Biggest losers, again
If there is one post a statistical data on this blog that should scare the hell out of Wild Things ownership, then it's this less-than-sparkling piece. For the second consecutive year, the Wild Things had the largest decline in average single-game attendance in the Frontier League.Of the 11 returning teams from 2009, the Wild Things were one of five that showed a decrease in attendance. Washington's attendance dipped by 358 fans per game, to a franchise-low 2,431 per game. Last year, the Wild Things showed the league's biggest decline at a mere 189 per game.
The economic decline surely has an impact on attendance, but six FL teams did show an increase this year, so economics can't be the sole cause of Consol Energy Park becoming a place with plenty of extra elbow and leg room. You have to wonder how much longer the team's ownership will put up with dwindling attendance.
If this year's attendance numbers reveal anything, it's that there's hope for Washington. River City is a franchise much like Washington in that it put up impressive attendance numbers in its first few seasons in the league. River City led the FL in attendance in 2002, averaging more than 3,900 fans per game. That average dipped to 1,952 in 2009.
This year, the Rascals made the playoffs for the second year in a row, won the league championship and had the largest boost in attendance at 411 per game. Win and the fans will come. That seems to be the best formula to attendance success for teams that have been around the FL for a decade or so.
Gain/decline (per game) for FL teams in 2010:
+411 - River City
+186 - Evansville
+116 - Lake Erie
+101 - Traverse City
+ 74 - Oakland County
+ 37 - Florence
- 17 - Gateway
-189 - Kalamazoo
-280 - Windy City
-301 - Southern Illinois
-358 - Washington
Labels: Attendance
posted by Chris Dugan at
11:16 AM
4 Comments:
Win, and they will come. There are many reasons why that's true.
Winning is always more fun.
Winning always gets more people talking about the team.
Winning always gets people to come back.
Winning always makes it easier to decide to choose to go at the last minute.
Winning makes it easier to get groups of all sizes to decide to hold events at the park.
Winning enables paying customers to somewhat overlook shortcomings in other areas of the ballpark--restrooms, concession lines, rude employees.
Win here, and they WILL come.
I agree. Put a good product on the field. More than half of the fans don't give a dman about anything other than good baseball
If this were the case why did Southern Illinois with the best record in the league and the best home record by far draw 301 less fans a game. Sioux Falls who had the best record in the American Association saw the same results, big time winning percentage, decline in attendance.
This has been said for years by teams in a decline but the truth is that it doesn't prove out.
Simply an excuse for the ineffective marketing of the product.
Southern Illinois' attendance was hardly bad, leading the league at more than 4,200 a night.
My guess is that with the team being in its fourth year the attendance slipped a bit because few people were coming out just to see the ballpark, unlike previous seasons. Two other factors, and I'm just taking educated guesses here, are the Miners played an inordinate number of home games early in the season (10 by June 3) and had only two weekend home series during a seven-week stretch in June and July.
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