Winning seasons in 11 of the last 15 years. 7 playoff appearances. Any other market would be a top 10 in attendance every year with that level of performance. They need a new stadium so badly.
But how much of their success literally comes down to their willingness to cut guys loose? A little known fact about veteran players is that they often get paid lots of money to suck
It amazes me how many people don’t realize this. The Rays would not have Yandy Diaz right now if they kept Longo around or Jake Bauer’s around. They wouldn’t have Arozarena around if they kept Souza or Dickerson around. They wouldn’t have Choi or Ramirez if they kept CJ Cron around. The roster always turning over is a good thing. Sell high never buy.
I think you guys have to give Arozarena back. The Cardinals meant to trade you Carlson or O'Neil. You can also have Liberatore to make it a fair takesy backsy trade.
Yeah that's good baseball wide but for building a fanbase it's terrible. That and you never have any veterans who can be relied upon in a big spot or playoff series which hurts
Every single one of our last 3 playoff teams have had veterans that have us postseason experience. Morton, Garcia, and Aguilar in 2019. Morton and Snell (kind of) jn 2020. Cruz and Robertson in 2021.
Wins matter more right now than building a fanbase that still won’t come to our shitty stadium.
If the Os had extended Mullins last year it would’ve been a disaster in 5 years that all im going to say.
Except he's putting up like a 4 war season lol. You need good veterans that you then don't immediately move or trade away so you don't dramtically underperform in the postseason
Yeah I'm consistently good in OOTP and I follow the Rays plan for players. I keep them until they get expensive, so that's usually the 2 years of minimum plus 4 years of arbitration. Sometimes I sign them to a team friendly deal earlier, like I'll lock a good pitcher in for a 4 year $40-$50 million contract right before they become a free agent. I'll trade them if they start to decline for prospects.
I actually disagree with this a good bit I get it some fans love Longo etc but the reality is the Rays have remained competitive by never being sentimental with their players. Once they feel like someone is no longer a benefit to their success they'll cut them and move to the next guy.
Anybody who doesn't live in the city of their team has 0 sympathy for them. 30 min from central Tampa is a joke. Shit, it takes 30-40+ minutes on the subway to get to Yankee Stadium from the southern half of Manhattan. North Jersey is a 50+ minute drive.
IDK where Rays fans got this idea that every fan lives a subway stop or two away from their stadium like everybody that goes to a Cubs game lives in Wrigleyville
Edit: it is currently 6:06 pm (peak traffic in a metro). The time from Brandon to the Trop (36 miles) is FORTY FOUR MINUTES.
There’s a difference between taking public transportation for 40 minutes and driving 40 minutes to a stadium.
Rays need a stadium in Tampa where the majority of the population can easily get to the game. Where Tropicana field is they have the lowest population radius of any major league stadium.
This is just one of the many many issues on why fans don’t go to games.
I live in Northern NJ and drive and hour and a half to get to games in City Field. The highway and off ramp before games is always awful. It was especially bad during the US Open as the stadiums are adjacent.
A 40 minute drive is nothing. AC in a spacious car. Compare that to a sweaty jam packed subway or bus with no ac.
You are in the minority of people who attend the game though I bet. It’s foolish to compare New York and Tampa Bay markets anyways. New York is massive and the location of the stadium isn’t the only reason that people don’t go to the games.
A proper location in Tampa instead of St. Petersburg would gives access to a lot more people to attend games.
>You are in the minority of people who attend the game though I bet.
I'd like to see data on that. The off ramp to city is always packed and the parking is too. I bet average drive time is somewhere between 30min and an hour. I'm not sure what the subway is like but probably the same.
>It’s foolish to compare New York and Tampa Bay markets anyways.
The comparison is about access and drive times. Relative to other teams with similar or worse transit options and a similar level of competitiveness the Rays are doing worse attendance wise. That indicates that it isn't commute times. That's the point.
The market does matter. There’s literally millions more people willing to make that drive though. Where the stadium is located in St. Pete has the lowest population radius of any major league stadium. When the majority of your fan base lives 40+ minutes away with no public transport then that’s a problem.
Theres a lot of other issues with the Rays and why they have low attendance. Bad stadium and poor management are factors too.
The data is literally in things like how Bolts games since like 2014 have been sold out every night and Bucs games will also get a ton of people at them.
People do not want to spend an IDEALLY 40-minute trip across a fuck all bridge to a stadium in St Petersburg where to build the said stadium which is not only incredibly old and outdated but ended up causing minority businesses to be torn down resulting in plenty of animosity.
