Those Fickle Fans In Florida

Andrea Adelson of the Orlando Sentinel takes on a risky, but interesting topic in Sunday's sports section: the historically pathetic home attendance records for the Tampa Bay Rays and the Florida Marlins.

"Risky" because she's sure to get flamed by readers in Tampa and/or Miami who will defend their cities' lack of interest, probably by citing a laundry list of bad decisions made by the respective franchises over the years. I get that a lot from fans, especially when it comes to the NBA. Disapproval over the hiring/firing of a coach, personnel decisions that went bad, questionable trades, dumb contracts -- fans will voice their opinions on such matters, more often than not, by staying home. It's a pretty easy position to take, especially if the team is losing.

As Adelson points out, however, the Rays and the Marlins are currently winning. Not only winning, but winning with low payrolls and, in the cases of players like Evan Longoria, Scott Kazmir, and Hanley Ramirez, they're demonstrating a willingness to invest in their own futures by signing key players to long-term deals. Still, fans in Tampa Bay and South Florida are reacting as they've done ever since Major League Baseball first arrived in our state in 1993: they're not showing up.

The Marlins are last among the 30 Major League Baseball teams in home attendance at just over 15,000 per game, while the Rays have climbed out of the cellar to 28th, ahead of the Pirates -- and again, as of this writing, both the Marlins and the Rays were leading or tied for the lead in their respective divisions.

The obvious fix, in the eyes of both franchises, is a new ballpark. To that end, efforts are already underway in both markets. New parks, and the new revenue streams they generate, can do wonders for your bottom line, but from a purely aesthetic point of view, baseball teams that play in Tampa or Miami can do a lot better than Tropicana Field or Dolphin Stadium. Having broadcast games at both parks, I can sympathize with the argument that a livelier, more fan-friendly environment would compel more fans to arrive.

But is it just a stadium question?

NBA home attendance last season: the Miami Heat were 8th (although this has become something of an inside joke -- lots of fans dressed up as yellow seats, apparently) and the Orlando Magic were 18th, despite cracking the 50-win mark.

NFL home attendance in 2007: the Dolphins were 10th, the Bucs 22nd, Jacksonville 23rd among the 32 NFL teams.

NHL home attendance this season: the Lightning were 8th, while the Panthers were 25th.

Now the caveats: it's an apples-to-oranges thing when you compare NFL attendance to just about anything else. Not only has the NFL set new attendance records for six years running, but you're only measuring eight home games per team per season. Comparing those numbers to the 41 home dates for every NBA and NHL team or the 81 home games for every Major League Baseball club is patently unfair -- NFL games are once-a-week appointments in stadiums that seat over 70,000 people, while the NBA, NHL, and MLB play every night in buildings half that size or smaller. Apples and oranges.

Also, those official attendance figures are most often 'paid attendance,' not actual turnstile counts, which is why I made the yellow seat reference above. In claiming an average home attendance of over 19,000 this season, the Miami Heat are almost assuredly going by 'paid attendance' or 'tickets distributed' or something similar. This is a common practice among pro sports teams. Rather than counting actual butts in actual seats, teams will figure out how many tickets were claimed for a given game and release that figure as the 'paid attendance' -- even if some (or most) of those ticket-holders didn't show up for the game.

Which brings me back to the point: could it be that Florida cities are simply tough sports markets, no matter how nice the venue? And why is that?

This is one of our favorite parlor games at the Sun Sports studios. Typically, the native Floridians (like me) end up on one side of the fence while the transplants who have lived and worked in great sports markets (like studio producer Jamie Shapiro, who is a Chicago guy) are on the other. Topic: why do so many Florida franchises struggle at the gate?

It's a complex question. The Dolphins, a perennial top-10 franchise in terms of NFL attendance, have history and success on their side. They're the oldest pro team in the state and have two Super Bowl trophies. We're now on a second and perhaps third generation of Dolfans who grew up with the team, and the passion that is handed down from parent to child generates a loyal, ticket-buying fan base. (And again, the fact that we're only talking about eight home games a year really helps.)

The Marlins, with their two World Series titles, seem to invoke the 'fan disapproval' response that I mentioned above -- yes, they've won before, but it's almost always followed by a fire sale. For many years, the Rays were also discounted for refusing to spend money the way other teams do. That seems to be changing, but is that enough to help the gate?

I've always believed that people in Florida would rather go DO something than WATCH something. We are a state of bare feet and green grass, of beaches and pools and temperate weather. Why sit inside an arena when you can play another nine holes? I'm reminded, however, that there are plenty of other fair-weather markets that can boast of tremendously successful franchises, so it can't just be a weather thing.

Simply put, the pro teams in our state are either very young, haven't always been competitive, or both. We're now seeing new generations of fans that grew up with NBA basketball or NHL hockey in Florida, but it takes time for those passions to translate into habits. I think our pro partners also get hurt by the fact that so many Floridians are transplants, and thus have already developed allegiances elsewhere. But again, time can fix that -- especially if the transplants' kids grow up watching a winning team down the street.

I sincerely hope that the Rays and the Marlins can get their stadium deals done, but I also hope that fans will continue to show up for those games even after the "bounce" of a new ballpark fades. I really do believe that our state, while huge and fractured and diverse, is a great place for pro sports.