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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Washington Post/Boswell: A Rooting Interest in the Bottom Line (RR)

To some, the capacity crowds at Nationals Park this week for Red Sox games have been a heart-lifting sight. This is what baseball in Washington was always supposed to be: a roaring crowd of about 41,000 in a beautiful ballpark on a perfect, balmy summer night.

To others, the sold-out scene has been an embarrassment for loyal local fans of the Nats, who watch as zealots of the visiting Red Sox occupy one-half of the seats and easily out-cheer the home crowd. It’s a sight with which they are all too familiar. At the home opener, Phillies fans, invited to come on down by team president Stan Kasten, made a full house of 40,386 possible. Since then, vocal fans of the Mets, Phils and Orioles have also helped the Nats have five healthy crowds that averaged more than 30,000. In three weeks, Cubs fans will occupy Nats Park and make it feel like the Unfriendly Confines to Washington fans.

But there is another perspective: the view from the owner’s box. Those invading fans sure do make the turnstiles spin. The poor Nats, all they do is rake in the money. As far as they care, root for anybody you want, as long as you buy a ticket. And have a $6 beer.

Coot Veal and Cot Deal Posted: June 25, 2009 at 07:09 AM | 19 comment(s)
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1. Hector Moreda & The Generalissimo Posted: June 25, 2009 at 09:11 AM (#3232378)

Half the seats? That's an optimistic assessment - from a Nats fan perspective. 90% of the lower bowl was standing and applauding Ortiz's home run, and Ellsbury's catch on Zimmerman's shot in the 7th.

But Boz is right. The management doesn't care, as long as the green keeps rolling in.

2. Answer Guy Posted: June 25, 2009 at 09:17 AM (#3232386)

But Boz is right. The management doesn't care, as long as the green keeps rolling in.

The draw of road opponents, whether it's the road team's fans or casual fans who just want to see a high-profile franchise, is a fact of the life of the game. You see it in every stadium, even Fenway Park, at least when the Yankees are in town.

DC would also get this more than most places both as a popular tourist destination and as a city full of transplants from elsewhere.

3. Hector Moreda & The Generalissimo Posted: June 25, 2009 at 09:24 AM (#3232399)

Oh no arguments there. There's a huge northeast presence in D.C. It's part of the reason that the Orioles games have ended up the same way over the last 10 years. It's not just the people flying from Manchester or Providence to BWI, or driving/training down from NY or Philly, it's the college students/people that had moved down to the D.C. area as well.

Unfortunately, the same thing doesn't occur for a lot of the other games. Even coming off the series win over the Yanks, the streaking Nats couldn't get more than half-full for the first Toronto game on a beautiful Friday night.

4. Schilling's Sprained Ankiel Posted: June 25, 2009 at 09:26 AM (#3232405)

I want to know where Boswell is finding that $6 beer.

5. Answer Guy Posted: June 25, 2009 at 09:29 AM (#3232407)

I want to know where Boswell is finding that $6 beer.

There's lots of places to get a $6 beer in DC. I don't think Nats Park is one. Maybe Boswell gets a discount and is clueless that other people don't get it.

6. Ryan Jones Posted: June 25, 2009 at 09:32 AM (#3232411)

You can get a $6 beer at the Rogers Centre. Granted, it's the size of a dixie cup, but you can still get one.

7. Smiling Joe Hesketh Posted: June 25, 2009 at 09:43 AM (#3232424)

The draw of road opponents, whether it's the road team's fans or casual fans who just want to see a high-profile franchise, is a fact of the life of the game. You see it in every stadium, even Fenway Park, at least when the Yankees are in town.

Mets too; tons of Mets fans at Fenway for that series.

8. Smiling Joe Hesketh Posted: June 25, 2009 at 09:46 AM (#3232430)

The draw of road opponents, whether it's the road team's fans or casual fans who just want to see a high-profile franchise, is a fact of the life of the game. You see it in every stadium, even Fenway Park, at least when the Yankees are in town.