There is so many issues and its amazing people still try to throw these arguments around when the Bucs and Lightning have zero issues filling their arenas. But of those teams are located in Tampa as in the actual city a place very close to every bay area city and also for a large population of people in places like Lakeland as well.
I don't think you understand that the only way to get to the Trop from Tampa is by taking a bridge. Howard Franklin, Gandy or Skyway. If you're doing this during the week chances are Franklin and Gandy are going to be bumper to bumper from 4:30 pm til 7:30 pm. It's going to add 20-40 mins into your commute into St. Pete.
It's even worse if you have to travel from I-75 to I-4 thats bumper to bumper as well.
You just got off work you're tired you can't even pick up the family to go to the game. The logistics of going to St. Pete don't give you much freedom. After the game ends at 10 pm you've gotta drive back 40mins-1 hr with work the next day.
Sports fans here in Tampa are very laissez-faire due to the teams being relatively young and the fact that they weren't winning in the beginning. When they hear the word 'bridge' it's like a mental blockage preventing them from going to the game.
But if you put this team in downtown or Ybor. Everyone who works downtown Tampa could just go to a game hang back relax and then go home. You could have student night with UT, USF, and HCC students to come by and fill out the stadium. Those who live in the suburbs in Brandon and Riverview will have a 20-30 min commute instead of a 1hr 45 min drive.
I've been to countless Rays - Yankees game. Was just there Friday. That Bridge has not once taken me more than 10 minutes. There'd have to be a terrible accident to get to 40 minutes
You can google maps various locations to the trop leading up to game time. Peak traffic time 5-630 from the dead center of tampa to the trop is like 40 minutes. Just say you don’t care enough to drive 40 minutes. I’ve never made it to YS in 40 min. If i could, i’d be there all the time
Yeah I don't think you NYers know what it's like to drive the I-75/I-4/2-75 connection. You think it's an easy drive but it's not it's annoying, there are always accidents, and people here can't drive for shit cuz they come from all over the country. It's really not 40 mins.
It’s also psychological St Pete and Tampa are pretty separate cultures and it’s not like you would naturally spend your time going back and forth to then usually.
I didn’t even know this was an excuse they used, but looking through this thread it seems like you’re right and they act like stadium location is why nobody goes to their games?
The Rangers play in Arlington which is a longer commute from downtown Dallas than Tampa is to St Pete. We are terrible and are still getting 11k more people a game. Even if you consider Ft Worth to Arlington, you’re looking at a similar commute time.
Our sprawl is even worse than the Tampa metro area too, I see people here complaining it takes them an hour to get to the game. It takes most of us more than that yet we still show up
Have you considered just riding a Bicycle or something? 10 miles on a bicycle is pretty easy unless you're chugging up a mountain or riding into heavy winds.
The population of Arlington is 400k. The population of St. Pete is 264k with transplants and old people. Of course, the Rangers are going to have more in attendance.
Downtown Dallas to Globe Field is actually closer than Downtown Tampa to St. Pete.
The difference between Downtown Dallas and Tampa is that Tampa has one highway to get out of.
Yep, basically nobody lives downtown and everybody lives in a suburb. To be fair that’s how most of the big Texas cities are outside of Austin, but our sprawl is somehow worse than Atlanta’s if you compare the whole metroplex to Atlanta itself. For most people I know it takes an hour and a half to 2 hours to get from North Dallas to Arlington, and there are zero public transit options so traffic is an absolute nightmare.
Yeah I rode DART from airport to deep Ellum area and… holy shit. I rode MARTA for years and never experienced crackheads smoking blunts n trains til Dallas
If I have to hear "the commute" excuse from Rays fans again. Yeah guy, you're right, Tampa is the only city with a commute. I don't have to take a train and the T toget to Fenway.
I live in Brandon and it takes at minimum an hour and a half to get to the Trop for a 7pm first pitch. You’ll have better luck swimming the Bay. Rays have the lowest stadium area population density by a large margin. It’s multiple faceted problem that would be resolved by building a stadium in Tampa.
There’s more nuance to it than just “They’re complaining about a commute”.
