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Originally Posted by dustyanddaflames
It will be interesting to see how the "Miami" Marlins do in their new ballpark next year - I for one, have never bought into the "stadiums play a huge role" in attendance bullspit. I know that in some of the more southern parts of America, that there are more things to do outside than watch a baseball game - but the fact that your team is in a playoff push AGAIN, and you can't support it - really baffles me.
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I think stadium definitely plays a key role (not the only role mind you). If the location has easy access then more people will go. I do think the sport has a lot to do with it. Football for example has what, 8 home games? You'll make the trek out for that. However hockey, basketball with 41 if the location is poor your attendance will drop, now with baseball are you really going to drive an hour or so out of your way for a three hour $12 ball game? If the atmosphere sucks and you can go whenever you feel like it, where's the incentive?
Look at how the Alouettes attendance skyrocketed when they moved from Olympic Stadium to McGill. The city of Montreal, love, love, loved the Expos, yet who wanted to go an hour by summer subway to an ugly, huge, lifeless stadium?
Generally the teams that are the cornerstone of a league play downtown (MSG, TD Gardens, Bell Centre, ACC, Fenway Park, are all in or on the edge of downtown).
There's a reason people don't want their stadiums built in suburbs or outside the city. Because there's an attendance drop. If you have a bad stadium outside the city, it's an uphill battle to get attendance.
A good friend of mine lives in Atlanta and he says the way the city is designed, combined with their odd transit system makes professional sports a difficult sell in the city. Here you have one of the largest markets in the United States, and their sports teams struggle. NHL has failed twice, NBA putters by, the only real thing that kept the Braves going through the 90's was Ted Turner throwing money at them. He said if you work downtown it's an hour commute home, then pick up the kids, hour commute back and you're struggling to get to the stadium by game time. And that's if everything goes smoothly. So why bother? He says it's why Atlanta doesn't have much support for professional sports, yet does really well with events. People make exceptions and work around events, but not habitual stuff.
Imagine if Atlanta had an easy to navigate road structure, and a smooth, efficient transportation system, they'd be up with Boston, New York and LA as pinnacle sports cities.
I'm not saying that if the Rays get a new ballpark in the heart of Tampa that it'd turn things around 180 (I'm not familiar with Tampa, but I think The Trop is in a good location isn't it?) but stadiums do play a factor.
Albeit I'd argue location over form as a key component. An old stadium that's poorly built in a great location has character; an old stadium that's poorly built in a poor location is an eyesore.