgers (23-13), Cardinals (23-11), Twins (23-13). See the difference (unless you are the Phillies)?
I am writing this because I want to improve the state of baseball in Florida. Florida is a beautiful state with beautiful scenery, amazing beaches, lovely parks (theme, and non-themed), and so much more potential. But my choices to see a baseball game involves whether driving two hours to an aging baseball park or travel four hours to go to a football field to see baseball. While my solutions are a bit costly, I know in the long run Tampa and Miami can turn into the next New York or Los Angeles in terms of baseball fever with the right changes. Tampa needs a new ballpark, and Florida needs a name change and a new ballpark as well. To top it all, we need a consistent team of owners and general managers that actually care.
Finally, its time that Florida gets another baseball team. There is only one state with so many baseball clubs (California with five). I’ve said for years (before the Devil Rays became the Rays) that moving the team to Orlando would improve the franchise exponentially. Before the Rays made it to the World Series, I thought moving the team to the Disney area and naming them the Orlando Devil Rays/Orlando Rays would improve attendance, and deliver some more sport into a city begging for more outside the basketball season.
Picture this: right off of I-4 and the 417 into Disney territory, a big baseball park next to all the Disney scenery. Disney has enough space for more theme parks, but seeing current management that may not be in the near future (or far future for that matter). So, why not sell some of the land to the City of Orlando, and allow for a nice ballpark to be built? Disney is easy to maneuver around, its not next to any ghetto areas, and isn’t too far from the beaches either. Its me dreaming, but you can’t deny the attendance boost if you craft a team in Central Florida, an area that is second place in the amount of Puerto Ricans and easily amongst the top 10 cities with other Spanish country-descendants like Dominicans, Cubans, Mexicans, amongst others. If I had any power in politics, I would do three things: expand I-4, try to bring the World Cup to Orlando in 2018 or 2022, and bring a baseball team to Central Florida by any means necessary. Just think what you can accomplish if you offer Cast Member and UCF discounts.
Bottom Line:
Tampa: new ballpark, in a better location
Florida: Become the Miami Marlins, actually give a sith, and build them a new ballpark
Orlando: Get a baseball team
This might be me just grumbling and mouthing off for no reason, but being in the state of Florida, its disappointing to see a sport that was seemingly designed for our sort of weather (neglecting the thunderstorms, but that can be fixed with multiple Skydone-like parks) not become as popular as it should be. Major League Baseball, unlike the weakening NBA and the No Fun League (stole that joke from ESPN), has remained highly entertaining with very few flaws. And our teams in Florida deserve more support, more respect, and more admiration. The Rays are the best team in baseball for crying out loud, its time we should reward them for this.
But like I said before, this article may be just a bunch of grumbling. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to save up money for the 2019 expansion ballclub the Orlando Chimichangas.
Source: ESPN.com
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