Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 29, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Tuesday, April 29, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 16
• Attendance: 901
• Starting Pitcher: Eric Ruth
• Opponent: Dunedin Blue Jays
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Daniel Norris
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,316.94
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 896
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 915.33
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 901
• Promotions (if any): 2 for 1 Tuesday
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Concert: Black Label Society - Ybor City

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 14
• Attendance: 3,627
• Starting Pitcher: Ethan Stewart
• Opponent: Brevard County Manatees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Hobbs Johnson
• Avg Attendance to Date: 3,205.36
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 2,503
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 3,248.33
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 3,444
• Promotions (if any): $1 Tuesday

University of South Florida Bulls:

• Team Home Game #: 29
• Attendance: 1,092
• Starting Pitcher: Brandon Lawson
• Opponent: University of North Florida
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Evan Incinelli
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,373.27

No other area games.

Whether He Stays Or Goes, Josh Lueke Needs To Address His Past

A few days ago, Cork Gaines of Rays Index wrote his thoughts on Josh Lueke and the Deadspin article on Lueke’s checkered past. If you haven’t read it yet, please do. In the end, Cork suggests it is time for the Rays to cut the cord on Lueke, because not only is he a replaceable piece on the bottom of the Rays bullpen, but he has become an embarrassment to the organization.

When the Rays acquired Lueke, I wrote that seeing him in a Rays uniform would pose quite the dilemma. On one hand, his legal issues are scum-of-the-earth-type stuff that no one should support. No one outside of his own family or close friends should be rooting for the guy as a person.

But fans rarely root for the name on the front of the jersey. They root for the team name on the front. I wrote if Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman believe Lueke’s skill set is the right tool for the job on the mound and the pitcher proves effective, I will cheer the outcome. No more, no less. If Lueke strikes out Big Papi with the bases loaded, he will hear my applause. Not because he is Josh Lueke, but because the Rays succeeded.

I still think that’s fair.

During the college football season, Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston was a suspect in a sexual assault. Before the prosecution could (rightly or wrongly) say there was not enough evidence, bulletin boards and blogs had found the woman’s name, posted her picture, and drug her reputation through the mud. The whole situation was a circus. There is no doubt it would have been worse had charges been pressed.

Fortunately, the woman Josh Lueke was with on that fateful night in May 2008 has not seen her name slandered about. She has lived in quiet anonymity since. Good for her. There are few, if any, shaming her, saying she deserved it, that she was a “slut”, a “cleat chaser”, or any other term that would knock a victim down a peg or two for daring to challenge an attacker.

Instead the focus of public ire is squarely on Lueke. There are blog posts, fake twitter accounts, and even websites solely dedicated to calling out Lueke’s past. If the public shaming of one man leads another man to think twice about doing something stupid in the company of a woman, then the shaming is worth it. We are sacrificing Lueke for the greater good of mankind.

However, I don’t think the Rays should cut ties with Lueke just because public opinion is piling against him. Yes, Lueke has been average at best this season, but cutting him for public relations reasons while the team battles the injury bug is not prudent. Yes, once everyone gets healthy, Lueke’s lack of talent might lead him back to Durham, but to do so before might mean a union grievance, especially if it appears the Rays cut Lueke because of something he did six years ago.

In May 2002, following a New York Times “rumor” that a Mets star might be gay, Mets catcher Mike Piazza held a press conference to declare that he was heterosexual. The press conference had nothing to do with baseball and everything to do with controlling public opinion.

Josh Lueke needs to do the same. Now. Today.

While there is a chance Lueke may be in contact with the victim and knows she would not want the issue brought back up in the public light, I doubt that is the case. Odds are, Lueke hasn’t talked about the case because he doesn’t have to, or he is taking the increasingly common but incredibly stupid “haters gonna hate” approach.

On February 26th of this year, Lueke tweeted:

“It’s funny when ppl say negative things trying to hurt you !! Low and behold it gives me more energy to succeed and make them even more bitter !! #jokesonthem”

Of the 10 replies to the tweet, 8 comments referenced “rape”. While the tweet may or may not have been about that situation, that is what the public inferred. That is what they will always infer and what they will always bring up. The perceived arrogance of the “haters gonna hate” mentality means people will to want to bring him down even more.

That is the rationale: People see Lueke’s income, his beautiful blond wife and her modeling career, and their big league lifestyle and feel Lueke needs to be taken down a peg or two. They think he needs to be humbled. That he needs to show remorse. That he needs to understand what he did and why it was wrong.

When I first wrote about Lueke back in 2011, I wrote how I hoped he would show remorse:

“I do hope Josh Lueke does something to win over the fanbase as people. It would be nice for him to help a battered women’s shelter or a Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. Show us right off the bat that he is not a monster. Tampa sports fans have had our share of terrible people and law breakers either hail from here or play here. We are almost immune to players with baggage. Almost. But I would really like to see Lueke set himself apart from the Goodens, Strawberrys, Dukes, or Jerramy Stevens types.”

The blog Platoon Advantage echoed my thoughts two years later.

We are still waiting.

Whether he sticks with the Rays, goes back to Durham, or plays for an independent team in the middle of nowhere, Josh Lueke needs a press conference. He needs to own up to the incident and announce he is going to make amends. He needs to use his public stature and go beyond being a model citizen. He needs to be an exemplary citizen.

Similar to Mike Vick’s work with the Human Society, Lueke needs to show the world that he can treat women with respect. Pictures of him and wife holding hands are not enough. Everyone who gets married has those. Lueke needs to work with battered women shelters, abused kids, or any other victim’s advocacy group. His work needs to be seen and publicized.

(I’m not even going to comment on the arrogance behind a Major League Baseball player having a public funding site for his honeymoon. Someone in the front office really needs to talk to Lueke and his wife about their public image.)

Some will say a Lueke press conference and efforts to help women will be a publicity stunt. Some will say it is too late.