Mets too; tons of Mets fans at Fenway for that series.

9. Millon deFloss Posted: June 25, 2009 at 10:09 AM (#3232451)

Boz's knowledge of finance seems to be on the same par with the $6 beer. Debt service (not addressed in the highlighted portion) is part of running a business, or a household.

I guess he thinks the Lerner's et. al have a magical pot of "debt service money" coming from somewhere, well, magical.

The fact is that they leveraged part of the purchase price of the club through debt, the bill has to be paid, and it comes out of club revenues.

10. SoSH U at work Posted: June 25, 2009 at 10:09 AM (#3232453)

DC would also get this more than most places both as a popular tourist destination and as a city full of transplants from elsewhere.

Our D.C.-visiting family did its part, rooting for the Nats when we took in a game against the Pirates last month.

They still lost.

11. GotowarMissAgnes Posted: June 25, 2009 at 10:42 AM (#3232510)

This list from Nats320 suggest y'all owe Bos an apology (if you consider some of those "beer"):

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_D-LlI9f-pQo/SdaKjI1vK2I/AAAAAAAAQbQ/tvyvedVlRBo/s1600-h/IMG_0247.JPG

12. Brian Posted: June 25, 2009 at 10:45 AM (#3232518)

For a tourist-drawing city this model makes a lot of sense. People won't make the trip to DC to see their team (Outside of the Phil-NY-Bos corridor folks) but may take in a ballgame at night when there is little to do for a familiy in DC. It's a good fit for Summer when the leaches go back home (for a good chunk of the Summer anyway) or on a junket somewhere to escape the beastly heat.

13. Answer Guy Posted: June 25, 2009 at 10:46 AM (#3232520)

I guess those things technically count as beer. I'm just so used to sticker shock at that place that when it was suggested that beer was more than $6, I was more than ready to believe it.

14. Chris Needham Posted: June 25, 2009 at 10:47 AM (#3232521)

[9]I think the point he's making is that they don't have $40 million in debt service.

They're not, it seems, paying down just the minimum. If that's true, good for them, but it is contrary, somewhat, to the impression they've given in their statements (that only an idiot would've believed anyway) that they were pumping all their money back into the team.

15. Petunia: Pursuing a Prurient Pastime, All the Time Posted: June 25, 2009 at 02:12 PM (#3232983)

On the BTF front page the link to this thread was "A Rooting Interest in the Bottom" and I thought it'd be an article about Strasburg and Harper.

16. Joey B. Posted: June 25, 2009 at 02:18 PM (#3232997)

I want to know where Boswell is finding that $6 beer.

You can get them at the bargain basement price of just $5 in the Bullpen Beer Garden right across from the main gate, but you can't take them back outside.

I always make sure to slam down a couple before heading into the park.

17. cardsfanboy

Posted: June 25, 2009 at 02:26 PM (#3233027)

I'm not sure I'm understanding this, the team is using fans of other teams to fund it's future roster construction and someone is complaining? Right now the team can't draw it's own fans it makes perfect sense, especially in Washington DC to attempt and lure visitors from other teams to the stadium. The bottom line thinking is good for fans of the team, while you suck, you make money to pay for when you may actually be good and needing a free agent.

18. Chris Needham Posted: June 25, 2009 at 05:06 PM (#3233306)

His point is that the team isn't making any serious efforts to draw in their own fans -- that they'll be able to sit back and count on the visitors (along with the way overpriced TV contract) to make all the money they'll need to run things on the cheap.

19. Tom Nawrocki Posted: June 25, 2009 at 05:21 PM (#3233319)

On the BTF front page the link to this thread was "A Rooting Interest in the Bottom" and I thought it'd be an article about Strasburg and Harper.

I thought it was about Kim Kardashian.

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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Washington Post/Boswell: A Rooting Interest in the Bottom Line (RR)

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