Quote:
Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle
Florida is a terrible professional sports market when it comes to actual attendance at the games pretty much around the horn. Probably because of the weather. I knew if I lived on the coast with nice weather all year round i'd be way less inclined to go to as many games lives as I do in Calgary. The only team that seems to manage to do well is the Dolphins. The Heat are still living off Lebron but are slowly returning to a half-empty arena.
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I won't argue the idea that there are many activities to compete for leisure time, but it doesn't preclude a team from drawing well. There's just so few long standing franchises in the Florida area to build a culture of sports around. Other markets have had their teams for 60-70 years.
Look at the year these franchises were established:
Miami Dolphins: 1966
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 1976
Miami Heat: 1987
Orlando Magic: 1989
Tampa Bay Lightning: 1992
Florida/Miami Marlins: 1993
Florida Panthers: 1993
Jacksonville Jaguars: 1995
Tampa Bay Devil Rays: 1998
Cripes, most of those are barely 20 years old. People just aren't used to having sports teams in Florida. The history just isn't there to build a culture around. That's not even considering the extreme lack of success most of these franchises have had, which is what people tune in for in the first place.