Sunday, December 27, 2015

Questioning a recent Tampa Bay Times baseball poll

On Christmas Day. the Tampa Bay Times published an article on a recent baseball poll. According to the Times and Braun Research, 72% of Tampa Bay residents care if the Rays stay in Tampa Bay.

Considering less than 60% of baseball fans in each county are Rays fans, that's a good thing.

The 605 residents polled were also asked where they think a new Rays stadium should be. According to the poll, 25% of responses said Tropicana Field or a new stadium at the same location is the best place for the team. Despite an incredible amount of evidence to the contrary, even the St Pete Mayor believes the same thing.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman has said that he thinks the best future home for the team is on its current site, Tropicana Field. He cites easy interstate access and a booming downtown whose renaissance is spreading west along Central Avenue. His opinion is shared by 36 percent of Pinellas residents and 16 percent in Hillsborough.

The poll also showed Pinellas residents want the Rays to stay in the area more than Hillsborough residents.
Pinellas residents also showed a much stronger desire to keep the Rays in Tampa Bay: 48 percent of them said they "care a lot of about keeping the team here" compared to 32 percent of Hillsborough residents.

No kidding.

What I am curious is how many of those polled were actually Rays fans? If they were to rate their fandom on a scale of 1-10, how would it rank? For those fans who are Yankees fans - roughly 17% of Hillsborough County - what were their opinions on the Rays and their stadium situation?

I would also be interested in the age and ethnicity of the respondents. This would allow us to know what age group and ethnic group prefer the Rays.

The fine folks over at DRaysBay did a good job analyzing the Tampa Bay Times article. Definitely check them out for other questions and thoughts.