May 10, 201313 yr I didnt see this posted, even though it came out a month ago. http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/04/12/much-like-team-marlins-tv-ratings-hit-rock-bottom/ Has there been a worse time to be a Marlins fan? Loria needs to sell the team as they will continue to be a joke with him in charge.
May 10, 201313 yr I think the biggest problem I see for this team is that we've moved beyond fans being angry at the team, and now it's devolved into people just not caring anymore. That's far worse. The brand is in big danger if this continues. The last thing that I want is for the Marlins to end up ignored like the Panthers are.
May 10, 201313 yr The panthers are a niche sport in south Florida, the marlins- due to Miamis Carribbean / Latin population- will never be that. The can be hated, but the money will always be there for them to make. The question will be how long will fans stay away? Two years? Until the Marlins win? Until Loria Sells? Realistically the fans never came when they were winning. I honestly feel a crowd of 13000 nightly is a strong showing for this market. I don't believe the team will ever or could have ever averaged much better regardless of who owned the team and who plays for it. People aren't as loyal and fanatical about their teams here like they are in the rest of the country. I believe it's because alot of residents aren't born here, and they don't have that same shade of civic pride in their hometown team they have in Milwaukee, Utah and Portland.
May 10, 201313 yr Yes, the Miami market is difficult, but I believe that if this team actually made a consistent effort to win (through actually spending revenue sharing money on payroll, among other things), and they had some patience, eventually this can work out. But the only consistent thing throughout the 20 years this team has existed is that nothing stays the same for long. I mean you win a WS in 1997, but within a month blow it up. Before that was the '94 strike, which wasn't the team's fault, but that hurt baseball attendance for a long time. Then Huizenga sold, then Henry sold. They won the WS again, but within less than 3 years that team was blown up. Since then popular players are rarely around for more than a couple of years, which isn't going to drive fan interest. Overall there's been virtually no continuity in the team's existence. If one of the owners had actually been committed to the team and city, and not just trying to get a stadium as their main goal, I think things would have been different.
May 10, 201313 yr Problems, problems, problems. Just be glad that you're not experiencing your 105th consecutive season without a WS win, say, like they are in Chicago. :lol
May 10, 201313 yr I think the biggest problem I see for this team is that we've moved beyond fans being angry at the team, and now it's devolved into people just not caring anymore. That's far worse. The brand is in big danger if this continues. The last thing that I want is for the Marlins to end up ignored like the Panthers are. Lebatard brought up the exact thing you said just a few weeks ago. Basically fans are indiffernt about the team now. Win or lose who cares? Doesn't get much worse than that.
May 10, 201313 yr Problems, problems, problems. Just be glad that you're not experiencing your 105th consecutive season without a WS win, say, like they are in Chicago. :lol I actually envy the Cubs fans right now. They have a city with great baseball culture and have recently instated a front office that's pretty competent in baseball operations. The Marlins' cheap ways, low attended games, and losing seasons as a whole are just as joke-worthy as the Cubs not winning a World Series since 1908.
May 10, 201313 yr I know two long time season ticket holders who have gotten so angry with Loria that they didn't renew their tickets and will not even watch a game until he sells. Some people really do mean it when they say they will boycott the Marlins until Loria is gone. And that means no tickets, no watching the games on TV, and not buying Marlins gear. I even see it at the cigar shop I hang out at. For the past few years the Marlins games would be on TV and there would be 6 or 7 people watching the games. They would always be there no matter how bad the Marlins were. This year it's just me and maybe one other, and the rest have told me they won't watch until Loria sells. Loria is killing the brand. The longer he keeps the team, the more damage he'll do to the Marlins brand.
May 10, 201313 yr I know two long time season ticket holders who have gotten so angry with Loria that they didn't renew their tickets and will not even watch a game until he sells. Some people really do mean it when they say they will boycott the Marlins until Loria is gone. And that means no tickets, no watching the games on TV, and not buying Marlins gear. I even see it at the cigar shop I hang out at. For the past few years the Marlins games would be on TV and there would be 6 or 7 people watching the games. They would always be there no matter how bad the Marlins were. This year it's just me and maybe one other, and the rest have told me they won't watch until Loria sells. Loria is killing the brand. The longer he keeps the team, the more damage he'll do to the Marlins brand. Realistically, the last series is a perfect example, notwithstanding the late night, of why it is hard for many to watch. There is nothing to see-one run in three games. List the pitchers we faced and it was another series of making crap look like cy young winners.
May 10, 201313 yr I know two long time season ticket holders who have gotten so angry with Loria that they didn't renew their tickets and will not even watch a game until he sells. Some people really do mean it when they say they will boycott the Marlins until Loria is gone. And that means no tickets, no watching the games on TV, and not buying Marlins gear. I even see it at the cigar shop I hang out at. For the past few years the Marlins games would be on TV and there would be 6 or 7 people watching the games. They would always be there no matter how bad the Marlins were. This year it's just me and maybe one other, and the rest have told me they won't watch until Loria sells. Loria is killing the brand. The longer he keeps the team, the more damage he'll do to the Marlins brand. Haven't you made the same post in another thread?
May 10, 201313 yr Problems, problems, problems. Just be glad that you're not experiencing your 105th consecutive season without a WS win, say, like they are in Chicago. :lol I actually envy the Cubs fans right now. They have a city with great baseball culture and have recently instated a front office that's pretty competent in baseball operations. The Marlins' cheap ways, low attended games, and losing seasons as a whole are just as joke-worthy as the Cubs not winning a World Series since 1908. Ricketts doesn't give a fuck about the culture. he cares about making $$$. he proposed moving the Cubs from Wrigley if he's not able to change Wrigley itsefl into just another ballpark. the guy's a douche haha they're doing the right things on the field, though. Epstein will get that team to the playoffs in the next couple of years. they're only a few pieces away from being a contender. 6th best OPS in the NL, 3rd best starter ERA.