But for those who Lueke could help, there is no such thing as too late.

But Lueke has to pull his head out of the sand first.

While he will always be a monster to some, the time has come for Josh Lueke to at least try to be a hero to others.

Or the haters will always hate.

Tampa Bay Business Journal Examines Tampa Area Athletes' Twitter Prowess

Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Business Journal published a list of the Twitter accounts of athletes who play for the big three Tampa Bay sports. They compared the follower counts and number of tweets from players on the Tampa Bay Rays, Tampa Bay Bucs, and Tampa Bay Lightning.

The TBBJ also looked at the team Twitter accounts, comparing the number of tweets and the amount of followers each team had. Of course, since anyone anywhere can create a Twitter account and follow a Tampa Bay area team, there is no way to tell how many of the followers are local.

But we can still dig into the data a bit.

Last week we determined the Tampa Bay Bucs were 3% more popular than the Rays based on Google popularity. This is also the case with Twitter numbers. If you divide the Twitter followers of the Rays team account (151,561) by the Bucs twitter followers (155,006), you again get 97%. So the Bucs are 3% more popular than the Rays on Twitter as well. The Rays are 7% more popular on Twitter than the Lightning (141,690).

The Lightning however, crush the Rays and the Bucs in tweet volume. The Lightning account has tweeted over 31,000 times, more than 10,000 more than the Rays and Bucs accounts combined. The Lightning social media team is doing a great job on Twitter. But that is a subject for another day.

On the topic of individual accounts, I think the Rays got shortchanged as the TBBJ only counted players. While five current Tampa Bay athletes have over 100,000 Twitter followers (removing former Buc Darrelle Revis), the Rays only have two: David Price and Evan Longoria. However, manager Joe Maddon has nearly 154,000. He is the longest tenured manager/head coach in the area and is synonymous with the Rays since they dropped the Devil prior to the 2008 season.

He should be included.

After the big three teams, how do the other Tampa Bay area sports teams compare? We examined the Tampa Bay area minor league teams a few weeks ago in a post that compared them to other minor league teams. But how do they compare with other Tampa Bay sports franchises?

Interesting here is the Tampa Bay Rowdies, despite having at least 130,000 less followers, have tweeted more than the Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Bucs. Also interesting is that the Tampa Bay Storm have tweeted more than the Dunedin Blue Jays, Clearwater Threshers, and Bradenton Marauders, despite having a short season than the Minor League teams.

Again, this is just twitter and not a good way to judge the local popularity of a team. But it does show some interesting trends.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 28, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Monday, April 28, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 15
• Attendance: 891
• Starting Pitcher: Dan Camarena
• Opponent: Dunedin Blue Jays
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jesse Hernandez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,344.67
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 891
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 965.67
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,321.25
• Promotions (if any): Military Monday
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 13
• Attendance: 1,379
• Starting Pitcher: Jeb Stefan
• Opponent: Brevard County Manatees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jorge Lopez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 3,172.92
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,379
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,360
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,804.33
• Promotions (if any): Feeding Frenzy Monday

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 27, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Sunday, April 27, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 14
• Attendance: 2,196
• Starting Pitcher: Rafael De Paula
• Opponent: Lakeland Flying Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jake Thompson
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,377.07
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,765.75
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,561.33
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,341
• Promotions (if any): Little League Day
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 10
• Attendance: 387
• Starting Pitcher: Ben White
• Opponent: Clearwater Threshers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Miguel Nunez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 807.8
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 913.25
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 502
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 426
• Promotions (if any): None

University of South Florida:

• Team Home Game #: 28
• Attendance: 1,081
• Starting Pitcher: Tommy Peterson
• Opponent: Memphis Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Colin Lee
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,383.32

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 26, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Saturday, April 26, 2014:

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 12
• Attendance: 6,107
• Starting Pitcher: Jon Prosinski
• Opponent: Dunedin Blue Jays
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Taylor Cole
• Avg Attendance to Date: 3,322.42
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 4,894.5
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 5,102.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 3,724
• Promotions (if any): Post game fireworks
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 13
• Attendance: 1,439
• Starting Pitcher: Eric Wooten
• Opponent: Lakeland Flying Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Kevin Eichhorn
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,314.08
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,622.33
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,749.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,473.4
• Promotions (if any): Friends and Family Night

University of South Florida:

• Team Home Game #: 27
• Attendance: 1,654
• Starting Pitcher: Casey Mullholland
• Opponent: Memphis Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jon Reed
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,394.5

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 25, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Friday, April 25, 2014:

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 11
• Attendance: 7,067
• Starting Pitcher: Brody Colvin
• Opponent: Dunedin Blue Jays
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Matt Boyd
• Avg Attendance to Date: 3,069.27
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 4,490.33
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 4,546.33
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 7,067
• Promotions (if any): Brighthouse Networks fan appreciation night
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Concerts: 98 Rock Fest

University of South Florida:

• Team Home Game #: 26
• Attendance: 1,813
• Starting Pitcher: Jimmy Herget
• Opponent: Memphis Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Caleb Wallingford
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,385

No other area games.

Pondering the Rays Google Popularity

There has been a lot of talk about the Rays popularity lately.

A few weeks ago, ESPN's data-driven research site, FiveThirtyEight.com, sorted MLB teams by the amount of Google searches they had from 2004-2014. The FiveThirtyEight folks ranked teams by relative popularity - meaning 1.0 is an average searched-for team, 2.0 is a team searched for twice as often, 0.5 is searched for half as often. Of course, the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, and Dodgers were the top five.

According to FiveThirtyEight, the Rays rated a 0.48. They were searched 48% as often as the average team. That ranked 26th of the 30 teams, ahead of only the Marlins, Diamondbacks, Royals, and A's.

