Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 7, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Monday, April 7, 2014:

No area baseball games.

ESPN The Magazine Article on the Rays Survivability

There was an interesting article posted yesterday on ESPN.com. In it, ESPN Senior Writer Howard Bryant looks at the state of the Rays franchise and what Major League Baseball has done to help the Rays survive.

Check it out here: Playing Hardball

Although it is a good read, and I don't question Bryant means well for the Rays, there are a few things in this article I would question.

First, Bryant claims the Rays "can't afford their stars". This gets a "half-true", if we use the Poltifact terminology. The Rays did let Carl Crawford and BJ Upton leave. They did trade James Shields and Matt Garza (albeit for younger stars Wil Myers and Chris Archer). They have played musical chairs with their bullpen every year. But no departed player has been better away from the Rays than they were in a Rays uniform. In the case of Crawford and Upton, they stopped being stars completely.

The Rays have however signed several of their "stars" to long team-friendly deals, including Longoria, Zobrist, Moore, and most recently Chris Archer. This in a world where even the Yankees get outbid sometimes (see Robinson Cano).

Second, Bryant mentions the Rays have a "transplanted fan base with allegiances to other teams". Unfortunately Bryant doesn't cite any facts to prove this fact. I am not sure this is entirely true either. If there has been an ethnographic survey of baseball fans in Tampa Bay, I haven't found it yet. The closest I found is this September 2013 release by Public Policy Polling that says the Atlanta Braves are the most popular baseball team in Florida. But of the 579 Floridians surveyed, the Rays are second (13%), above the Marlins (11%), Yankees (10%) and the Red Sox (9%). And the Braves are not the most popular because of an influx of Georgians, but because TBS was the biggest TV station in the Southeast for decades.

As far as solutions, Bryant's idea that the Rays should move to the AL Central might just hurt attendance. We have shown the Rays do very well in attendance when playing the Yankees and Red Sox, and have mixed results when playing the AL Central. Reducing the amount of time the Rays play the Yankees and Red Sox, the 4th and 5th most popular teams in Florida respectively, would reduce butts in the seats. Unless opponent doesn't matter, and Rays fans are drawn to important divisional match-ups. Possible, but right now I think that is unlikely. There is something about sticking it to the Yankees or Red Sox and their fan base that I think Rays fans enjoy.

I do like the Bryant/Stu Sternberg idea of re-ordering the draft based on revenue. Back in 1965 when the draft was first started, teams didn't spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the offseason to reload. Now there are several ways to build a franchise. Allowing small market teams the earlier picks may help them stay competitive. But of course there is no guarantee picking high equals picking smart. For every Price, there is a Beckham.

Overall, I think Bryant wrote a good piece on the state of the Rays. I think some of the details were a bit fuzzy, but Bryant seems to want the best for the Rays. That's good to see.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 6, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Sunday, April 6, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 7
• Attendance: 22,569
• % of Capacity: 72.7%
• Starting Pitcher: Alex Cobb
• Opponent: Texas Rangers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Yu Darvish
• Avg Attendance to Date: 18,538.7
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 22,412
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 22,569
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 16,841
• Promotions (if any): Jennings plush buddy, Bark at the Park
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): None

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 2
• Attendance: 1,287
• Starting Pitcher: Orlando Castro
• Opponent: Charlotte Stone Crabs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Austin Pruitt
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,530
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,530
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,287
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,287
• Promotions (if any): Bark in the Park

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 2
• Attendance: 2,209
• Starting Pitcher: Cole Hamels
• Opponent: Dunedin Blue Jays
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Daniel Norris
• Avg Attendance to Date: 3,202
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 3,202
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 2,209
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 864
• Promotions (if any): None

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 2
• Attendance: 1,358
• Starting Pitcher: Dan Camarena
• Opponent: Lakeland Flying Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Endrys Briceno
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,714
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,714
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,358
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,358
• Promotions (if any): None

University of South Florida Bulls:

• Team Home Game #: 23
• Attendance: 1,739
• Starting Pitcher: Tommy Peterson
• Opponent: University of Central Florida Golden Knights
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Zach Rodgers
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,387

No other area baseball games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 5, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Saturday, April 5, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 6
• Attendance: 30,364
• % of Capacity: 97.82%
• Starting Pitcher: David Price
• Opponent: Texas Rangers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Nick Martinez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 17,687
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 22,334
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 30,364
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 30,703
• Promotions (if any): Wil Myers bobblehead
• Other Factors (conflicting events, etc): Hockey: Tampa Bay Lightning attendance: 19,204

Bradenton Marauders:

• Team Home Game #: 1
• Attendance: 1,773
• Starting Pitcher: John Kuchno
• Opponent: Charlotte Stone Crabs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jeff Ames
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,773
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,773
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,773
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,773
• Promotions (if any): Opening Day, Fireworks, Dress like a Pirate

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 2
• Attendance: 864
• Starting Pitcher: J.A. Happ
• Opponent: Clearwater Threshers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jon Prosinski
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,348
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,348
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 864
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 864
• Promotions (if any): None

University of South Florida Bulls:

• Team Home Game #: 22
• Attendance: 1,189
• Starting Pitcher: Casey Mulholland
• Opponent: University of Central Florida Golden Knights
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Tanner Olsen
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,371

No other area baseball games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 4, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Friday, April 4, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 5
• Attendance: 14,304
• % of Capacity: 46.08%
• Starting Pitcher: Jake Odorizzi
• Opponent: Texas Rangers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Joe Saunders
• Avg Attendance to Date: 15,367
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 14,304
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 14,304
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 14,304
• Promotions (if any): None
• Other Factors (traffic accidents, conflicting events, etc): Arena football: Tampa Bay Storm attendance: 11,102. Concerts: Eliza Glikyson, Mobb Deep.

