Wasn't really asking, just adding hyperbole to the situation but who is really keeping track? lol No extra innings games this year, should be telling when you have the scoreless droughts this team has had.
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MLB ATTENDANCE LOWS
- Thread starter BGCATFAN2012
- Start date
Baseball 30 for 30: how Reds fans became Red Birds?
It’s an idea I’ve been trying to get people on board.
I don’t know. My guess is they are up versus in person attendance in the last 10 years.
My uncle & cousin are lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fans, born and raised there. It would be hard to justify my fandom as jumping now would be on false pretenses based on winning and a true fair weather fan. Then again, we've all suffered long enough and the Reds deserve it.
Definitely an interesting dynamic, one I’m not crazy about. On a national scale it is quite specialized and diluted which sucks. Especially with peripheral events like the Derby, Indy 500, US Open Tennis etc….people that weren’t particularly interested in those things still paid attention to those headliner events.
On a youth and local level sports seem to be booming…..Mid America hoops is booked to the hilt all the time, youth baseball doing well, etc.
I coach youth football and it is thriving at our school….we are looking at 45-50 kids on our 7/8 team, 40 for 5/6, 40 for 3/4, and roughly 30 for mighty mite 1/2 grade. Really exploded through and after The Cove….it’s awesome. Frankly the numbers prolly a little too high but never going to complain about that as it was a third less prior.
That being said even football which is king has been hurt by lacrosse, soccer, concussion talk (a lot of which is unfounded at the youth level….the adaption of USA Football rules and penalties for targeting etc have been hugely positive). Frankly just been a flight of surburbanish hens keeping their little Jaxon’s and Braydon’s out of this incredible game.
My middle son plays lacrosse in the spring as a fun compliment to football in the fall and loves it….and it is fun for sure. But the Hen contingent thinking it’s safer for lil Kaedon than football at the youth level is comical at best….they drill each other and whack each other in the helmet all the time [laughing]
Sorry for the digress just think it’s an interesting topic that’s changed pretty dynamically since we were kids….and let you sons try football if they want to you Hens if you’re reading….which you likely are not lols.
The Reds finally hold a lead after an inning for the 1st time in 2 weeks! It's all about the moral victories, baby steps with this team 
TV Money + revenue sharing = owners make money regardless so they don’t need fans to make money if they have a low payroll
The odd thing about the attendance is I'm pretty sure that SNY (the Mets regional network) said that their ratings were the highest ever so far.
So people while they might not be going are still very much watching.
Which goes back to the whole expense issue.
So people while they might not be going are still very much watching.
Which goes back to the whole expense issue.
Hahaha I thought about all the teams I rooted for.
My conclusion was that UK is basically the only sports team I have that I can count on being good. Well for the most part lol.
You don’t find that exciting to go see? Well where else you going to go. With fewer wins, homers etc., the Reds are saving on the fireworks budget too.
People are trying to budget in this period of crappy inflation. Baseball, like other pro sports, is way too expensive for the average family and probably an early budget cut because a lot of people find it boring. Over-priced athletes doing something truly exciting about 5% of the game.
And/or the time/convenience factor too. We're a society that doesn't like to be inconvenienced in even the slightest way and value our time. You want to watch baseball. Do you want to drive to the park, take the time to park and walk in close to time for the first pitch, or do you want to get there early to watch batting practice? I'd guess for most people, a day at the ballpark will consume 5+ hours of your day. If it's a night game, you're probably getting home past 11:00 PM. If you watch on TV, you tune in at 7:00, and you're ready for bed in your normal time frame.
Really resonates with me at the moment, I promised myself I would buy tickets and go to the Breeders Cup at Keeneland this November. But not going to sit outside on the Hill, or at an indoor table, I want a trackside seat to watch the races.
But . . . those start at $589 apiece. OUCH!! I suppose I can afford that if I wanted, but it is way more than I want to pay.
I do, but that is probably double what I would expect to wager that day, not taking $2000 with me to the track.
But . . . it is an international event, and no doubt they will sell out.
It will sell out, and the amount of people there that don't know a horse from a goat will make it miserable, just like any beautiful Saturday spring meet. I am old enough (like you...lol) to remember when people used to go to Keeneland to watch the races. It wasn't a social venue.
