Crimson Red Sports

This franchise has never drawn good crowds.



After a good start the Marlins have plummeted to last place in the NL East at 43-48 and rank dead last among MLB teams in attendance with 17,101 per game.


http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/12/with-no-fans-to-fill-seats-marlins-close-upper-deck/

Someone's gotta be last...

Big money! RTR!

They're not serious about their baseball. The stadium sucks and the owner won't spend the money to keep or go get good players. However, there is some faint hope, per Wiki:

[/coIn recent years, the Marlins ownership pushed for a new stadium and recently agreed to a plan with Miami-Dade County commissioners and the city of Miami to build a $515 million ballpark on the site where the legendary Miami Orange Bowl once stood. As part of the deal, the Marlins will, when their new ballpark opens in 2012, be known as the "Miami Marlins."[1] According to Forbes Magazine in 2011 the value of the franchise is $360 million.[2]lor]

When completed, the seating capacity will be around 37,000, making it the third smallest stadium (in capacity) in the MLB. Set to open in April 2012, the ballpark would become only the sixth MLB stadium to have a retractable roof, joining Rogers Centre in Toronto (1989), Chase Field in Phoenix (1998), Safeco Field in Seattle (1999), Minute Maid Park in Houston (2000), and Miller Park in Milwaukee (2001).

It may be a nice stadium, but if the product on the field is still well below average they still won't come. Just look at Nationals Park in D.C. if you need further proof than this.

Marlins have won 2 world series in the last 14 years ('97, '03).

Then immediately traded and/or sold all the good players. Also, since 1998, they have finished between 13th to 16th (out of 16) in attendance in the National League. Maybe a new stadium will energize the fanbase, but they still have to have good teams.

Hey, here's an idea. Let's spend $515 million dollars and downsize the park to compensate for crummy attendance for a crummy team. Waddya think?

You would think that with all the retired yankees in Miami baseball would do better, but no. 

 ???

When I was a kid living in Ft. Lauderdale, there were the "Ft. Lauderdale Suns" and the "Miami Marlins" minor league baseball teams. It was huge back then. I guess things have changed a bit.

When I was a kid we went to Birmingham A's games all the time. My Dad could take me to the game and park, get tickets, cokes, peanuts all for under $15. Even minor league games are expensive now. That was great entertainment. There was three TV channels and one baseball game per week called "The Game of the Week" on Saturday afternoon. Cable came around a few years later and TBS was carring the Braves almost everyday. ESPN then started carring games and now you can get 2 or 3 games everynight. You can even get the MLB package and get every game. So I would agree things have changed.

South Florida traditionally doesn't support its teams well.  The Rays are putting a good product on the field, yet have been  23rd, 22nd, and 29th (currently) the last three years.  They just went to the World Series in '08, a year in which they finished 26th in attendance.

The year the Marlins last won the World Series ('03), they were 28th in attendance, averaging 1k less than they are this year!  Guess who was behind them in 29th?  Yep, the Rays.  Winning the series bumped the Marlins all the way up to 26th in '04.

When the U was in its heyday in college football, they couldn't sell 3/4 of their tickets.

Because all the cubaricans would go to protesting if you move them. It keeps people coming to games for pick-pocketers. RTR!

3 other teams have won 2 or more WS in the last 20 years [Toronto (92,93), Boston (04,07), and New York (98,99,00,09)].

You have to go back 30 years to find another national league team with 2 WS titles [Los Angeles (81,88), St. Louis (82,06)].

lol. You couldn't go to the old Orange Bowl without a gun.

The NL has always been hard to repeat in the NL pennant and winning the World Series. In fact, no NL team has EVER won 3 World Series in a row. In the AL, the Yankees have won 5 WS in a row, and 4 WS in a row, & 3 WS in a row. The Oakland A's won 3 WS in a row in the early 1970's. The NL is a more competitive league.

My point was that it's not the product.

ssmith is right...it has nothing to do with the product.  The fact of the matter is that the Marlins WILL turn a profit, even with their crappy team and their anemic fan base, all due to revenue sharing.  Why do you think baseball owners are so selective in who they will "approve" as an owner?  They like their status quo, and they like making their money.

There are a few franchises that exploit the revenue sharing system, putting a minimum amount of money on the field (in salaries) to maximize their revenue sharing, thus turning a profit.

No the produt is fine, it's misuse of the product by the owner is sometimes the problem, especially the Marlins. The Marlins lost $30 mil in 1997, when they won the World Series.

The revenue sharing is extemely limited in baseball. The gate and local tv and radio rights are very important.Totally different than "The League" ak/a NFL which is by design basically one product.

"The League"  never  says anything like contracting........never!