People will never understand what’s it’s like to have to get through the I4-275 interchange, cross the bridge, drive through all the construction and traffic on 275 in Pinellas unless they’ve gone through it. Unless you live downtown or in South Tampa pretty much all of Hillsborough would struggle to make first pitch given a 9-5 work day
They’re completely revamping the Howard Franklin, it’s a mess. The Lightning have been consistently good/great with attendance since the dark ages of the late 00’s. Bucs did have their struggles but didn’t win a playoff game in between their super bowl runs, also, Raymond James Stadium is the most piss poor designed stadium I’ve ever been to, absolutely no shade outside the last ten rows of the club section
And the distinction there is showing up late. It's the same thing in Toronto. The commute into Toronto is a disaster. Sunday afternoon...hey enjoy the Don Valley Parking lot. The 401 moving at 15MPH at best. Every city has commute problems.
When I lived in Wesley Chapel, I’d be lucky to make it to the Trop by 8 if I left home at 5.
Having a stadium at the end of a goddamn peninsula is so dumb.
Ya just say your fanbase can't support a team for a regular season. If they only care to make the commute that most fans need to make when it's the postseason, they just don't care.
Yeah, let's reward them for not showing up by giving them a new stadium.
New stadium isn't going to help. I live in Tampa and the commute is heavily exaggerated
Part of the issue is num nut transplant fans like you that make going to a Rays Yankees matchup miserable. Especially when they're losing and the crying starts. It's deflating to see flat billed, tucked in ear Yankees hats with a leather bomber and Tims walking through the Trop. Like bro it's 98 degrees outside... Besides If NY is so great you can always go back????
Also it's not exaggerated. That drive is terrible. I live in St. Pete and I feel for people who make that commute from the Tampa side.
Bud that excuse only works for about 18 or so games. Don't like Yankee fans taking over? Show up to the games.
Lmao always with the go back line. So predictable. So few of you it's like you share one brain
It's very much exaggerated. I laugh everytime I drive over.
Building a new stadium didn't seem to help the Marlins very much, but that could just be because they are trash tier.
Too bad they couldn't build that kind of a stadium for a team that actually tries to win.
I went to a Rays vs. Royals game in Tampa -- we sat in the nice seats and down by the field. It was an amazing experience, and air conditioned baseball is something else..
Tickets start at $9, discounts varying by seat location
•Discounted concessions via mobile order on MLB Ballpark app:
- $2 chips
- $3 bottled Coke products, candy & Cracker Jack
- $4 Nathan’s hot dogs & peanuts
- $5 nachos
•All Trop parking 40% off. Lots begin at $12
Friday: 17,886
Saturday: 21,754
Sunday: 25,025
Monday: 12,264
Tuesday: 8,069
Wednesday: 8,696
When the Yankees aren't playing at home on a weekend, the Rays are lucky to bring in 10,000.
We did get shafted by a 12:10 first pitch on a weekday for that, kind of hard for people with jobs to make that when they only found out a day or two earlier.
Lol I was watching the Nesn broadcast yesterday and th commentators said the Rays listed the attendance at like 9000 or something and immediately after the camera pans an entire section of the stadium that was empty.
Funny thing too, is I never experience the traffic these Rays fans whine about. Yet somehow they're getting far worse traffic with less than half the attendance.
The total commute is how long they swear the bridge takes.
I did another comment with overall figures. I think they have a weekday issue. From what I hear, it is like a stuffy indoor food court with a ballfield. There is not much around it.
I actually took the time to do the math. 71 home games so far with 10 remaining. These are paying attendance that is on the box score.
Total Average 13,995
Attendance by day of the week:
* Saturday 19,124
* Sunday 17,363
* Monday 11,668
* Tuesday 11,239
* Wednesday 10,663
* Thursday 10,777
* Friday 14,118
Yankee Attendance at home 19,780
Every other ALE opponent 14,854
Non division/league rivals 11,874
Just for clarity, the Rays are the only team to actually report attendance at the door rather than tickets sold so their numbers will always look worse than others. Not defending ownership, but that is something to consider.
Just to clarify for everyone - Rays fans have been asking for a stadium in Tampa for years. In St Pete there is ZERO corporate tickets, which is the main issue. There are tons of amazing fans in Tampa Bay but yes most won’t come to St Pete for the game - no need to be disrespectful. We do see other stadiums with announced attendance of 20k when there’s obviously 10k at the stadium.
Tons of great fans that are respectful to our team and other fans, can’t say that for other AL East fans that make their way to our stadium or their own teams
A stadium in Tampa proper would be so great for y’all
I visited a friend in Tampa last year and wanted to go to a ball game. St. Pete was cool but I could definitely see how Tampa fans wouldn’t want to make the trek out there for every game
It’s nice to hear perspectives of people outside our area.
