Crack of the Bat

By Jim (Jimmy Z) Zellmann (Traveling Baseball Correspondent)

 

The Most Important Thing – FANS!

 

Two of the three MLB clubs with the worst attendance are in the state of Florida. Tampa Bay and the Marlins finished last and 28th among the 30 ML clubs in attendance last year.  Looking at recent history (past 5 years) the low attendance figures show consistency with both clubs at or near the bottom in ML attendance.

 

Two of the four MLB clubs with the best attendance are both from one city. The LA Angels and LA Dodgers finished 2nd and 4th in ML attendance last year. Both LA teams have been in the top 5 each of the last three years.

 

LA is a sports hotbed with UCLA and Southern Cal among other big time college sports. It has the Rose Bowl and has had two NFL football teams.  It has the Lakers and the Clippers in the NBA.  It has NHL hockey and just about every professional sport imaginable. The ticket prices are higher than those in Florida.

 

Miami and Tampa/St Pete are big sports markets as well.  Most Major League cities have a lot of options for residents interested in attending games.  Why is the attendance so low in the baseball hotbed of Florida?

 

For most of the baseball season there is no other Major League sport or college sport.  There’s not even any high school sport for the three main months of the baseball season.

 

The only thing that might be different is the weather.  However, this time of the year the weather is much better in south Florida than most other parts of the country, yet the other places out draw (by a lot) the Florida teams.  And the Florida Team that is last in attendance plays in an air conditioned dome.  It would be interesting to see how much better Tampa Bay would draw if they were a winning team.  Then again the Marlins have won two World Series and they don’t draw.  This year people say the Marlins have given away their players, lowering the payroll and that is the reason for lack of support.  However, where was the support in previous years?

 

Miami summers are HOT and it rains a lot.  The park is not located in an ideal location.  There are many reasons for the lack of attendance in Miami.  However, they have won 2 titles with two completely different teams!  If Miami had Tampa’s facility it might make a huge difference, but how can investors know for sure?

 

Could it be as simple as economics or the number of people who can afford to attend?  Population of major markets plays a vital role in attendance figures, but smaller markets outdraw the Florida teams every year.  They do it playing in some terrible weather conditions for at least the first month of the season, while it’s nice and warm in Florida.  I have a hard time understanding why one of the biggest baseball hotbeds in the country is just not interested in Major League baseball.  Is San Antonio the next stop?  It’s hot there as well, but people seem to think MLB baseball will hit it big there.

 

Here is a couple charts to compare attendance figures (and population of metropolitan area) of the top and the bottom teams in attendance figures for 2005:

 

The top 10 in attendance last year:

1 – New York Yankees         (metro population 21,578,930)

2 – Los Angeles Dodgers      (metro population 17,262,730)

3 – St Louis Cardinals          (metro population 2,739,000)

4 – Los Angeles Angels        (metro population 17,262,730)

5 – San Francisco Giants     (metro population 7,154,350)

6 – Chicago Cubs               (metro population 9,549,014)

7 – San Diego Padres          (metro population 2,930,886)

8 – New York Mets Mets      (metro population 21,578,930)

9 – Boston Red Sox             (metro population 5,611,244)

10 – Houston Astros           (metro population 5,075,733)

 

The bottom 10 in attendance last year:

21 – Detroit Tigers              (metro population 5,415,338)

22 – Minnesota Twins          (metro population 3,257,711)

23 – Toronto Blue Jays        (metro population 2,481,494)

24 – Cleveland Indians         (metro population 2,841,155)

25 – Cincinnati Reds            (metro population 2,047,333)

26 – Colorado Rockies         (metro population 2,579,347)

27 – Pittsburgh Pirates        (metro population 2,410,330)

28 – Florida Marlins             (metro population 5,288,796)

29 – Kansas City Royals       (metro population 1,904,908)

30 – Tampa Bay Devil Rays   (metro population 2,531,908)

 

Most of the bottom 10 are in smaller markets, except for Detroit and Miami (Florida)

 

Tampa Bay and the Arizona D’Backs started franchises the same year.  Both cities are big spring training sites.  Both have major professional sports.  Both play in super hot climates.  Both have domed stadiums. Phoenix has about 1 million more people to draw from.  Guess you could say that all 1 million of them go to a D’Backs game.  Actually looking at comparisons between Tampa Bay and Arizona it ends up being more than the 1 million fans in the worst year and some 2 million more in the best years who attend Diamondback games vs Devil Ray games.