I was there last time....it was interesting, given the magnitude of the races being held, but at the end of the day, they were still just horse races I was betting on. I won't go again unless I get a free invite.
Yeah its Braves Cards Yanks will never have that problem. But a MLB team that has 2500 only show up is in trouble. Might not hurt yet but they will be file bankruptcy soon.
My two cents:
- People complain about the pace of the game but I'm never really bored, especially with RISP, even with 2 outs. Football, with it's 20 stoppages per game for video replay is much worse. To each their own.
- Getting rid of the shift next season will help a lot, along with proposed pitch clocks.
- It's a crime what has happened to the Reds. I used to hate them when they were in the NL West with my Dodgers, but now I just feel sorry for them and their fans. Until people stop watching them on TV the owners won't care. TV contracts are where the big $ is. I think 5 or so years ago the Dodgers got a 25 year/$8 billion contract with Fox LA. That's $320 million a year, which can easily cover payroll.
- People complain about the pace of the game but I'm never really bored, especially with RISP, even with 2 outs. Football, with it's 20 stoppages per game for video replay is much worse. To each their own.
- Getting rid of the shift next season will help a lot, along with proposed pitch clocks.
- It's a crime what has happened to the Reds. I used to hate them when they were in the NL West with my Dodgers, but now I just feel sorry for them and their fans. Until people stop watching them on TV the owners won't care. TV contracts are where the big $ is. I think 5 or so years ago the Dodgers got a 25 year/$8 billion contract with Fox LA. That's $320 million a year, which can easily cover payroll.
^
Pitch clock should have been instituted moons ago, along with a rule making the batter stay in the box between pitches or it is an automatic strike.
OTOH, I am not against the shift, how about bunting or hitting the other way every now and then, shift will end quickly if that starts happening regularly.
Pitch clock should have been instituted moons ago, along with a rule making the batter stay in the box between pitches or it is an automatic strike.
OTOH, I am not against the shift, how about bunting or hitting the other way every now and then, shift will end quickly if that starts happening regularly.
Yeah, I've been wanting batters to do that for years. I honestly don't know if they have the ability to anymore. Not many smart batters around anymore, guys like Ichiro, Brett Butler, Wade Boggs who could hit it anywhere.
Seems to be a lot against the shift and for banning it.
Honestly I don't agree. Batters should just adapt. And I think they will eventually.
Honestly I don't agree. Batters should just adapt. And I think they will eventually.
True, but defenses did not and would not dare shift against Boggs or Ichiro, to name two, or they would have hit .475 for their career.
I ran into Doug Flynn not long ago and he agrees with us, says it is a travesty that MLB players can't bunt, hit and run or go the opposite way. When asked why, he says the managers tell him that modern pitchers throw so much harder and especially with a lot more spin than 40 years ago, that batters have a lot harder time bunting and hitting to opposite field (which he said he has a hard time buying)
In any event, even Doug Flynn says it is hard for him to watch the current game, with so many at bats where the ball is never put in play.
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That's true (about hitters like Boggs) but the shift works, otherwise they wouldn't do it.
I'm against banning it. It's a smart play.
I'm against banning it. It's a smart play.
Bunting against a shift probably violates one of baseball’s 954 “unwritten rules” and would earn the offender a fastball to the temple.
I am a Reds fan. Always have been and always will be. Never turn on my teams. Cats first, Reds and Bengals afterwards. Pete Rose was the man for me growing up. I watch as many Reds games as I can on TV. I get them all but, some nights (last night) wife and daughter take over my TV (the big one) and wanted a family movie night (whatcha gonna do).
Saddest part for me with the Reds is the last time they won the World Series I was sitting in the middle of the Desert in Saudi Arabia. I did not get any news until every game had been played and the Reds had won it all (Stars and Stripes new papers).
Saddest part for me with the Reds is the last time they won the World Series I was sitting in the middle of the Desert in Saudi Arabia. I did not get any news until every game had been played and the Reds had won it all (Stars and Stripes new papers).
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Sounds like you should transfer to a different company and get a pay raise that way
Agree 100%. Gotta hit it where they ain’t….
Add the late great Tony Gwynn to that list… one of my all-time favorite players.