I wonder how much of this has to do with the team, and how much has to do with the economy, gas prices, etc. I wonder if this is a league wide trend or just in Miami...
I am one of the 5,000 to cancel my Tix.It's just too expensive for me to go to all the games. Gas prices higher. Season Tickets higher. Hotel room higher. Pay raises?..........
Winning will change everything, but if we suffer blackouts this year I'm going to be very upset. And I hate to tell you Alen, but the last home-playoff game the dolphins played, was blacked out, I could not watch it. and I moved here in 2001 so it has been more recent than '98.
I can understand not renewing your season tickets. I am a State employee for a University here, and our State Mandated raises that the Governor approved have been recended, so no raise for me this year. They blame the cost of their utility costs for the reason they cannot pay out. I guess they don't realize that my utility and gas costs have gone up as well as just having a baby. That's alright, the beauty of being an Electrician is you can always break a tap in a junction box or trip a breaker, and whala instant overtime that no one else wants to mess with.:up I know how to play their game, and I'm gonna run the score up on em.
Our fans need a new identity and if we dont take our team seriously and improve our support we will fall back into the same doldrum as we fell into last year. Iam very serious when i say that our stadium and the emotion or lackthereof in that stadium is a reason why we became the worst team in history. It will happen again unless somethings changes.players cannot play by themselves and their own emotion for long, they need that life from their fans to give that extra that makes a champion.. I hate our stadium and i hate our reputation as a fan base
Hmmmmmm, seems you hate just about everything. That is such a strong word. Maybe you could find another word. As for being the worst team in history ??? Have you forgotten about the 1976-77 Tampa Bay Bucs ? Losers of their first 24 games......that my friend was the worst team of all time.
Also, at one time way back in the Orange Bowl days, we had an opposite reputation.......enough to make Mike Ditka say after the Dolphins gave the Bears their only loss in 1985, "Get me away from those fans" because we made a difference in that game. Anyone that was there that night with me and 77,000 others, would have to agree with me.
I was there my brother and I agree completely. This debate has gone on for quite a while and the reason for our fan base issues and the lack of "electricity" at Dolphins stadium are enough for it's own thread. The stadium design is a huge factor. Even with a packed house you don't get near the same electicity there. It's a legitimate gripe. I've always hated Dolphin stadium because of that. It feels like a condo not a stadium. There are plenty of other issues as well though. Increasing ticket prices, High percentage of field seats (Club Section) set aside for an even bigger ticket expense, bad economy, a shrinking american population paired with an increasing amount of foreign citizens in the Miami area that don't historically follow football are all factors the Dolphins have to overcome.
Anyone discounting the effect of this economy on Season ticket sales is ignoring reality. I had to cancel mine as well. Been a season ticket holder since I was in High School. A friend of mine and I had saved up lunch money along with working at fast food joints to buy our own tickets. It took a lot for me to actually cancel but what can you do? I've got economic challenges and here's a $1700 bill for tickets to football games coming due. My ticket rep at the Dolphins told me flat out that a large portion of their cancelations were from economic hardship rather than because they were upset with the 1-15 team.
Doesn't seem to be affecting things up here. The Red Sox are about to break MLB's all-time record for selling out consecutive home games and the Patriots *I believe* have the highest tix price in the NFL but you could add another 10,000 seats up here in Gillette and it seems like they'd fill overnight. I think it has more to do with a crappy product and a crappy stadium and both combined give a really bad picture of the fanbase in Miami. It should turn around as the team starts to turn around and becomes less of an embarrassment and more like an NFL team. It'll take a couple of years of consistant growth by the football team in order to see that turn around IMHO.
I've only heard that stadium louder on three occasions. 1) When the Dolphins played Philadelphia on a Monday night late in the season in 1981. We were so loud, that Ron Jaworski couldn't get the play off 7 times, and then when he did on the 8th try, he threw an interception into the arms of Lyle Blackwood. 2) When the U of Miami (ranked 2nd at the time) played Oklahoma (ranked 1st) in 1986 in a Sept regular season game. It was just a frenzy, and Miami won the game 3) The loudest ever when the U of Miami played Notre Dame in 1989, and beat the Fighting Irish.
I have my season tickets for 31 years, and when i asked for an upgrade, they told me none were available..nice huh..they have no loyalty to their long time season ticket holders..and that is why i will have to think long and hard about renewing next year..!