 

A look at the three teams from the states with spring training for all 30 teams.

 

Tampa metro - 2.5+ million population

Best attendance past 5 years 1,298,365 in 2001

Worst attendance past 5 years 1,058,695 in 2003

 

Phoenix metro - 3.5+ million population 

Best attendance past 5 years 3,198,977 in 2002

Worst attendance past 5 years 2,059,331 last year

 

Miami metro – 5.2+ million population

Best attendance past 5 years 1,823,388 last year

Worst attendance past 5 years 813,118 in 2002

 

In 2002

Diamondbacks - 3,198,977

Devil Rays - 1,065,742 (2.13 million less than Arizona)

Marlins - 813,118  (2.38 million less than Arizona)

 

Below is a chart that shows all MLB clubs attendance figures over the past 5 years. 

 

Key:                
Top 10 in MLB attendance        
Bottom 10 in MLB attendance        
Highest Attendance in 5 year span        
Lowest Attendance in 5 year span        
  ATTENDANCE   Home     Road   Overall  
Year Rank TEAM GMS TOTAL AVG GMS AVG GMS AVG
2001 14 Arizona  81 2,736,451 33,783 80 32,108 161 32,951
2002 4 Arizona  81 3,198,977 39,493 80 33,705 161 36,617
2003 8 Arizona 81 2,805,542 34,636 80 29,989 161 32,327
2004 14 Arizona 81 2,519,560 31,105 80 30,948 161 31,027
2005 20 Arizona 81 2,059,331 25,423 79 32,229 160 28,783
                   
2001 12 Atlanta  81 2,823,530 34,858 80 28,814 161 31,855
2002 13 Atlanta  81 2,603,484 32,141 79 26,952 160 29,579
2003 10 Atlanta 79 2,401,084 30,393 81 28,309 160 29,338
2004 16 Atlanta 79 2,322,565 29,399 80 30,000 159 29,701
2005 15 Atlanta 80 2,521,534 31,519 80 32,811 160 32,165
                   
2001 6 Baltimore  80 3,094,841 38,685 81 28,952 161 33,788
2002 10 Baltimore  81 2,682,439 33,116 81 24,983 162 29,050
2003 11 Baltimore 81 2,454,523 30,302 79 27,643 160 28,989
2004 12 Baltimore 80 2,744,013 34,300 80 29,492 160 31,896
2005 14 Baltimore 81 2,624,804 32,404 80 30,441 161 31,429
                   
2001 16 Boston  81 2,625,333 32,411 80 34,025 161 33,213
2002 11 Boston  81 2,650,862 32,726 80 30,925 161 31,831
2003 9 Boston 81 2,724,165 33,631 80 30,544 161 32,097
2004 11 Boston 81 2,837,304 35,028 80 36,009 161 35,515
2005 9 Boston 80 2,813,354 35,166 81 37,735 161 36,459
                   
2001 10 Chicago Cubs 79 2,779,465 35,183 81 34,928 160 35,053
2002 8 Chicago Cubs 78 2,693,096 34,526 81 32,369 159 33,427
2003 6 Chicago Cubs 80 2,962,630 37,032 80 33,406 160 35,219
2004 6 Chicago Cubs 81 3,170,184 39,138 78 37,100 159 38,138
2005 6 Chicago Cubs 80 3,100,262 38,753 80 36,389 160 37,571
                   
2001 26 Chicago W. Sox 80 1,766,172 22,077 81 27,275 161 24,692
2002 23 Chicago W. Sox 81 1,676,911 20,702 81 25,626 162 23,164
2003 21 Chicago W. Sox 81 1,939,524 23,944 81 27,006 162 25,475
2004 21 Chicago W. Sox 79 1,930,537 24,437 81 25,304 160 24,876
2005 17 Chicago W. Sox 81 2,342,834 28,923 79 28,004 160 28,470
                   
2001 22 Cincinnati  79 1,879,757 23,794 81 32,903 160 28,405
2002 21 Cincinnati  80 1,855,787 23,197 81 28,614 161 25,922
2003 13 Cincinnati 81 2,355,259 29,077 81 26,778 162 27,927
2004 18 Cincinnati 81 2,287,250 28,237 81 30,977 162 29,607
2005 25 Cincinnati 81 1,943,157 23,989 79 32,246 160 28,066
                   