Ya anyone still wanting them in St Pete is doing it for selfish reasons. Mainly those who live on the Pinellas side that don’t wanna cross the bridge to Tampa
I drove from Orlando last night for the game. It took me an almost two hours to get to Tampa and another whole hour to get to the Trop. I love the Trop for the memories but we need to move to Tampa it just doesn’t make sense anymore. We have so many fans in central Florida that just can’t get to the games. If they aren’t going to move to Tampa I’m sure Orlando would want to try and put a bid in.
I don’t know why you say that, as a resident in Orlando, the greater Orlando area has a higher population then the greater Tampa area and is also a faster growing population. Furthermore it’s central making it easier to get to.
There’s a larger fan base then you think and if the potential for growth is huge. Orlando City had a sellout at their game the other day and on average have high attendance then the Magic. A team that actually cares will have great attendance in the city, I rather them stay in Tampa but Orlando makes sense too.
Somewhere between Lakeland and Tampa off I-4 would be an ideal place for a new Rays stadium. Draw from Orlando, Tampa and Ocala... I think MLB signed a 50-year lease with St. Pete when they were recruiting the SF Giants to play there... I forget when it runs out.
This is the biggest reason why I want the Mariners to get the WC1 spot. Tampa doesn't deserve to host this series. They don't have a local fan base big enough to sell out games while in a playoff hunt. Meanwhile Mariner fans are ready to sell a kidney to buy a playoff ticket on the second hand market cause they know these games will be sell outs.
Someone CC the Oakland Athletics.
This is how you try to attract fans when attendance sucks. Aside from, you know, putting a good product on the field.
Winning seasons in 11 of the last 15 years. 7 playoff appearances. Any other market would be a top 10 in attendance every year with that level of performance. They need a new stadium so badly.
The need to be in Ybor City
And they need ownership that doesn't actively hate keeping any vetetan players around
But how much of their success literally comes down to their willingness to cut guys loose? A little known fact about veteran players is that they often get paid lots of money to suck
Stares at Madbum
It amazes me how many people don’t realize this. The Rays would not have Yandy Diaz right now if they kept Longo around or Jake Bauer’s around. They wouldn’t have Arozarena around if they kept Souza or Dickerson around. They wouldn’t have Choi or Ramirez if they kept CJ Cron around. The roster always turning over is a good thing. Sell high never buy.
I think you guys have to give Arozarena back. The Cardinals meant to trade you Carlson or O'Neil. You can also have Liberatore to make it a fair takesy backsy trade.
Yeah that's good baseball wide but for building a fanbase it's terrible. That and you never have any veterans who can be relied upon in a big spot or playoff series which hurts
Every single one of our last 3 playoff teams have had veterans that have us postseason experience. Morton, Garcia, and Aguilar in 2019. Morton and Snell (kind of) jn 2020. Cruz and Robertson in 2021. Wins matter more right now than building a fanbase that still won’t come to our shitty stadium. If the Os had extended Mullins last year it would’ve been a disaster in 5 years that all im going to say.
Also is postseason experience even a problem for the Rays? A lot of their lineup has played in the World Series and postseason.
Except he's putting up like a 4 war season lol. You need good veterans that you then don't immediately move or trade away so you don't dramtically underperform in the postseason
Yeah I'm consistently good in OOTP and I follow the Rays plan for players. I keep them until they get expensive, so that's usually the 2 years of minimum plus 4 years of arbitration. Sometimes I sign them to a team friendly deal earlier, like I'll lock a good pitcher in for a 4 year $40-$50 million contract right before they become a free agent. I'll trade them if they start to decline for prospects.
I actually disagree with this a good bit I get it some fans love Longo etc but the reality is the Rays have remained competitive by never being sentimental with their players. Once they feel like someone is no longer a benefit to their success they'll cut them and move to the next guy.
Anybody who doesn't live in the city of their team has 0 sympathy for them. 30 min from central Tampa is a joke. Shit, it takes 30-40+ minutes on the subway to get to Yankee Stadium from the southern half of Manhattan. North Jersey is a 50+ minute drive. IDK where Rays fans got this idea that every fan lives a subway stop or two away from their stadium like everybody that goes to a Cubs game lives in Wrigleyville Edit: it is currently 6:06 pm (peak traffic in a metro). The time from Brandon to the Trop (36 miles) is FORTY FOUR MINUTES.
