So my senior research project for my English class is approaching, and as a result I must find a topic. I have chosen to do my paper on the rise and fall of the Florida Marlins due to not only its inanity leading to humor in the subject, but the fact that there is a good amount of information that pertains not only to sports, but to business and the social tendencies of the fanbase.

 

I figured I would obviously talk about their quick rise to success in winning in 1997, and then talk about their collapse between then and 2003.

 

What aspects of the franchise do you think I should focus on that aren't necessarily obvious but are still imperative to the identity of the franchise?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Oh, and if it matters, i'm a Padres fan.

Wayne Huizenga=downfall of the Marlins after 97. He bought a championship, then sold out.

You should focus on the impact of the 1997-1998 firesale on the growing fanbase, among other things. I'll see if I come back tomorrow with more unless everyone else proposes it before I get back.

You should write a paper on how Wayne Huizenga got to be such an

a-hole instead. :shifty

You should write a paper on how Wayne Huizenga got to be such an

a-hole instead. :shifty

 

 

Then you can follow up with the present owner, Loria, who can't really afford a MLB but apparently Bud Selig, the MLB dictator loves him.

Besides what Juanky said about the effects of the sell-off on the fanbase, here's some other thoughts. Sorry this ended up so long and rambling. You could just check out the first sentence of each paragraph if you're interested ...

 

You could look into the effects of the '94 player strike on the eventual sell-out by Huizenga. Actually not the strike itself but the result - the players won. I'm going from memory, but I think Huizenga was one of only 2 owners to vote against the settlement. I think he was a strong proponent of using replacement players. Huizenga wanted to break the union and institute a salary cap. When the owners caved (after losing an NLRB ruling in 1995), Huizenga lost any chance for cost certainty. It became inevitable that he would bail. I'd bet that Huizenga only bought into MLB in 91/92 becase Selig convinced him that the owners were going to go to the wall in the next labor battle in 1994. They did go to the wall - they cancelled the World Series - but they caved in the following spring, totally wasting the sacrifices they made.

 

From a baseball side, you could see why the Marlins were so woefully unprepared to compete after the 1997 sell-off. That was year 6 of the team at a MLB level, year 7 or 8 as an organization. Where were the minor leaguers that should just have been hitting the majors? Was it a problem with our drafts? If so, you could check out those first 5 or 6 Marlins drafts and see where they failed (if they did) - was it bad drafting or did we lose too many picks while signing free agents?

 

You could check out some of the Marlins odd marketing over the years. For example, last year, the marketing focused on ordinary fans - they had fans in the commercials, pictures of Pin Guy on the tickets, etc. Last year was the best collection of talent we had in the history of the franchise - shouldn't the marketing have focused on the players during the one season we had gobs of All-Stars?

 

Continuing with the marketing, you could talk about the roof issue. When South Florida made the original pitch for the team, they convinced MLB and the public that a roof wasn't needed because it always stops raining in Florida by 6:00 PM and the games would start at 7. The team reversed this position and pushed for a retractable roof but they've pushed so hard that I think it's become a negative marketing aspect. The owners are literally telling the fans of South Florida that JRS is a terrible place to watch a game. That may be true but there are ways to push for a roof without knocking the product you're currently trying to sell.

 

MLB has had a part in this - taking away the All-Star game hurt. Letting two sell-offs happen hurt, though I don't know what they could've done to stop it. The moves that MLB orchestrated with Henry and Loria (Henry getting the Red Sox while underbidding the competition and Loria getting the Marlins after the Montreal mess) reeked of dirty back-room deals.

 

You could talk about the present location of the stadium. Is there a good spot in South Florida? South Florida's geogrpahy is a bit different - we have 6 million people in a long thin area stretching over a hundred miles. Is there any location that doesn't cut off half the fans? If there's not, then we're basically a 3-million person area, at least as far as night-in and night-out attendance and we'll never be a big attendance draw.

 

You could look into the current lease and the money flow and the near impossibility of making money in the current location/lease (at least with a top-third team in payroll). Even Forbes said the Marlins lost a lot of money last year, even with $60 million in national money.

 

You could look into fan loyalties and why so many South Florida fans kept rooting for the Cubs, Mets, Yankees, and Braves instead of switching and becoming Marlin season ticket holders. We're not the first city of get a new team. I'm sure Atlanta and Dallas and San Diego people rooted for other teams before they got franchises. Did those fans switch allegiances right away? Or does it take a generation for that to happen?

 

You could debate the season ticket growth after the 2003 championship. Was the large percentage growth sufficient? Or was the high percentage growth just a factor of having such a low starting point? Should we instead have had a large absolute growth in season ticket sales? If Loria had stayed the course - done a truer market correction instead of a gutting of the team - would the fanbase had continued to grow? The attendance rise between 2004 and 2005 was pretty small (1333 per game or 6%) but it was growth.

Wayne Huizenga=downfall of the Marlins after 97. He bought a championship, then sold out.

 

 

 

Why are the Florida Marlins of 1997 the only team in the history of baseball to be looked upon as a franchise that "bought" a championship? I hear this constantly.

Wayne Huizenga=downfall of the Marlins after 97. He bought a championship, then sold out.

 

 

 

Why are the Florida Marlins of 1997 the only team in the history of baseball to be looked upon as a franchise that "bought" a championship? I hear this constantly.

 

It's BS. The Marlins payroll ranked 7th in major league baseball that year (behind the Yankees, O's, White Sox, Indians, Braves and Rangers). We were 15th in 1996...granted we did raise payroll...but it's not like we outspent everyone.

Thanks everyone so far, especially 83 Gator. That should give me a good foundation.

 

If anyone still has more to add please feel free.

You could look into fan loyalties and why so many South Florida fans kept rooting for the Cubs, Mets, Yankees, and Braves instead of switching and becoming Marlin season ticket holders. We're not the first city of get a new team. I'm sure Atlanta and Dallas and San Diego people rooted for other teams before they got franchises. Did those fans switch allegiances right away? Or does it take a generation for that to happen?

That's a good issue to look at. One theory explaining the effect of the rollercoaster years since 1993 on the fanbase (one I suscribe to) is that the generation of hardcore Marlin fans has yet to reach an age where they can financially support a franchise. Fans can pick up and root for the newly formed hometeam, but a strike might change their mind. If a World Series brings them back, then the subsequent firesale will chase them again. If the second World Series brings them back, then the second firesale will chase them once more.

 

The theory is that it's difficult for people who had past allegiances to stick with the club through such uncertain times. However, there is a group of fans that will support the team through all of its sins - those that never had to switch from one team to another. In 1993, this group was between the ages of 3 and 10. Through Firesale #1 they couldn't support the team because in 1998 they were 8-15. In 2003 they started being able to show up more, because they've started to grow up. As time advances this age group will be further entrenched in South Florida's workforce after their university time is up and will have families, which will most certainly be raised Marlin fans. If the new stadium was agreed upon and broke ground this year, it'd probably be completed around 2010 - in time for time group of fans to now be between 20 and 27. This core group is what the team depends on, though they can't seem to realize this in the higher levels of the management.

the hole thing with wayne is that he got a team here as a pure investment and not out of a love for the sport. He bought the championship in 97 so the value of the team will sky rocket, he then turned around and sold it but before doing so he signed a stadium lease with himself so he is still making money on the team... when it comes to the rise all dembrowski and his trades set up the ground work for the run in 2003