2001 4 Cleveland  80 3,175,523 39,694 81 29,277 161 34,453
2002 12 Cleveland  81 2,616,940 32,307 80 24,141 161 28,250
2003 24 Cleveland 81 1,730,002 21,358 80 24,487 161 22,913
2004 25 Cleveland 81 1,814,401 22,400 80 27,316 161 24,843
2005 24 Cleveland 80 1,973,185 24,664 81 27,432 161 26,057
                   
2001 5 Colorado  81 3,166,821 39,096 81 30,835 162 34,966
2002 9 Colorado  81 2,737,838 33,800 81 29,299 162 31,549
2003 15 Colorado 81 2,334,085 28,815 79 27,865 160 28,346
2004 15 Colorado 79 2,338,069 29,595 81 31,957 160 30,791
2005 26 Colorado 80 1,915,586 23,944 80 31,175 160 27,559
                   
2001 21 Detroit  80 1,921,305 24,016 80 27,632 160 25,824
2002 26 Detroit  80 1,503,623 18,795 81 25,104 161 21,969
2003 27 Detroit 80 1,368,245 17,103 81 24,205 161 20,676
2004 22 Detroit 80 1,917,004 23,962 80 27,360 160 25,661
2005 21 Detroit 80 2,024,505 25,306 78 26,437 158 25,864
                   
2001 29 Florida  80 1,261,226 15,765 80 26,118 160 20,941
2002 29 Florida  81 813,118 10,038 79 25,773 160 17,807
2003 28 Florida 80 1,303,215 16,290 81 25,675 161 21,012
2004 26 Florida 78 1,723,105 22,091 80 28,894 158 25,535
2005 28 Florida 80 1,823,388 22,792 80 32,856 160 27,824
                   
2001 9 Houston  81 2,904,277 35,855 80 29,335 161 32,615
2002 14 Houston  81 2,517,357 31,078 81 27,669 162 29,373
2003 12 Houston 81 2,454,241 30,299 81 27,576 162 28,937
2004 7 Houston 81 3,087,872 38,121 80 30,762 161 34,465
2005 10 Houston 80 2,762,472 34,530 80 30,652 160 32,591
                   
2001 27 Kansas City  81 1,536,371 18,967 80 27,990 161 23,451
2002 27 Kansas City  77 1,323,036 17,182 81 26,789 158 22,107
2003 22 Kansas City 78 1,779,895 22,819 81 26,153 159 24,518
2004 28 Kansas City 79 1,661,478 21,031 80 25,790 159 23,425
2005 29 Kansas City 79 1,371,181 17,356 80 25,906 159 21,658
                   
2001 20 LA Angels 81 2,000,919 24,702 81 30,852 162 27,777
2002 16 LA Angels 81 2,305,547 28,463 80 26,799 161 27,636
2003 5 LA Angels 81 3,061,094 37,791 80 27,213 161 32,535
2004 3 LA Angels 81 3,375,677 41,675 81 29,524 162 35,599
2005 4 LA Angels 81 3,404,686 42,033 79 30,684 160 36,429
                   
2001 8 LA Dodgers 81 3,017,143 37,248 81 32,909 162 35,078
2002 5 LA Dodgers 81 3,131,255 38,657 80 30,631 161 34,669
2003 4 LA Dodgers 81 3,138,626 38,748 81 28,681 162 33,714
2004 2 LA Dodgers 81 3,488,283 43,065 81 31,839 162 37,452
2005 2 LA Dodgers 81 3,603,680 44,489 80 32,498 161 38,531
                   
2001 13 Milwaukee  81 2,811,041 34,704 80 29,507 161 32,122
2002 19 Milwaukee  81 1,969,153 24,310 80 26,404 161 25,350
2003 25 Milwaukee 81 1,700,354 20,992 80 27,566 161 24,258
2004 20 Milwaukee 81 2,062,382 25,461 79 29,747 160 27,577
2005 18 Milwaukee 81 2,211,023 27,296 80 29,421 161 28,352
                   
2001 25 Minnesota  80 1,782,926 22,286