The Rays..can they survive?

[HoustonGM]

When you build a team that is successful and maintains that success, you'll get fans. Ohms is right.

[grasshopper]

That is actually not true. The Atlanta Braves are the closest living proof. By making the playoffs for ( Many years, forgot how many), the fans grew ambivalent to the point that they stopped going. The more years Cox got them to the playoffs, the less people went to games.

It's not how much a team wins. Its how good the fans are. Pre 2004, the Red Sox still sold out almost every game. Cubs still do to. Why? Its not winning.

[HoustonGM]

It's part winning, and part marketing.

[grasshopper]

Houston, you hit on the golden word: Marketing.

[HoustonGM]

Houston, you hit on the golden word: Marketing.

Yes, but, the key is, you need SOMETHING to market...so winning IS the first step. It's not the only part in it, so it's not as simple as "winning equals fans", but without the winning, even the best marketing exec would have trouble selling a team to fans.

[grasshopper]

We could argue this into the ground. As of 1996, the Orioles were not a joke. They were a historied team who had just got the newest, best, and most modern stadium. I was there to watch drunken Jim Leyritz drive one over the wall to bring the Yanks to the playoffs. It was amazing.

Anyway, Im off topic. They had a huge fan base, a new stadium, Cal Ripken and steroidal Brady Anderson. How could they go wrong? Within 2 years, super lawyer/ litigator Peter Angelos had bought the team. He could care less whether they won or lost, as long as his name was the headline.

They are now the laughing stock of the AL East.

I think ownership and marketing go way farther than winning.

[BravesFan4Life]

That is actually not true. The Atlanta Braves are the closest living proof. By making the playoffs for ( Many years, forgot how many), the fans grew ambivalent to the point that they stopped going. The more years Cox got them to the playoffs, the less people went to games.

It's not how much a team wins. Its how good the fans are. Pre 2004, the Red Sox still sold out almost every game. Cubs still do to. Why? Its not winning.

I'll tell you this right now, Atlanta is one of the worst "fair-weather fan" areas in the U.S. Anyone see the Hawks? How they had an extremely hard time getting people to come during the regular season, then during the playoffs they are suddenly selling out. Or how about the Falcons. When they were good, they would get a lot of fans to come to the games, but now, it's awful. Or even go to the Thrashers. When they're good, they sell out, when they bad (even if it is a season after being good), they have bad attendance.

[grasshopper]

4Life, didnt mean to single out your city, but they are a case study for a winning baseball team in a large market that cant get fans to come to games. (Dodgers are the worst btw) Outside of BB, I'll take your word for it since I dont know crap about Georgia except college FB.

[Rongar]

I moved down to Orlando from Boston, and was a die-hard Sox fan. I went from seeing about 2,000-3,000 Rays fans at games back in '06, to now FINALLY being outnumbered in this last series. Rays to Sox fans was about 75/25 at this last series, and the stadium was the most full I've ever seen.

I grew to like and support the Rays, and I am actually happy they have fans, finally. Many of them are a bit crass, and some aren't knowledgeable about baseball; but any start is okay. I just really, really wish they hadn't decided on cowbells as their answer to the rally monkey. Distributing the most annoying noisemaker to an entire fanbase, and their kids, makes some sections a real headache.

Seeing them go to it the past few days, without Crawford or Baldelli or Gomes, makes me think they can survive.

Ah...a guy who's actually been there - tell me. AOW, were you physically comfortable in the stands? Did you experience much humidity?

[ohms_law]

Atlanta is not a model to look at for this question. The Braves have the lowest Win-Curve in all of sports. The're an extreme outlier.

I'm not sure what the point of bringing up the Orioles and Angelos is. Running a fanchise badly leads to poor returns. Agreed. so?

There are many retirees in Florida in general. This is a strength of the market, not a weakness. All that needs to be done in order to tap that market is to put together a product which that demographic is willing to support. A comfortable stadium that is easily accessible and a winning team (or at least a team that is capable of winning) are the first steps.

I honestly don't get this whole topic, though. Is there some sort of vested interest in having teams in Florida fail that I'm not aware of?

[BorgHunter]

Ah...a guy who's actually been there - tell me. AOW, were you physically comfortable in the stands? Did you experience much humidity?

Humidity? In Tropicana Field? It's a dome, dude. (Spring Training games in Al Lang could be a bit hot and sticky, though. God, I love that field. Too bad they're going to tear it down.)

Now, I must admit, I've been a Rays fan from the start. Didn't get to catch the very first game in person (my dad did, though), but my first Devil Rays game was the following Sunday, April 5. Remember it like it was yesterday, a 5-0 win over the White Sox. Back then, I thought Bobby Smith and Bubba Trammell would be huge players for the Rays in the future. Didn't pan out. But the current crop is much more exciting.

My biggest fear is a Cubs-Rays World Series. I'd be at a complete loss to decide whom to root for. Living in Chicago (and having my mom's Cub genes), it's difficult to root against the Cubs, but I did so for the three game interleague series earlier this year. (Granted, I was in Annapolis at the time, but who's counting?) But Chicago would be so much fun if the Cubs won it all. It's quite the quandary.

[FRENCHREDSOX]

Congrats to the Rays on their 1st playoff qualification.