Earlier this week, the BestTicketsBlog also put together a popularity list based on Google searches. They published a map of the most Googled athletes by state based on Google searches (h/t DRaysBay). As could be expected, no Rays player made the map. But neither did any baseball player as the map was dominated by NBA and NFL players. Which is not surprising considering those sports' popularity compared to baseball.

However, when looking at each professional sport individually, Rays players in total do well compared to the rest of Major League Baseball. The Rays players were searched globally an average of 216,500 times per month. That was 15th in Major League Baseball, again out of 30th.

The total searches for Tampa Bay Buccaneers players, by comparison, was 226,390. Although 10,000 more than the Rays, the Bucs were 30th of 32 NFL teams. Meanwhile, the total searches for Tampa Bay Lightning players were also in the bottom in their league, 27th of 30.

So compared to other members of their sport, Rays players are more popular than the Bucs or Lightning players. Which makes sense given the current rosters. I'm sure if the Bucs still had Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, and Warren Sapp it would be a whole different story. But the reality is, right now Rays players are more popular than Bucs and Lightning players relative to the players in their league.

The fine folks at DRaysBay also drilled into the BestTicketsBlog data. They combined the player searches by team for all sports that have teams in the American League East . The Rays did fairly well comparatively. While baseball players were the least searched sports stars among Boston athletes, and the third least searched among New York athletes, Rays players were second most searched among Tampa Bay athletes, barely behind Tampa Bay Bucs players.

A few days after they published their MLB Google popularity stats, FiveThirtyEight expounded their reporting to show Google popularity for NFL, NBA, and NHL teams. Among the other local teams, the Bucs rated a 0.49, meaning searches for the Buccaneers were 49% less popular than the average NFL team. The Lightning rated at 0.40.

Overall, whether by team name or by individual player searches, Google data show the Buccaneers are the most popular sports team in the Tampa Bay area by a slim margin over the Rays. By FiveThirtyEight's results, the Bucs team is 3% more popular (0.49 divided by the Rays 0.48), and by BestTicketsBlog Bucs players are 4.4% more popular (216,500 divided by 226,390).

But again, these are global search results.

What if we look at only Florida? How are the Rays doing via Florida-only Google searches?

Here is the Florida-only Google trend graph for the term "Tampa Bay Rays" from 2004-2014:

The big spike is fall 2008 when the Rays made the World Series. The valleys are of course the offseason. But what is most interesting here is 2014. Let's zoom in:

At 44% of the highest ever total (Oct 2008), April 2014 is already 4th highest month of searches for "Tampa Bay Rays" since 2004. Per the red dots:

• Oct 2008 - 100


• Sept 2008 - 50


• Sept 2011 - 47


• Aug 2013 - 44


• April 2014 - 44

Granted, there are more people with smart phones and more abilities to Google search at any time than there were in 2008, but on the other hand, there are more apps on phones now and less reasons to search Google. But people are still doing it.

The fact that more people in Florida are searching Google for "Tampa Bay Rays" this April than any other April is a very good sign. April 2013, for example, was only 27% of the Oct 2008 high.

Compared to the rest of the US, Tampa Bay web users search for "Tampa Bay Rays" much more often. While the April 2014 searches were 44% of the Oct 2008 among Florida Google searches, the term was only 27% of national Goggle searches compared to October 2008 nationally. This month has been the 7th best month nationally for "Tampa Bay Rays" searches, compared to the 4th best locally.

I would doubt if is any correlation between Google searches and attendance. But there may be a correlation between Google searches and ticket sales or online merchandise sales. That would be a very good thing, especially if the Rays-related Google searches keep increasing.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 24, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Thursday, April 24, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 14
• Attendance: 13,177
• Starting Pitcher: Erik Bedard
• Opponent: Minnesota Twins
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Nicky Nolasco
• Avg Attendance to Date: 19,822.29
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 12,318.33
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 16,944.33
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 19,628
• Promotions (if any): Senior Prom
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 9
• Attendance: 570
• Starting Pitcher: Daniel Norris
• Opponent: Brevard County Manatees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Ethan Stewart
• Avg Attendance to Date: 854.56
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,089
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,201
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,464.66
• Promotions (if any): Thirsty Thursday

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 23, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Wednesday, April 23, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 13
• Attendance: 11,993
• Starting Pitcher: Jake Odorizzi
• Opponent: Minnesota Twins
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Mike Pelfry
• Avg Attendance to Date: 20,333.46
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 11,889
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 11,400.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 13,148.5
• Promotions (if any): None
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 12
• Attendance: 976
• Starting Pitcher: Dan Camarena
• Opponent: Brevard County Manatees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jorge Lopez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,303.67
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 946.67
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 993.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,464.66
• Promotions (if any): Kids Night Wednesday

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 10
• Attendance: 1,657
• Starting Pitcher: Jeb Stefan
• Opponent: Daytona Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Rob Zastryzny
• Avg Attendance to Date: 2,669.5
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 2,046
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,756.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 2,017
• Promotions (if any): Happy Hour - Senior Day

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 22, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Tuesday, April 22, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 12
• Attendance: 11,785
• Starting Pitcher: David Price
• Opponent: Minnesota Twins
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Kyle Gibson
• Avg Attendance to Date: 21,028.5
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 11,785
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 11,449
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 25,319
• Promotions (if any): None
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 11
• Attendance: 882
• Starting Pitcher: Rafael De Paula
• Opponent: Brevard County Manatees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jed Bradley
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,333.45
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 932
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 922.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,056
• Promotions (if any): 2 for 1 Tuesday

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 9
• Attendance: 3,140
• Starting Pitcher: Miguel Nunez
• Opponent: Daytona Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Tayler Scott
• Avg Attendance to Date: 2,782
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 2,240.5
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 3,059
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 3,140
• Promotions (if any): $1 Tuesday

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 10
• Attendance: 1,038
• Starting Pitcher: John Kuchno
• Opponent: Charlotte Stone Crabs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Reinaldo Lopez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,512.9
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 2,218
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 944
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,406
• Promotions (if any): 2 for 1 tickets

University of South Florida Bulls:

• Team Home Game #: 25
• Attendance: 1,115
• Starting Pitcher: Brandon Lawson
• Opponent: Florida Gulf Coast University
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Zack Tillery
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,367.4

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball versus summer festivals and concerts

Last week, TBT Soundcheck listed the top 30 music events coming to the Tampa Bay area during the summer of 2014. These concerts will be at venues ranging in size from thousands (the Tampa Bay Times Forum, the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater, Raymond James Stadium, and city parks) to several hundred (mid-sized clubs in Ybor City and St. Petersburg).

