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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Nationals On Pace to Set Attendance Low for New Ballpark
With two games left at home, the Washington Nationals are on the cusp of having the worst opening-year attendance of any new ballpark in the Camden Yards era – the period of rapid ballpark construction beginning after Oriole Park at Camden Yards was opened in 1992 and the incredible success it generated for the team. And, while Camden Yards is considered the ballpark – the gold standard, if you will – of the throwback ballpark craze that has swept MLB, it really got moving with the White Sox’ New Comiskey Park, or as it is now called, U.S. Cellular Field.
As I said, there is a mathematical chance that the Nationals will not own this dubious distinction. 58,158 fans is all that separates attendance at Nationals Park from the worst first-year attendance of all the stadiums which opened in the last 17 years, the Reds’ Great American Ball Park that opened in 2003. That year, the Reds had paid attendance of 2,355,259. With two games left to play in Nationals Park, the Nats have drawn an anemic 2,297,101. In their last four games, three of which were played on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – traditionally the best days of the week for attendance – the Nationals have averaged 26,585. That same average in their two remaining games against the Marlins would not be enough to keep Nationals Park from becoming the worst attended new ballpark opening since 1991.
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1. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: September 24, 2008 at 03:18 PM (#2952739)I think you have to slowly but surely build bonds with the fan base.
That's very difficult to do if you have a sucky team, even if the fan base is grateful to have a team, and even if your new stadium is great (though obviously having a great stadium is better than playing in Joe Robbie or the Trop) and accessible (I've read some complaints about the accessibility of the Nats stadium, since it can only be reached by one subway line).
Having written the above, the Nats will still get 2.3 MM fans this year. That's a little less than 30K per game, which is not exactly Olympic Stadium at its worst, you know.....
Edit: And of course the Senators II peaked at 918,106, so this is a bit of an improvement.
On paper it's not that difficult, but within the context of living/working/commuting in and around DC, it's kind of a pain in the butt. Most people don't live on the green line, most people don't ever take the green line, and that stop on the metro just flat out sucks. It really should be designed so the doors open on both sides of the train. But, you know, they only had 3 years to get it right...
Driving isn't so bad if you have 2 or more people- the cheap lot is $15; only problem is it's hidden beneath an overpass and is kind of hard to find.
EDIT: It's entirely possible I'm just being a lazy bastard; I typically have a no transfer policy- if I can't get there on foot or on the red line, I'm either driving or not going.
But jmurph has a point when saying "most people don't ever take the green line." It begins, and ends, in Prince George's County, the poor relation of D.C. suburbs; about the only place of note it goes to other than the ballpark (and downtown D.C.) is the University of Maryland, and even then it's not all that close to the campus. One wonders how attendance might be had the other main site for the ballpark been used, near New York and Florida avenues off the red line, which begins and ends in far wealthier Montgomery County, Md., and has substantially more ridership than the green line.
Nah, it's a combination of monumental impatience and extreme laziness. Though, perhaps paradoxically, I don't mind walking from the Eastern Market stop if I'm going straight from work.
My friend and I prepaid for that lot, then proceeded to drive in circles for 15 minutes or so looking for it. Nobody on the street had ever heard of it, and there didn't seem to be any signs. Outstanding.
Fort Totten (above ground) when the weather's nice, Gallery Place (underground) when it's not.
A lot of the neighborhoods on the Green Line are up and coming - Penn Quarter, U Street, Columbia Heights - and it does have Greenbelt Station, a giant commuter lot that's right off I-95 and is generally the stop of choice for commuters from Greater Baltimore and other points northeast of DC. (Of course, you'd expect people who live towards Baltimore to be less interested in the Nats than other area residents.)
I ride a bike to the stadium and use the free valet. It's awesome.
Shhh! A lot of people are looking for a reason right about now...
It's not really true of Fenway. You can take the B, C, or D lines to Kenmore, St. Mary's, or Fenway, respectively.
When I was at Fenway, I just parked at the big shopping mall thingy they have and walked to the stadium and then drove right onto the freeway and out of town afterwards. It wasn't bad. I had an easy time of it in Boston.
I come in off the Yellow Line from VA; it's not the transfer there (though it's usually hideously crowded), it's the ride home--when Metro employees insist you keep moving down the platform, even past where the train will actually end; when they tell you to move down, as there are half-empty cars, and then close them before you can get there; when the Yellow line doesn't come for 25 minutes at L'Enfant on a weekday game night.
Alright, the last was true when they played at RFK anyway. But with two lines going in there, some of the initial crush was divided up (going to and coming from.)
Anyway, Metro does not make gameday particularly pleasant. I would tend to agree though that the Nats on the field not making gameday particularly pleasant is a bigger factor. Check out the Capitals attendance this year; the town will support a winner, but will ignore a non-Potatoes loser.
Capital (no pun intended) idea! During the presidential inauguration (no matter who wins ... humanity would be better off without the parasites who attend these absurd events) &/or while Congress is in session would, of course, be preferable.
oops, National League,
forget it, last in the Major Leagues.
The shotgun marriage of Washington Nationals president Stan Kasten and general manager Jim Bowden should end soon.
According to several major league officials, Kasten wanted to fire a member of the Nationals' scouting staff for an embarrassing display in the press box before a game at Colorado. The scout loudly and profanely criticized the Rockies' player-development operation. Bowden convinced ownership to keep the scout in question.
That showed Kasten that he lacked the authority to do the job as he did with Atlanta. As Braves president, Kasten was an unheralded hero for the manner in which he brought order to the organization and allowed the baseball operation to do its job without outside interference.
The Nationals desperately needed the same type of leadership. If Kasten leaves, as expected, it will be a huge setback for an organization mired in chaos. That seems to be Bowden's preferred manner of operation.
And the hits just keep on comin'!
Bowden over Kastens? Wow. Is Bowden the new Millen?
Not exactly. Millen got fired today.
That's what I mean. We need someone to take Millen's place as the most inexplicably employed gm of a major sports team.
Because he picked them in the first place?
And, because he picked Kasten to be with them, I'm just guessing that Kasten won't in fact being going anywhere. Just a hunch.
What's he going to do, use his commissioner powers to reverse the earth's spin and let George Soros buy the team or just keep them in Montreal? Seems likes Bud's made his bed here.
What do you mean?
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