May 10, 201313 yr I'm not talking about baseball culture with respect to the ownership. I'm saying that Chicago in general is a fantastic baseball city. Miami is inherently the opposite; it would take a greater effort to make fans less apathetic toward the Marlins. I think that the Cubs will win a World Series before the Marlins do.
May 10, 201313 yr Ricketts doesn't give a f*** about the culture. he cares about making $$$. he proposed moving the Cubs from Wrigley if he's not able to change Wrigley itsefl into just another ballpark. the guy's a douche Yup. Ricketts makes Loria look like a saint.
May 10, 201313 yr Problems, problems, problems. Just be glad that you're not experiencing your 105th consecutive season without a WS win, say, like they are in Chicago. :lol I actually envy the Cubs fans right now. They have a city with great baseball culture and have recently instated a front office that's pretty competent in baseball operations. The Marlins' cheap ways, low attended games, and losing seasons as a whole are just as joke-worthy as the Cubs not winning a World Series since 1908. Ricketts doesn't give a f*** about the culture. he cares about making $$$. he proposed moving the Cubs from Wrigley if he's not able to change Wrigley itsefl into just another ballpark. the guy's a douche haha they're doing the right things on the field, though. Epstein will get that team to the playoffs in the next couple of years. they're only a few pieces away from being a contender. 6th best OPS in the NL, 3rd best starter ERA. Have you ever been to Wrigley Field? Completely overrated dump.
May 10, 201313 yr To each his own. It's my favorite place in MLB to watch a game. Really? The atmosphere was terrible when I went. No one actually seemed to care about the baseball game going on. Hard to believe this is a good time for hardcore baseball fans. As for the stadium itself, I don't find most old, crusty things to be as charming as other people do. I'm more in love with modern, sexier designs.
May 10, 201313 yr In years past even when the attendance was disappointing, TV ratings were usually pretty decent. This is the result of putting such a bad product on the field this season I guess.
May 10, 201313 yr Not sure about that. It would be interesting to see what TV numbers would be like I'm 1998 and 2006, but I am guessing that there were a lot more people watching those awful teams than this awful team.
May 10, 201313 yr To each his own. It's my favorite place in MLB to watch a game. Really? The atmosphere was terrible when I went. No one actually seemed to care about the baseball game going on. Hard to believe this is a good time for hardcore baseball fans. As for the stadium itself, I don't find most old, crusty things to be as charming as other people do. I'm more in love with modern, sexier designs. Completely disagree about the atmosphere. And it's not that I find old rusty things charming. I respect the fact that the park isn't loaded with a lot of the frivolous distractions that modern ones have. It's for baseball purists. Modern parks feel more like shopping malls.
May 10, 201313 yr And here ya go... http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2007/07/09/story10.html The Marlins had an average 2.2 rating for the first couple of months of 2006.
May 11, 201313 yr The rating are so bad because of the all the losing the past few years and with Loria calling the shots expect the losing (and bad ratings) to continue.
May 11, 201313 yr I know two long time season ticket holders who have gotten so angry with Loria that they didn't renew their tickets and will not even watch a game until he sells. Some people really do mean it when they say they will boycott the Marlins until Loria is gone. And that means no tickets, no watching the games on TV, and not buying Marlins gear. I even see it at the cigar shop I hang out at. For the past few years the Marlins games would be on TV and there would be 6 or 7 people watching the games. They would always be there no matter how bad the Marlins were. This year it's just me and maybe one other, and the rest have told me they won't watch until Loria sells. Loria is killing the brand. The longer he keeps the team, the more damage he'll do to the Marlins brand. I agree. IMO Loria cost himself a significant amount of money by not selling the team before this latest "fire sale". As you can see, it's gotten to the point where it doesn't even matter if the players they trade away are any good or not. Fans see salary being dumped, and that signals to them that the organization simply doesn't care about winning.
May 11, 201313 yr Yes, the Miami market is difficult, but I believe that if this team actually made a consistent effort to win (through actually spending revenue sharing money on payroll, among other things), and they had some patience, eventually this can work out. But the only consistent thing throughout the 20 years this team has existed is that nothing stays the same for long. I mean you win a WS in 1997, but within a month blow it up. Before that was the '94 strike, which wasn't the team's fault, but that hurt baseball attendance for a long time. Then Huizenga sold, then Henry sold. They won the WS again, but within less than 3 years that team was blown up. Since then popular players are rarely around for more than a couple of years, which isn't going to drive fan interest. Overall there's been virtually no continuity in the team's existence. If one of the owners had actually been committed to the team and city, and not just trying to get a stadium as their main goal, I think things would have been different. I've made that point before. People can say "root for the uniform, not the players" but that not realistic. You have to give fans a chance to identify with at least some of the guys on the roster. This team needs some guys that can play and stick around for the long haul.
May 11, 201313 yr Whoever owns this team and wants to fix the situation needs to realize that it may take a few years of losing some money to turn it around. I'm not saying that one needs to spend like a drunk to win, but some commitment from ownership needs to be communicated to fans by way of actions and not words.
May 11, 201313 yr Yawn. God could own this team and paid attendance (and actual turnstile clicks) would suck. 100 mill of payroll in a brand new stadium didn't do it last year -- there's no reason to expect that any level of payroll will be any different in any other year in the foreseeable future. Maybe 20 or 30 years from now after a fan base has been slowly built.
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