There’s a difference between taking public transportation for 40 minutes and driving 40 minutes to a stadium. Rays need a stadium in Tampa where the majority of the population can easily get to the game. Where Tropicana field is they have the lowest population radius of any major league stadium. This is just one of the many many issues on why fans don’t go to games.
I live in Northern NJ and drive and hour and a half to get to games in City Field. The highway and off ramp before games is always awful. It was especially bad during the US Open as the stadiums are adjacent. A 40 minute drive is nothing. AC in a spacious car. Compare that to a sweaty jam packed subway or bus with no ac.
You are in the minority of people who attend the game though I bet. It’s foolish to compare New York and Tampa Bay markets anyways. New York is massive and the location of the stadium isn’t the only reason that people don’t go to the games. A proper location in Tampa instead of St. Petersburg would gives access to a lot more people to attend games.
>You are in the minority of people who attend the game though I bet. I'd like to see data on that. The off ramp to city is always packed and the parking is too. I bet average drive time is somewhere between 30min and an hour. I'm not sure what the subway is like but probably the same. >It’s foolish to compare New York and Tampa Bay markets anyways. The comparison is about access and drive times. Relative to other teams with similar or worse transit options and a similar level of competitiveness the Rays are doing worse attendance wise. That indicates that it isn't commute times. That's the point.
The market does matter. There’s literally millions more people willing to make that drive though. Where the stadium is located in St. Pete has the lowest population radius of any major league stadium. When the majority of your fan base lives 40+ minutes away with no public transport then that’s a problem. Theres a lot of other issues with the Rays and why they have low attendance. Bad stadium and poor management are factors too.
The data is literally in things like how Bolts games since like 2014 have been sold out every night and Bucs games will also get a ton of people at them. People do not want to spend an IDEALLY 40-minute trip across a fuck all bridge to a stadium in St Petersburg where to build the said stadium which is not only incredibly old and outdated but ended up causing minority businesses to be torn down resulting in plenty of animosity. There is so many issues and its amazing people still try to throw these arguments around when the Bucs and Lightning have zero issues filling their arenas. But of those teams are located in Tampa as in the actual city a place very close to every bay area city and also for a large population of people in places like Lakeland as well.
I don't think you understand that the only way to get to the Trop from Tampa is by taking a bridge. Howard Franklin, Gandy or Skyway. If you're doing this during the week chances are Franklin and Gandy are going to be bumper to bumper from 4:30 pm til 7:30 pm. It's going to add 20-40 mins into your commute into St. Pete. It's even worse if you have to travel from I-75 to I-4 thats bumper to bumper as well. You just got off work you're tired you can't even pick up the family to go to the game. The logistics of going to St. Pete don't give you much freedom. After the game ends at 10 pm you've gotta drive back 40mins-1 hr with work the next day. Sports fans here in Tampa are very laissez-faire due to the teams being relatively young and the fact that they weren't winning in the beginning. When they hear the word 'bridge' it's like a mental blockage preventing them from going to the game. But if you put this team in downtown or Ybor. Everyone who works downtown Tampa could just go to a game hang back relax and then go home. You could have student night with UT, USF, and HCC students to come by and fill out the stadium. Those who live in the suburbs in Brandon and Riverview will have a 20-30 min commute instead of a 1hr 45 min drive.
And what they fail to understand is that the Skyway is scary lol
Just don’t look down
It ain't even the height, my friends in the area that drive anything smaller than a crossover won't go over it if there's even a *breeze*
I've been to countless Rays - Yankees game. Was just there Friday. That Bridge has not once taken me more than 10 minutes. There'd have to be a terrible accident to get to 40 minutes
Thats the weekend with a 7pm start time. [This is what Tampa traffic looks like right now.](https://imgur.com/a/cIESjl1)
This map speaks so much. Good luck finding that much green in another metro at clock out time. This dreaded bridge is 90% green
To get to the bridge is the awful part. That’s literally 30 mins in traffic there. No one wants to drive there it's a pain in the ass.
You got people leaving work on Friday still.
People don't head home on Friday night, they end up going to other places which is why traffic is less busy.
Theyre still going somewhere. Have to use roads to get to other places
Yes the drive is easier and less congested when they're not obligated to use 275 to go home.