The following chart shows the date of each performance and whether or not each of the Tampa Bay area baseball teams have home games on that date.

(Click to enlarge.)

Of course, this is an incomplete list of all the musical performances happening throughout the Tampa Bay area. This is only a list of the biggest events.

Overall, the Bradenton Marauders have the most games (18) coinciding with area concerts and festivals. The Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Yankees have the least dates with 11. The Rays have one less date to contend than other teams as Weezer is playing at Tropicana Field following the Rays game on June 7th.

As there is no reason to believe area residents spend their money only on baseball, we will be tracking as many concerts and other events that might compete for the dollars of fans throughout the season. If we can find attendance for these festivals and concerts, we will be sure to list it in our posts.

(Disclaimer: I've written for the TBT Soundcheck blog.)

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 21, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Monday, April 21, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 10
• Attendance: 982
• Starting Pitcher: Eric Wooten
• Opponent: Brevard County Manatees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Damien Magnifico
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,387.6
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 982
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,003
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,482
• Promotions (if any): Military Monday
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 8
• Attendance: 1,341
• Starting Pitcher: Jon Prosinski
• Opponent: Daytona Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jake Arietta
• Avg Attendance to Date: 2,737.25
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,341
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,341
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,341
• Promotions (if any): Feeding Frenzy Monday

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 9
• Attendance: 4,774
• Starting Pitcher: Pat Ludwig
• Opponent: Charlotte Stone Crabs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Roberto Gomez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,565.67
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 2,611.33
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 4,774
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 4,774
• Promotions (if any): Free grandstand tickets from A/C Warehouse

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 20, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Sunday, April 20, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 11
• Attendance: 26,463
• Starting Pitcher: Cesar Ramos
• Opponent: New York Yankees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Vidal Nuno
• Avg Attendance to Date: 21,868.82
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 27,696.5
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 24,516
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 26,463
• Promotions (if any): Joe Maddon Hoodie Bag
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Easter Sunday

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 19, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Saturday, April 19, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 10
• Attendance: 30,159
• Starting Pitcher: Chris Archer
• Opponent: New York Yankees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Ivan Nova
• Avg Attendance to Date: 21,409.4
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 28,107.66
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 30,261.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 19,865
• Promotions (if any): None
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Area concerts: Jimmy Buffett, Air Supply

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 7
• Attendance: 4,098
• Starting Pitcher: Ethan Stewart
• Opponent: Lakeland Flying Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Edgar De La Rosa
• Avg Attendance to Date: 2,936.71
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 3,106.33
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 4,098
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 3,383
• Promotion: Star Wars Night

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 8
• Attendance: 1,421
• Starting Pitcher: Chad Kuhl
• Opponent: Jupiter Hammerheads
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Trevor Williams
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,164.63
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,154.66
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,597
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,314.5
• Promotion: None

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 18, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Friday, April 18, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 9
• Attendance: 26,079
• Starting Pitcher: Erik Bedard
• Opponent: New York Yankees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Hiroki Kiroda
• Avg Attendance to Date: 20,437.22
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 27,082
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 20,191.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 26,079
• Promotions (if any): None
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Hockey: Tampa Bay Lightning playoff game - attendance 19,203

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 5
• Attendance: 2,377
• Starting Pitcher: Jeb Stefan
• Opponent: Lakeland Flying Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Yorfrank Lopez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 2,743.17
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 2,610.5
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 3,286
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 2,377
• Promotion: Jaime Lynn Spears concert / Jimmy Rollins bobblehead

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 7
• Attendance: 960
• Starting Pitcher: Jason Creasy
• Opponent: Jupiter Hammerheads
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Austin Brice
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,128
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,021.5
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 960
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 905
• Promotion: Free t-shirt / Happy Hour Friday

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Minor League Teams Are Twitter Popular

Very interesting work by the SportingNews.com yesterday. They took a look at Twitter accounts for all the Minor League teams and ranked them by league and then made a list of the top 10 most popular organizations based on Twitter followers.

Granted, Twitter followers for Minor League teams doesn't equal attendance, nor does it indicate local interest. I doubt The Sporting News folks want to deep dive into each follower and plot them geographically - although I do think you could run some sort of data query and sort through the followers for key words that might show location. There are data people that do wonderful things with Twitter.

But back to what The Sporting News did do and why it is relevant to the Tampa Bay area.

In the Sporting News's rank of Class-A teams - in which all Tampa Bay area Minor League teams are - the Tampa Yankees are the fifth most "Twitter famous" team with 10.7K followers. No other Tampa Bay area team makes the list. The only other Florida State League team on the list is the Daytona Cubs.

However, when we look at the overall most popular organizations on Twitter, every Tampa Bay area team makes the list.

The Yankees minor league system is third most popular on Twitter, behind only the Cubs and Red Sox. The Tampa Yankees are the fourth most popular team in the Yankees organization, behind the Low-A Charleston River Dogs by 3,000 followers, despite being ahead of Charleston in the Yankees organization ladder.

The Phillies minor league system is the fourth most popular on Twitter. Here as well the Clearwater Threshers have fewer followers than the Low-A team, the Lakewood Blue Claws. The Blue Claws have over 5,000 more Twitter followers than the Threshers.

