Marlins rank last in attendance … again
Not exactly a news flash, but the Marlins ranked last again in Major League Baseball for tickets sold this season.
The team sold 1,335,079 tickets or an average of 16,688 per game over 80 dates, including a doubleheader, at Dolphin Stadium in 2008. That’s down from 1,370,511 or 16,920 per game in 2007.
Maybe that shouldn’t be so surprising, but even with five games left to play, the Marlins are guaranteed to win 10 more games this year than last. They are currently 81-76 and finished 2007 at 71-91. And this year’s team was still in playoff contention until last night, in a season that was anticipated to be dismal.
With the Marlins following their remarkable nine-game winning streak with two losses to the Philadelphia Phillies in front of two of the larger home crowds of the season last weekend, I wondered whether crowds have anything to do with the outcome. After all, the Marlins rarely play to large crowds at home.
I checked the team’s home record for games before crowds of at least 25,000. Of the dozen games that met that mark, seven were losses, including Opening Day and the final two home games of the season, compared with five wins.
If you lower the measure to the 18 with crowds of at least 20,000, the team’s at .500 (9-9). So maybe the big crowds aren’t the problem, since the team's home record is 45-36 (or nine more wins than losses).
Your thoughts? Have you purchased your season tickets for next year? Do you plan to buy season tickets or go to a few games next season? Read more about the Marlins in our Marlins blog.
CRAIG DAVIS In more than 33 years at the Sun Sentinel, Craig Davis has written about a wide variety of sports topics from baseball to yachting, fishing to triathlons, and also worked as a copy editor and page designer. Recently he reported on local sports, including running, swimming, cycling, equestrian and beach volleyball. He enjoys sports as a participant as well as a spectator, is active in the South Florida running scene plays in the curling club at Saveology Iceplex. This blog offers a glimpse at the business side of sports in the interest of enhancing enjoyment of the games and sporting options as a spectator as well as a participant.