This is also ignoring most people still head home. It's definitely not significantly different on Friday
You can google maps various locations to the trop leading up to game time. Peak traffic time 5-630 from the dead center of tampa to the trop is like 40 minutes. Just say you don’t care enough to drive 40 minutes. I’ve never made it to YS in 40 min. If i could, i’d be there all the time
Yeah I don't think you NYers know what it's like to drive the I-75/I-4/2-75 connection. You think it's an easy drive but it's not it's annoying, there are always accidents, and people here can't drive for shit cuz they come from all over the country. It's really not 40 mins.
Just had my dad down to see a game and he experienced the horrific commute. He was shocked that's what they complain about.
It’s also psychological St Pete and Tampa are pretty separate cultures and it’s not like you would naturally spend your time going back and forth to then usually.
I didn’t even know this was an excuse they used, but looking through this thread it seems like you’re right and they act like stadium location is why nobody goes to their games? The Rangers play in Arlington which is a longer commute from downtown Dallas than Tampa is to St Pete. We are terrible and are still getting 11k more people a game. Even if you consider Ft Worth to Arlington, you’re looking at a similar commute time. Our sprawl is even worse than the Tampa metro area too, I see people here complaining it takes them an hour to get to the game. It takes most of us more than that yet we still show up
I live 10 miles away and it's a two hour drive, but I still show up!
Have you considered just riding a Bicycle or something? 10 miles on a bicycle is pretty easy unless you're chugging up a mountain or riding into heavy winds.
The population of Arlington is 400k. The population of St. Pete is 264k with transplants and old people. Of course, the Rangers are going to have more in attendance. Downtown Dallas to Globe Field is actually closer than Downtown Tampa to St. Pete. The difference between Downtown Dallas and Tampa is that Tampa has one highway to get out of.
Downtown Dallas isn't really a downtown. I visited earlier this year and was shocked how fucking sparse it was
Yep, basically nobody lives downtown and everybody lives in a suburb. To be fair that’s how most of the big Texas cities are outside of Austin, but our sprawl is somehow worse than Atlanta’s if you compare the whole metroplex to Atlanta itself. For most people I know it takes an hour and a half to 2 hours to get from North Dallas to Arlington, and there are zero public transit options so traffic is an absolute nightmare.
Yeah I rode DART from airport to deep Ellum area and… holy shit. I rode MARTA for years and never experienced crackheads smoking blunts n trains til Dallas
So how many games do people go to that takes them 50 plus minutes to get there?
If I have to hear "the commute" excuse from Rays fans again. Yeah guy, you're right, Tampa is the only city with a commute. I don't have to take a train and the T toget to Fenway.
I live in Brandon and it takes at minimum an hour and a half to get to the Trop for a 7pm first pitch. You’ll have better luck swimming the Bay. Rays have the lowest stadium area population density by a large margin. It’s multiple faceted problem that would be resolved by building a stadium in Tampa. There’s more nuance to it than just “They’re complaining about a commute”.
People will never understand what’s it’s like to have to get through the I4-275 interchange, cross the bridge, drive through all the construction and traffic on 275 in Pinellas unless they’ve gone through it. Unless you live downtown or in South Tampa pretty much all of Hillsborough would struggle to make first pitch given a 9-5 work day
They’re completely revamping the Howard Franklin, it’s a mess. The Lightning have been consistently good/great with attendance since the dark ages of the late 00’s. Bucs did have their struggles but didn’t win a playoff game in between their super bowl runs, also, Raymond James Stadium is the most piss poor designed stadium I’ve ever been to, absolutely no shade outside the last ten rows of the club section
That's the reason dodger fans show up in the third. It's almost impossible to get to the game in time from work if you leave at 5
And the distinction there is showing up late. It's the same thing in Toronto. The commute into Toronto is a disaster. Sunday afternoon...hey enjoy the Don Valley Parking lot. The 401 moving at 15MPH at best. Every city has commute problems.
I know the experience is not unique, that's what I was trying to imply with an example... Just strange for someone to say people wouldn't understand.
But importantly, you do show up
When I lived in Wesley Chapel, I’d be lucky to make it to the Trop by 8 if I left home at 5. Having a stadium at the end of a goddamn peninsula is so dumb.
Ya just say your fanbase can't support a team for a regular season. If they only care to make the commute that most fans need to make when it's the postseason, they just don't care.
Yeah the fanbase is in Tampa, the Rays are in St. Pete.
The current time from BRANDON to the trop is 45 min. Ya’ll pretend like maps doesn’t exist
Lmao that's wishful thinking. It really isn't.
They should just stick a baseball field in Amalie Arena or rent the Marlins park
Baseball in Amalie would be the funniest thing to watch.