The Pirates minor league system is the fifth most popular on Twitter. Again, the Low-A team, in this case the West Virgina Power, have more followers than the High-A Florida State League team, outpacing the Bradenton Marauders, 7.7K to 5.3K.

The Blue Jays minor league system is the ninth most popular on Twitter. Here, however, the Dunedin Blue Jays have more followers than all but one other Jays minor league team, the Blue Jays AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons. The Dunedin Blue Jays have more followers than the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

What does this prove? Individually, not much. But it does show that the Florida State League teams in the Tampa Bay area are significant to people who follow baseball on Twitter.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 17, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Thursday, April 17, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 8
• Attendance: 28,085
• Starting Pitcher: David Price
• Opponent: New York Yankees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: CC Sabathia
• Avg Attendance to Date: 19,732
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 28,085
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 18,828
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 29,830.3
• Promotions (if any): None
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 5
• Attendance: 2,844
• Starting Pitcher: Cole Hamels
• Opponent: Lakeland Flying Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Endrys Brecino
• Avg Attendance to Date: 2,816.4
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 2,844
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 2,844
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 2,526.5
• Promotion: Thirsty Thursday - Ladies Night

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 6
• Attendance: 1,083
• Starting Pitcher: Orlando Castro
• Opponent: Jupiter Hammerheads
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Scott Lyman
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,156
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,083
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,145.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,185
• Promotion: Thirsty Thursday

No other area games.

Attendance Review: 2011 Tampa Yankees

Welcome to our 5th attendance review post on the Tampa Yankees, minor league affiliate of the New York Yankees.

Background:

The Tampa Yankees began play in 1994. After two seasons playing at the University of South Florida, the Tampa Yankees moved to Legends Field, a stadium built across the street from Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Legends Field was renamed Steinbrenner Field in 2008.

Tampa Yankees 2011:


Home Games: 70

Total attendance: 117,162  (up 17.47% from 2010: 99,736)

Average: 1,775.18 (up from 2010: 1,534.4)

Highest attended game: 5,891 on Thursday, May 19th vs St. Lucie

Lowest attended game: 817 on Tuesday, May 10th vs Bradenton

Low point of average attendance: April 21, Game 7 (1,423.14)

Double headers: 4 (Apr 26, July 1, Aug 10, Aug 24)

Cancellations: 0

Notable rehab assignments: Rafael Soriano

Other notable appearances: None

Breakdown:

(red highlight = below annual average of 1,775.18)

By Month:

The following graph depicts the average attendance by month.

By Day:

The following graph depicts the average attendance by day.

By Opponent:

By Starting Pitcher:

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 16, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Wednesday, April 16, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 9
• Attendance: 1,011
• Starting Pitcher: Rafael De Paula
• Opponent: Clearwater Threshers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Miguel Nunez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,422.67
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,227.75
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,011
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,143
• Promotions (if any): Kids' Night
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Tampa Bay Lightning playoff game: attendance - 19,204

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 8
• Attendance: 465
• Starting Pitcher: Ben White
• Opponent: Daytona Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Tayler Scott
• Avg Attendance to Date: 890.13
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 576.33
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 465
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 465
• Rehab: Jose Reyes
• Promotion: None

No other area games.

Why the Rays want fans to go to one more game

Since the end of the 2013 season, the Rays have been using the #OneMoreGame campaign. The Rays players, coaches, and even ownership have urged Rays fans to attend one more game per season. One game more than what they have been attending.

If each fan came to one more game per year it would make a big difference - Rays owner Matt Silverman

But why one more game? They only drew 1.5 million fans in 2013, does that mean they want to draw 3 million?

The Rays front office has cited 2 million as their attendance goal. In 2013, that would have put the Rays 22nd in MLB attendance.

According to the May 2012 Quinnipac University poll I cited in my post yesterday, there are nearly 700,000 Rays fans in the Tampa Bay area.

Tampa Bay metro area = 2,800,000

46% are baseball fans = 1,288,000

54% are Rays fans = 695,520

With attendance at 1,510,300 last year, that means each Rays fan went to 2.17 games last year.

695,000 x 2.17 = 1,510,300

However, you have to account for opposing teams fans.

A few weeks ago I showed attendance goes up 20-30% when the Rays play the Yankees and Red Sox. The Rays play the Red Sox and Yankees nine times each at Tropicana Field. If the Rays average 20,000 fans per non-Red Sox and non-Yankees contest, and get the added "visitors bump" of 25% (5,000 opposing fans per game), that's 90,000 opposing fans per year just for those games.

1,510,300 - 90,000 = 1,420,300

Divide 1,420,300 by 695,000 Rays fans and the average Rays fan went to 2.04 games per season.

695,000 x 2.04 = 1,420,300

But ....

If we take 695,000 Rays fans and multiply it by three ...

695,000 x 3 = 2,085,000

Add the 90,000 opposing fans = 2,175,000

Now when the Rays say they want fans to attend one more game, you know why. They want the average fan to go to three games a year instead of two.

Maybe that's why Flex Pack offers start at three games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 15, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Tuesday, April 15, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 8
• Attendance: 963
• Starting Pitcher: Eric Wooten
• Opponent: Clearwater Threshers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jon Prosinski
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,474.13
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,300
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 963
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,648.66
• Promotions (if any): 2 for 1 Tuesday
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 7
• Attendance: 750
• Starting Pitcher: Casey Janssen
• Opponent: Daytona Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jose Rosario
• Avg Attendance to Date: 950.86
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 632
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 750
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 750
• Rehab: Jose Reyes
• Promotion: Eclipse Pricing - tickets for 78%

University of South Florida Bulls:

• Team Home Game #: 24
• Attendance: 1,173
• Starting Pitcher: Brandon Lawson
• Opponent: Stetson University
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Josh Powers
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,377.9

No other area games.