Tampa Yankees:

• Team Home Game #: 1
• Attendance: 2,070
• Starting Pitcher: Eric Wooten
• Opponent: Lakeland Flying Tigers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jordan John
• Avg Attendance to Date: 2,070
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 2,070
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 2,070
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 2,070
• Promotions (if any): Opening Day, Fireworks

Clearwater Threshers:

• Team Home Game #: 1
• Attendance: 4,195
• Starting Pitcher: Ethan Stewart
• Opponent: Dunedin Blue Jays
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Taylor Cole
• Avg Attendance to Date: 4,195
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 4,195
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 4,195
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 4,195
• Promotions (if any): Opening Night

University of South Florida Bulls:

• Team Home Game #: 21
• Attendance: 1,219
• Starting Pitcher: Jimmy Herget
• Opponent: University of Central Florida Golden Knights
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Eric Skoglund
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,379

No other area baseball games.

Tampa Bay Rays Attendance During Tampa Bay Lightning Games 2007-2014

Welcome to our first post comparing Tampa Bay Rays attendance to the attendance of another Tampa Bay area sports team. This post looks at Rays home attendance at Tropicana Field while the Tampa Bay Lightning are playing home games at the St. Pete/Tampa Bay Times Forum. These facilities are 21.6 to 23.4 miles apart depending on the route. Without traffic, travel between the two should take approximately 30 minutes.

Since 2007, the Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Lightning have played on the same day 14 times (4 times in 2007, 3 times in 2010, 4 times in 2011, 1 time in 2013, and 2 times in 2014). Of these, 7 occurred while the Lightning were in the playoffs and 2 others occurred on the Rays home opener. They will play at least once more on the same day in 2014 (4/5/2014). This total may increase depending on the Tampa Bay Lightning upcoming playoff schedule.

The following chart depicts the days the Tampa Bay Rays have played on the same day as the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Highlighted boxes = Lightning playoff games.
D/N = Day or Night game.
"Rays Avg Annual Attendance/Day" is the Rays average attendance on that day during that year (for example: 19,452.31 is the Friday average attendance during 2007).
"% Difference" is the percentage difference between the Rays attendance during that particular game and the Rays average attendance on that day for the year.

Of the 4 times Rays games matched or drew over their average attendance, 2 were on Opening Day (4/6/2007 and 4/6/2010) and 2 were against the New York Yankees (4/10/2010 and 4/24/2013). We have already shown the Yankees impact on Rays attendance here.

Of course, attendance at the Rays game and the Lightning game is not an "either/or" proposition for all fans. While the fans in attendance made a choice to attend one or the other, many fans may have stayed home and watched both games on their TVs or went to a sports bar. These fans chose to attend neither. It can probably be assumed fans who attend neither but watch both are in the majority in the Tampa Bay area.

We will publish an update to this chart following the end of the Tampa Bay Lightning 2014 postseason.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 3, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Thursday, April 3, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 4
• Attendance: 9,571
• % of Capacity: 30.83%
• Starting Pitcher: Chris Archer
• Opponent: Toronto Blue Jays
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Brandon Morrow
• Avg Attendance to Date: 15,633.50
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 15,633.50
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 9,571
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 9,571
• Promotions (if any): None
• Other Factors (traffic accidents, conflicting events, etc): Tampa Bay Lightning game (Att: 17,495). Branford Marsalis concert, Steve Hacket concert.

Dunedin Blue Jays:

• Team Home Game #: 1
• Attendance: 1,832
• Starting Pitcher: Matt Boyd
• Opponent: Clearwater Threshers
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Colin Kleven
• Avg Attendance to Date: 1,832
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 1,832
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 1,832
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 1,832
• Promotions (if any): Opening Day, Fireworks, t-shirt giveaway to first 500 fans

No other area baseball games.

Attendance Review: 2009 Tampa Yankees

Welcome to our 3rd 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 2009:


Home Games: 69

Total attendance: 92,671 (up 6.68% from 2008: 86,870)

Average: 1,519.2 (up from 2008: 1,472.37)

Highest attended game: 4,760 on Friday, July 3rd vs Lakeland

Lowest attended game: 773 on Tuesday, June 2nd vs Charlotte

Low point of average attendance: April 22, Game 4 (1,370)

Double headers: 8 (May 15, May 21, June 18, June 28, July 10, July 21, Aug 17, Aug 18)

Cancellations: 2 (June 27 - Port St Lucie, Aug 19 - Daytona)

Notable rehab assignments: None

Other notable appearances: None

Breakdown:

(red highlight = below annual average of 1,519.2)

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 2, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Wednesday, April 2, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 3
• Attendance: 10,808
• % of Capacity: 34.82%
• Starting Pitcher: Matt Moore
• Opponent: Toronto Blue Jays
• Opponent's Starting Pitcher: Mark Buerhle
• Avg Attendance to Date: 17,654.33
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 17,654.33
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 10,808
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 10,808
• Promotions (if any): None
• Other Factors (traffic accidents, conflicting events, etc): None

No other area games.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance - April 1, 2014

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Tuesday, April 1, 2014:

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 2
• Attendance: 11,113
• % of Capacity: 35.8%
• Starting Pitcher: Alex Cobb
• Opponent: Toronto Blue Jays
• Opponent's Starting Pitcher: Drew Hutchinson
• Avg Attendance to Date: 21,077.50
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 21,077.50
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 11,113
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 11,113
• Promotions (if any): None
• Other Factors (traffic accidents, conflicting events, etc): Tampa Bay Lightning game (attendance: 18,808)

No other area games.