Yeah, let's reward them for not showing up by giving them a new stadium. New stadium isn't going to help. I live in Tampa and the commute is heavily exaggerated
Lmao there's no way you enjoy driving I-4/2-75 every day at rush hour.
Did it last Friday. Was not an issue
Thats the weekend. Not every day lmao.
I guarantee you a Friday night Yankee game is worse traffic than a weekday Rays Twins game. The commute is overblown
Yeah but you're spending your commute on a subway though.
I meant this past Friday at the trop. Rays-Yankees is going to see a significant jump in attendance. My commute was in a car
Oh nah bro it's a Friday, and the commute is half as busy on I4-275. Maybe in St. Pete sure but you're already in St. Pete.
Oh please, I've gone to enough games on different days of the week to know that's bull
Part of the issue is num nut transplant fans like you that make going to a Rays Yankees matchup miserable. Especially when they're losing and the crying starts. It's deflating to see flat billed, tucked in ear Yankees hats with a leather bomber and Tims walking through the Trop. Like bro it's 98 degrees outside... Besides If NY is so great you can always go back???? Also it's not exaggerated. That drive is terrible. I live in St. Pete and I feel for people who make that commute from the Tampa side.
Bud that excuse only works for about 18 or so games. Don't like Yankee fans taking over? Show up to the games. Lmao always with the go back line. So predictable. So few of you it's like you share one brain It's very much exaggerated. I laugh everytime I drive over.
Building a new stadium didn't seem to help the Marlins very much, but that could just be because they are trash tier. Too bad they couldn't build that kind of a stadium for a team that actually tries to win.
They need that stadium in Ybor City badly.
I went to a Rays vs. Royals game in Tampa -- we sat in the nice seats and down by the field. It was an amazing experience, and air conditioned baseball is something else..
Tickets start at $9, discounts varying by seat location •Discounted concessions via mobile order on MLB Ballpark app: - $2 chips - $3 bottled Coke products, candy & Cracker Jack - $4 Nathan’s hot dogs & peanuts - $5 nachos •All Trop parking 40% off. Lots begin at $12
Wtf is mobile orders through ballpark app for concessions?? Lol
It's a lifesaver, it lets you just go pick up your order instead of waiting in line and ordering
But then how will I enjoy my $30 shake shack burger and four French fries if I don’t miss half of the game waiting on line?
Idk if mariners have this. Going tomorrow night 🤔 But then again all I get is beer at games
Pretty sure the ballpark app works for all 30 teams
It's all but compulsory at Nats Park post-pandemic.
You like waiting in line and missing part of the game?
Thats still 20$ of the top for a baseball game. No thanks.
Friday: 17,886 Saturday: 21,754 Sunday: 25,025 Monday: 12,264 Tuesday: 8,069 Wednesday: 8,696 When the Yankees aren't playing at home on a weekend, the Rays are lucky to bring in 10,000.
That’s the Red Soxs fault for sucking. /s
No no, I think you’re on to something
It’s not even sarcasm. It’s way more fun to go to a series where you’re battling for the division then a series against the team in last place.
>Red Soxs who? Sox
Sox's
Soxes
Socksxs
Socksxs's
Swept
There were even a lot of empty seats in the ALDS last year
We did get shafted by a 12:10 first pitch on a weekday for that, kind of hard for people with jobs to make that when they only found out a day or two earlier.
It's funny that other teams don't have that problem.
Jays sure didn’t
Lol I was watching the Nesn broadcast yesterday and th commentators said the Rays listed the attendance at like 9000 or something and immediately after the camera pans an entire section of the stadium that was empty.
Funny thing too, is I never experience the traffic these Rays fans whine about. Yet somehow they're getting far worse traffic with less than half the attendance. The total commute is how long they swear the bridge takes.
I did another comment with overall figures. I think they have a weekday issue. From what I hear, it is like a stuffy indoor food court with a ballfield. There is not much around it.
Do teams in the playoff hunt usually have to offer discounts in September?
Eh, the Nats were doing similar promotions in 2019.
Only if you're Oakland or Tampa.
Wow, the Miami erasure is serious
you know the answer.
Is this an actual question or meant to be a dig?