Comparing Baseball Fandom in Tampa Bay to New York City

In late March, Quinnipiac University released the results of a survey of New York City residents on their baseball tastes. According to the survey, 46% of New Yorkers are either "very" or "somewhat" interested in Major League Baseball. Of those, 61% say the Yankees are their favorite team. 27% said they root for the Mets.

Accepting WorldPopulationStatistics's numbers, the population of New York City is 8.33 million. That means there are 3.83 million baseball fans in New York City, 2.33 million who root for the Yankees and 1,034,100 who root for the Mets. Granted, this only New York City, not the greater New York metropolitan area, which totals over 15 million people.

Extrapolating these numbers to the populations of Tampa and St. Petersburg (333,073 and 249,704 respectively), we get 268,077 baseball fans in our Bay Area cities [(333,073 + 249,704) x 46%]. Of course, the Rays don't have to compete with another Major League team in the area, so we don't further divide.

This means, if baseball fandom is equal in the Tampa Bay area as it is in New York City, there are almost four times more Mets fans in New York City than there are Rays fans in Tampa and St. Pete.

If we include statistics from Quinnipac University's most recent Florida sports fan polling from March 2012, 46% of Floridians are baseball fans - again, either "very" or "somewhat". Of an unknown number polled in the Tampa Bay area, 54% of baseball fans are Rays fans. Using the wider Tampa Bay metro population of 2.8 million, that means 695,520 Tampa Bay area residents were Rays fans as of March 2012 (2.8 million x 46% = 1,288,000 total baseball fans x 54% = 695,520)

Combining the 2012 and 2014 data, we find there are 32.74% less Rays fans in the total Tampa Bay area than there are Mets fans in just New York City.

In 2013, the Mets drew 2,135,657 fans to Citi Field. That would be 2.06 times their New York City fan base.

In 2013, the Yankees drew 3,279,589 fans, or 1.4 times their New York City fan base.

Last year, the Rays drew 1,510,300 fans. That would be 2.17 times their total fan base.

If Tampa Bay had the population of New York City (8.33 million) and the same percentage of baseball fanbase (46% or 3.83 million), the Rays would draw 8.31 million fans (3,830,000 x 2.17 = 8,310,000).

And no one would complain would about attendance ever again.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 14, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Monday, April 14, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 7
• Attendance: 1,024
• Starting Pitcher: Brett Gerritse
• Opponent: Clearwater Thresher
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Ethan Stewart
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,574
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,468.5
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,024
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,024
• Promotions (if any): Military Monday
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 6
• Attendance: 514
• Starting Pitcher: Matt Boyd
• Opponent: Daytona Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Felix Pena
• Avg Attendance to Date: 984.33
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 514
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 514
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,173
• Promotions (if any): None

No other area games.

Standing On The Porch By The Bay

… Drinking a beer, watching the Rays.

Before the Rays finish their first lengthy road trip of the season, I want to talk about what’s new at the home of the Rays. There is no doubt most Rays fans know the Rays powers-that-be did a little tinkering with Tropicana Field.

Although they didn’t change where the park is laid out – leaving that to the politicians, ownership, and other associated parties, the Rays folks did modify the inner layout of the Trop. Gone is the Everglades BBQ Restaurant that used to overlook centerfield. Gone as well are a few thousand seats along right and left field, creating a 360 degree walkway around the stadium. While some of these seats have been plucked out and discarded, others have been covered with a tarp, not unlike the desolate seats of the highest upper deck.

During the Rays second home series of the season, on Friday the 4th versus the Rangers, I had a chance to check out the new additions to the home of the Rays.

My first thought was that the new area in centerfield reflects a cultural change in how many fans watch baseball. The introduction of tiki bars and other open concourses reflect the desire for fans to stand while watching baseball. Perhaps because fans sit all day at work, stuffed in little cubicles, they want to spend their leisure time letting the blood flow. In the ancient days of yore, when a majority of Americans worked on assembly lines and other methods of manufacturing, our fan forefathers wanted to spend their ballpark time off their feet, sitting down with a cold beer and footlong.

The Rays new Porch reminded me of popular bars in the area. Bars such as MacDintons – both in Tampa and St. Pete – have extensive areas to stand around and socialize. Even Ferg’s has numerous hightop tables and chest-high ledges for upright consumption of refreshments. Some think better on their feet, others drink better on their feet. Until they drink too much, then they lean. But I digress.

The Porch is great place to watch the game. It provides the common centerfield angle fans are used to when they watch games on TV, albeit lower and not as zoomed in. Best of all, fans can come to the Porch from anywhere in the ballpark and hangout. Buy a cheap nose-bleed seat in the highest reaches of the upper deck? No problem, get a better view at The Porch. Tired of sitting right behind home plate with the rest of the rich and famous? No problem, join the proletariat at the bar.

While I like The Porch and it’s a fun new place to hangout, I do have my concerns.

First, open areas can be a blessing and a curse. Tensions in the stands can be high when the Rays play the Yankees or the Red Sox. Open areas and easy access to alcohol mean security better be on its toes. No one wants to see an unfortunate soul get pushed off the porch and tossed towards the Rays tank. A fight in centerfield also has higher visibility than a conflict along the sidelines. The last thing the Rays would want is for The Porch to turn into a place where gangs get their groove on, like the alley in Anchorman, the parking garage in Beat It, or the streets of West Side Story. Whatever your generational reference.

On the subject of fans, the creation of the porch did mean the removal of the Cowbell Kid’s once famous seat. While he hasn’t been seen around the Trop in recent years, he was a staple at the park when the Rays rose to respectability. I wonder if the team offered him his seat as a memento. Maybe that famed seat is now in the living room of the Cowbell Kid.

