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Resolute 14 · 05-28-2007, 08:59 AM

To be fair to the Vipers, that first game (which was actually attended by 4100 people), they got to that point with only eight weeks to build an organization entirely from scratch after the original owners walked away from the team.

At that point, the team had no in game entertainment, no advertising, and for the first couple months or so, all you got with your ticket was a ball game. That did drive a lot of fans away.

The bigger problem, IMO, is that in year one, there was almost no improvement throughout the entire season. It want until about midway through their second season that the Dawgs in game production started to get noticably better.

Add a litany of other problems. The POS system they had was crap, and I told them so about four times. Any itme more than 1000 real people showed up, lines would get bogged waiting on the computer system. They finally replaced that for this year. Concessions poorly set up. Each concession stand has four lines, but one jar each of ketchup and mustard. So, after getting out of line for a hot dog, you were right back in line to put something on it. Mike Busch (the manager) has run at least four players off this team in two years due to a clash with his ego. All these things add up.

The well publicized fued with the Dawgs cost them a lot of support. The Dawgs organization is 12 years old, and had a lot of support from within the buisness community. They had a season ticket base of over 1000 a couple years ago, and 80% of that was corporations. Most of the tickets were never used, but companies wanted to support the team.

The Vipers made their lives a living hell in 2005, then kicked them out of the park outright in 2006. As a result, buisnesses were tripping over eachother to help build the Dawgs a new home. Their home opener is June 8. If you want, head down and check the difference in how the operations are run.

And I say all of this having been to about 40 Vipers games in the first two years. I love baseball, and I go to support the teams. For their first two seasons, the Vipers have been a team that only a diehard could enjoy.

05-28-2007, 08:59 AM	#14
Resolute 14 In the Sin Bin Join Date: Jan 2003 Exp:	To be fair to the Vipers, that first game (which was actually attended by 4100 people), they got to that point with only eight weeks to build an organization entirely from scratch after the original owners walked away from the team. At that point, the team had no in game entertainment, no advertising, and for the first couple months or so, all you got with your ticket was a ball game. That did drive a lot of fans away. The bigger problem, IMO, is that in year one, there was almost no improvement throughout the entire season. It want until about midway through their second season that the Dawgs in game production started to get noticably better. Add a litany of other problems. The POS system they had was crap, and I told them so about four times. Any itme more than 1000 real people showed up, lines would get bogged waiting on the computer system. They finally replaced that for this year. Concessions poorly set up. Each concession stand has four lines, but one jar each of ketchup and mustard. So, after getting out of line for a hot dog, you were right back in line to put something on it. Mike Busch (the manager) has run at least four players off this team in two years due to a clash with his ego. All these things add up. The well publicized fued with the Dawgs cost them a lot of support. The Dawgs organization is 12 years old, and had a lot of support from within the buisness community. They had a season ticket base of over 1000 a couple years ago, and 80% of that was corporations. Most of the tickets were never used, but companies wanted to support the team. The Vipers made their lives a living hell in 2005, then kicked them out of the park outright in 2006. As a result, buisnesses were tripping over eachother to help build the Dawgs a new home. Their home opener is June 8. If you want, head down and check the difference in how the operations are run. And I say all of this having been to about 40 Vipers games in the first two years. I love baseball, and I go to support the teams. For their first two seasons, the Vipers have been a team that only a diehard could enjoy. Last edited by Resolute 14; 05-28-2007 at 09:03 AM.