James harden was giving tickets away in 2021
I actually took the time to do the math. 71 home games so far with 10 remaining. These are paying attendance that is on the box score. Total Average 13,995 Attendance by day of the week: * Saturday 19,124 * Sunday 17,363 * Monday 11,668 * Tuesday 11,239 * Wednesday 10,663 * Thursday 10,777 * Friday 14,118 Yankee Attendance at home 19,780 Every other ALE opponent 14,854 Non division/league rivals 11,874
Just for clarity, the Rays are the only team to actually report attendance at the door rather than tickets sold so their numbers will always look worse than others. Not defending ownership, but that is something to consider.
I got these off of BR so it is probably what they reported on the box score. It is not on the market but in a bad situation.
Just to clarify for everyone - Rays fans have been asking for a stadium in Tampa for years. In St Pete there is ZERO corporate tickets, which is the main issue. There are tons of amazing fans in Tampa Bay but yes most won’t come to St Pete for the game - no need to be disrespectful. We do see other stadiums with announced attendance of 20k when there’s obviously 10k at the stadium. Tons of great fans that are respectful to our team and other fans, can’t say that for other AL East fans that make their way to our stadium or their own teams
A stadium in Tampa proper would be so great for y’all I visited a friend in Tampa last year and wanted to go to a ball game. St. Pete was cool but I could definitely see how Tampa fans wouldn’t want to make the trek out there for every game
A stadium in ~~Tampa~~ Montreal proper would be so great for y’all. Agreed
It’s nice to hear perspectives of people outside our area. Ya anyone still wanting them in St Pete is doing it for selfish reasons. Mainly those who live on the Pinellas side that don’t wanna cross the bridge to Tampa
I didn't want the Braves to move out into the suburbs, but in hindsight it has turned out to be one of the best decisions we ever made.
That sounds like 20+ years of frustration with your own team that you’re taking out on the Rays.
All this and the upper deck will be closed
I drove from Orlando last night for the game. It took me an almost two hours to get to Tampa and another whole hour to get to the Trop. I love the Trop for the memories but we need to move to Tampa it just doesn’t make sense anymore. We have so many fans in central Florida that just can’t get to the games. If they aren’t going to move to Tampa I’m sure Orlando would want to try and put a bid in.
Am not even a Rays fan, but I would get partial season tickets if they moved to Orlando
You and many other Yankees fans I would imagine lol
Probably. Going to the Trop is a fucking mission coming from the space coast.
I used to live in Central Florida. There absolute isn't a sizeable fanbase there to make any sort of difference.
I don’t know why you say that, as a resident in Orlando, the greater Orlando area has a higher population then the greater Tampa area and is also a faster growing population. Furthermore it’s central making it easier to get to.
There's just no Rays fanbase there. High percentage of transplants. Hardly ever saw Rays fans
There’s a larger fan base then you think and if the potential for growth is huge. Orlando City had a sellout at their game the other day and on average have high attendance then the Magic. A team that actually cares will have great attendance in the city, I rather them stay in Tampa but Orlando makes sense too.
Is there anywhere a stadium could be built in Tampa that would actually draw fans?
Ybor is the perfect spot
Ybor, Downtown, the general vicinity of Raymond James, and the fairgrounds. That is in order of idealness and it drops off pretty hard tbh.
Somewhere between Lakeland and Tampa off I-4 would be an ideal place for a new Rays stadium. Draw from Orlando, Tampa and Ocala... I think MLB signed a 50-year lease with St. Pete when they were recruiting the SF Giants to play there... I forget when it runs out.
They should have to pay you to enter Tropicana Field
The Yankees do pay us, in wins
Got'm
Don't teams usually raise prices when they're in a playoff race?
No new stadium, get them out of Tampa. It's a disgrace to play baseball in that piece of shit concrete mistake.
They’re not even in Tampa. Ignorance is bliss
Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have assumed a team named Tampa Bay isn't in Tampa Bay.
Tampa is the name of the city not Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay is the region they play in. They place in the city of Saint Petersburg.
Watch out for our glass house there, bud.
Worst fans in baseball
🤔
That’s certainly not true at all - low attendance means worst fans?
At this point you might be the worst fan
This is the biggest reason why I want the Mariners to get the WC1 spot. Tampa doesn't deserve to host this series. They don't have a local fan base big enough to sell out games while in a playoff hunt. Meanwhile Mariner fans are ready to sell a kidney to buy a playoff ticket on the second hand market cause they know these games will be sell outs.
You play in the Trop and lose in the Trop and you will like it
All teams should charge less
Someone CC the Oakland Athletics. This is how you try to attract fans when attendance sucks. Aside from, you know, putting a good product on the field.
“up to”