My second thought with The Porch is the TBT Party Deck is now passé. Fans won’t be hanging out in the left field upper deck when they can get the same amenities with a better view at The Porch. I think the Rays will see lower concessions sells in the Party Deck than last year. It might be time to appropriate the well-known area.

If I was in charge, I would turn the Party Deck into a kids’ fun area. I would take all the games scattered throughout the lower concourse and bring them to the Party Deck. The Rays could have clowns and magicians and host kids’ parties there. They could even call the Party Deck “Raymond’s Liar” or some other creative name. Since there is only one way in or out of the Party Deck, keeping an eye on kids would be easier. This also keeps the young fans separate from the adult fans. Or vice versa.

Overall, The Porch is a welcome addition to Tropicana Field. It makes the park more of a hangout and a place to socialize, which is the way to be these days. Casual fans don’t keep score and they don’t watch every pitch. They come to hang out with their friends, drink a beer or two, and enjoy the experience. The Porch gives them a place to do that. A place to leave their homes, see the Rays, and waste some time.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 13, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Sunday, April 13, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 6
• Attendance: 1,130
• Starting Pitcher: Manny Banuelos
• Opponent: Daytona Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Ben Wells
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,634
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,488
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,244
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,130
• Promotions (if any): Seniors Eat Free
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Tampa Bay Blues Festival - Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg. Hockey: Tampa Bay Lightning (attendance: 18,506)

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 5
• Attendance: 617
• Starting Pitcher: Kramer Chaplin
• Opponent: Brevard County Manatees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Hobbs Johnson
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,078
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 899
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 617
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 617
• Promotions (if any): None

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 12, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Saturday, April 12, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 5
• Attendance: 2,060
• Starting Pitcher: Dan Camarena
• Opponent: Daytona Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Rob Zastryzny
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,735.2
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,667.5
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 2,060
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,709
• Promotions (if any): Pink Out Night
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Tampa Bay Blues Festival - Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg. Comedy: Side Splitters - Jim Norton.

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 4
• Attendance: 1,271
• Starting Pitcher: Daniel Norris
• Opponent: Brevard County Manatees
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jorge Lopez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,193.75
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,039.5
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,067.5
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,271
• Promotions (if any): Bark in the Park

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 11, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Friday, April 11, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 4


• Attendance: 1,275


• Starting Pitcher: Rafael De Paula


• Opponent: Daytona Cubs


• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Yao-Lin Wang


• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,654


• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,275


• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,672.5


• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,275


• Promotions (if any): Social Media Friday


• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Tampa Bay Lightning hockey (attendance: 18,686). Concerts: Bullstock 2014 (University of South Florida free concert - Panic! At the Disco, etc). Tampa Bay Blues Festival - Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg. Comedy: Side Splitters - Jim Norton.

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 3


• Attendance: 808


• Starting Pitcher: Jesse Hernandez


• Opponent: Brevard County Manatees


• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jed Bradley


• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,168


• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 808


• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 808


• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 808


• Promotions (if any): Buy one, get one free Margaritas

No other area games.

Star Wars Night coming to a park not so far, far away

I am a huge Star Wars fan, so please pardon my excitement here.

Three teams in the Tampa Bay area will be hosting Star Wars Nights this season. Three times this year Tampa Bay area Star Wars fans will be able to celebrate the majesty that is Star Wars while seeing the spectacle that is baseball.

This year's area Star Wars Night promotions are scheduled on:

• Saturday, April 19th - Clearwater Threshers
• Saturday, June 28th - Tampa Yankees
• Saturday, July 19th - Bradenton Marauders

The Clearwater Threshers are the first team to release a commercial for their Star Wars Night promotion and it is quite the ad.



 That none have scheduled one for Sunday, May 4th is a little odd, as that is considered "Star Wars Day". My guess is that the Tampa Bay Squad of the 501st Legion - the officially chartered folks that dress up as Star Wars characters - have other engagements that day. I am not sure how many of the area minor league teams have had Star Wars Nights in the past. The Rays had a Star Wars Night in 2012 and 2013. These games drew 20,908 and 23,835, respectively.

So if you see someone totally geeking out in Clearwater, Tampa, and Bradenton at Star Wars Night, say hi. That's probably me.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 10, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Thursday, April 10, 2014:

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 3


• Attendance: 1,913


• Starting Pitcher: Eric Wooten


• Opponent: Clearwater Threshers


• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jon Prosinski


• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,780.33


• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,913


• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,913


• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,991.5


• Promotions (if any): University of South Florida Day


• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Tampa Bay Lightning hockey (attendance: 19,204)

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 5


• Attendance: 1,208


• Starting Pitcher: Chad Kuhl


• Opponent: Palm Beach Miracle


• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Mike Mayers


• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,170.6


• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 931


• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,208


• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,208


• Promotions (if any): Thirsty Thursday

No other area games.

Attendance Review: 2010 Tampa Yankees

Welcome to our 4th attendance review post on the Tampa Yankees, minor league affiliate of the New York Yankees.

Background:

The Tampa Yankees began play in 1994. After two seasons playing at the University of South Florida, the Tampa Yankees moved to Legends Field, a stadium built across the street from Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Legends Field was renamed Steinbrenner Field in 2008.

Tampa Yankees 2010:


Home Games: 69

Total attendance: 99,736 (up 7.62% from 2009: 92,671)

Average: 1,534.4 (up from 2009: 1,519.2)

Highest attended game: 5,519 on Saturday, May 22nd vs Palm Beach

Lowest attended game: 739 on Wednesday, September 1st vs Brevard County

Low point of average attendance: April 16, Game 3 (1,413)

Double headers: 3 (Apr 19, Aug 15, Aug 22)

Cancellations: 1 (Aug 17 vs Daytona)

Notable rehab assignments: None

Other notable appearances: None

Breakdown:

(red highlight = below annual average of 1,534)

By Month:

The following graph depicts the average attendance by month.

By Day:

The following graph depicts the average attendance by day of the week.

By Opponent:

By Starting Pitcher:

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 9th, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Wednesday, April 9, 2014:

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 4


• Attendance: 1,856


• Starting Pitcher: Ethan Stewart


• Opponent: Tampa Yankees


• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Dietrich Enns


• Avg Attendance to Date: 2,809.5


• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 2,417


• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,856


• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 3,025.5


• Promotions (if any): Career Fair, Happy Hour


• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 4


• Attendance: 735


• Starting Pitcher: Jeff Locke


• Opponent: Palm Beach Miracle


• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Marco Gonzalez


• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,161


• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 792.5


• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 735


• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 735


• Promotions (if any): None

No other area games.

Tampa Bay is Rays Country according to Facebook and Wall Street Journal

This slipped my radar last week, but the Wall Street Journal posted an interesting map of what baseball team has the most Facebook "likes" per US county.

Check it out here: Baseball Season Is Here. Who's Your Team?

According to the map, the area from Citrus County in the north to Charlotte County in the south to Okechobee County in the east is "Rays Country", where the Rays Facebook page has the most "likes" than any other team. "Rays Country" also includes Levy, Gilchrist, Alachua, and Leon counties. (Alachua and Leon possibly because of the Tampa Bay area college students at UF and FSU.)

The rest of Florida is dominated by the Braves in the north, the Yankees along the east coast, and the Marlins in the south.

While there is no doubt the Yankees are the most popular team in the nation, Wall Street Journal writer Darren Everson makes an error explaining the Yankees popularity in Florida. In the article, as well as in an online video, Everson claims the Yankees are popular in Florida because "the Yankees have had their spring training in Florida for years".

Yet Hillsborough County has more Rays likes than Yankees "likes". It is possible the Yankees have some residual "liking" in Fort Lauderdale (Broward County), where they trained from 1962 to 1995, but they have been in Tampa since 1996. Yankees popularity in Florida is more likely attributable to the amount of New Yorkers who have either found jobs in Florida or retired to Florida. If spring training was a major factor, Lee County, where the Red Sox train, would be red, not black.

As well, Arizona is all maroon for the Arizona Diamondbacks. There is no influence from the Cubs, Giants, Dodgers, or any other popular team that conducts spring training in the state.

A few questions about the survey:

1) Is this survey done every year? It would be interesting to see if any county has changed allegiance over the years. I would think the Rays would like to change Orange County and the Orlando area from Yankees black to Rays yellow.

2) How did the survey account for "buying likes"? It is possible for a page to have false likes, as marketers can "buy" an amount of likes to boost the popularity of the page. Did the Wall Street Journal or the people doing the survey discount any false likes?

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 8th, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Tuesday, April 8, 2014:

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 3


• Attendance: 2,978


• Starting Pitcher: Colin Kleven


• Opponent: Tampa Yankees


• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Manny Banuelos


• Avg Attendance to Date: 3,127


• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 3,127


• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 3,127


• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 3,127


• Promotions (if any): $1.00 tickets, hot dogs, 12oz draft beers, 16oz soft drinks, popcorn, peanuts, ice cream sandwiches


• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Hockey: Tampa Bay Lightning (Attendance: 18,896)

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 3


• Attendance: 850


• Starting Pitcher: Jason Creasy


• Opponent: Palm Beach Miracle


• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Kyle Helisek


• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,303


• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 850


• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 850


• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 850


• Promotions (if any): 2-for-1 tickets, Baseball Bingo, Kids' Club Night

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Area Spring Training Attendance 2014 Update

A few months ago, we published charts on spring training attendance in the Tampa Bay area since 2005. Yesterday, the Florida Sports Foundation published attendance figures for the 2014 Grapefruit League season.

Since 2008, there have been four teams training in the Tampa Bay area: the Yankees (Tampa), Blue Jays (Dunedin), Phillies (Clearwater), and Pirates (Bradenton).

The current capacities for each team’s stadium are as follows:

• Steinbrenner Field (Yankees): 11,000
• Bright House Field (Phillies): 8,500
• McKechnie Field (Pirates): 8,500
• Florida Auto Exchange Stadium (Blue Jays): 5,521

New for 2014 were improvements to Bradenton's McKechnie Field. These improvements included an outfield bleacher and a boardwalk.

Here are updated charts and graphs of Tampa Bay area Spring Training attendance from 2005-2014. From 2005-2008, this chart includes the Tampa Bay Rays, who trained in St. Petersburg before moving to Port Charlotte.

Tampa Bay Area Overall Spring Training Attendance:

In 2014, Spring Training attendance in the Tampa Bay area went up 2.4%. This is below the overall Grapefruit League gain of 4%. The following chart shows the yearly total averages and percentage increase or decrease of all teams spring training in the Tampa Bay area since 2005.

The following graph breaks out individual team per game attendance.

As depicted, only one team in the Tampa Bay area had an increase in Spring Training attendance.

• Pirates: +21.8%
• Blue Jays: -1.16%
• Yankees: -1.9%
• Phillies: -5.98%

Pirates spring training attendance since 2005:

Blue Jays spring training attendance since 2005:

Yankees spring training attendance since 2005:

Phillies spring training attendance since 2005:

Interestingly, like the difference between Tampa Bay spring training and the rest of Florida, there is a geographic difference in attendance in certain areas of the Arizona Cactus League. According to this article by Ronald J. Hansen of the Arizona Republic, the eastern side of the Cactus League draws more than the western side.

According to Cactus League figures, East Valley and Scottsdale teams have averaged 50 percent more fans, an extra 3,000 people per game, over the past eight years.

Hansen attributes this phenomenon to the notion that the teams in the East Valley are more popular than the teams in the West Valley, despite there being more teams in the West than in the East. According to Hansen, the Eastern side contains the popular Cubs, Giants, and hometown Diamondbacks, while the most marquee team in the west is the Dodgers.