Bum that is a falsehood. The Marlins averaged over 30,000 for the 1st month of the season, even though the team had a crappy April. And only in July when it was apparent this team would finish near the bottom of the NL East did people start staying away in droves. For the year they managed to still average 24,700 per game for the year.
The Dolphins don't need more PR or a better stadium to draw larger crowds. All they need is an exciting and winning team. I remember in the late 1960's and the 1970's when the the University of Miami almost disbanded the football team because of low crowd attendance. It was stated at the time that the University needed to build an on campus stadium if they expected to attract larger crowds. They called the old Orange Bowl antiquated, and it was felt by many people that a large number of college fans would never show up to watch games in that stadium. Of course once the University of Miami started winning national championships, the stands in the old Orange Bowl were filled and talk of disbanding the football team or the need for an on campus stadium ended. All it took to get fans to show up for games was an exciting and winning football team. As UM has reverted to a mediocre program, the crowds at the present stadium have diminished. The same thing has happened with the Dolphins as they have gone from a exciting and winning team during the Shula era, to a mediocre franchise over the past decade. Fans in South Florida will not support mediocre in large numbers at the stadium. Until the Dolphins once again put a consistently winning product on the field, crowds will continue to dwindle. This is the case with every professional and college program in South Florida and the Dolphins are being treated the exact same way all the other sports programs in South Florida are treated, when they don't win on a regular basis. Win and fans will return. Continue to be just another mediocre team in the NFL and, it won't matter if the stadium is upgraded or how much PR the Dolphins generate in the community. Attendance will not improve. It is all about wins and losses, not new stadiums or better PR. It is also not the economy which is keeping fans from attending games. There are plenty of people will the financial resources in South Florida to fill the stadium on a weekly basis. They just don't want to spend this money on a organization which has been in a rebuilding mode for over a decade.
The Marlins draw less but for very, very, very different reasons. The whole history of that franchise has torn the hearts of the fans apart. That and they despise the owner.
It's obvious you've never been to to Seattle. My wife & I have been there 10 times (I have one of my best friends living near there) and each time have found lots of great NEW things to do. When we finally retire we've thought a lot about moving there or Olympia.
My wife and I also love the Northwest. We have been to Seattle on several occasions and anyone who thinks that those living in Seattle don't have many things to occupy their time, except football, probably has never been to Seattle in the first place. Like you, I would love to live in the Northwest, but my wife isn't moving anywhere as long as our grandsons are still here in South Florida. Fortunately we at least get to spend six weeks each year out West. Much of that time is spent in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia and there are plenty of things we have found to do in those areas.
I go to Seattle quite often for work. Its a great city, and I enjoy it. There is more to do in Seattle than Washington DC, which is where I live. I go to Miami to see family/friends, and to PARTY. Miami is a party town. Seattle is not. I've never heard of anyone traveling to Seattle for spring break or a bachelor party, for example.
Don't really care one way or another. The stadium could be 90% empty, and I wouldn't notice. The red carpet stuff is silly to me, but if you look around our society in relation to what it looks toward for entertainment, it makes sense.
What additional revenues are these exactly? Why exactly did the Patriots operating income nearly triple from 2011 to 2012??? You realize that Miami generated more revenue than teams like the 49ers and Falcons, who both are better teams than Miami? How exactly do the Dallas Cowboys (who haven't won a playoff game in???) have nearly twice as much operating income than the Patriots?
So you're saying an expensive stadium could accomplish more than winning? Now we are making progress.
What about the Redskins? Last season with Grossman and Beck as their QBs, with one of the worst records in the NFL, they managed to make nearly the same profits as the almighty Patriots? Point being, there are a lot of ways for NFL teams to make money. Trying to make money because of your team's performance in the NFL is a low-percentage strategy. The NFL inherently will have as many bad teams as good teams, and its pretty silly to have your business model revolve around that.
In fairness to Joe Robbie, he built the stadium with soccer dreams in his mind and it's one of the reasons the seating is as it is. And the irony is, that neither the Olympics in 1996 or World Cup in 1994 used the stadium for games (both used the Orange Bowl).
You know as well as I that the love for the Skins in NOVA goes way beyond delusional. The best comedy on radio isnt Elliot in the Morning, its 106.7 the fan.
Well, in regards to the Redskins profits, you also have the factor of Dan Snyder doing the unscrupulous, i.e. selling expired peanuts to increase margins, etc. The Skins fans also had quite a bit of anger toward the team last season, and attendance wasn't all that great. Either way, the point remains that making money in this league can be accomplished in ways that don't center around something as fungible as wins and losses.
Absolutely, not only would it endear him to the community, it's the right thing to do, for many reasons that some can't seem to understand.
Well it's a very difficult sell when the NFL has made it so easy for you to sit back and watch the game in A/C and you have a bathroom in the next room and a fridge full of cheaper than the stadium food, that tastes better than the crap they sell at said stadium. I found that out this year after going to every game (except for 2 when I was sick and my late wife was sick) after nearly 40 years of being a season ticket holder. At my age, I just don't know if I will ever go back to a game again.
Seattle is just as spread out if not more than Miami. Tacoma which is part of the SeaTac metro area is about 50 miles from Seattle yet still part of the same metro area. But the part about the organization going into the crapper, that is very true. More true than the head-in-the-sand people will ever admit.
There is. It's a disconnect between the fans and the organization, and I just don't think the team gets that. They need to correct it, and in a hurry or there won't be much of a fanbase left soon.
I can't emphasize how much truth there is in this statement. People just don't feel the Dolphins know what they are doing and leaving one of the main focal points of that recent disappointment and failure in place to rebuild just is stupid, and most fans just look at that and shake their heads. That is just another reason you see empty seats on Sundays. It's one of many.
Believe it or not, a real, tangible home field advantage is directly tied into the construction of the building.. Of course if we win, the stadium will become fuller, that doesn't mean our stadium will provide that legitimate advantage, it means by the 5 min mark of the 1st quarter the stands will be full.. That's not good enough, and is not an inherent advantage in that building as it is to others. There needs to be renovations, ( canopy, stands closer all I'm interested in) desperately, and there needs to be a complete reeducation campaign launched on how to be a 12th man..
Lies ? You mean that wasn't Matt Flynn or Alex Smith and their agents at the Dolphins Facility ? That Ross didn't fly to Indianapolis to see Manning ? That Ross & Harbaugh didn't go to San Francsico ? You mean Tony Sparano was just pissed at nothing at all and got an extention just because Ross was being nice to him ? That Fisher didn't fly into the facility in a heliocopter ? Oh those lies.....okay. Someone at the Dolphin facility must be really good at CGI and work at TV stations and was able to get worked up film clandestinely into those studios. Hey want a bridge in Brooklyn ? Got one for you on the cheap.
Some people need to get out more and travel. I say the same about Seattle for those that think Miami has the corner on night time entertainment. My wife & I have had a wonderful time at some of the best restaurants I have ever been to in the SeaTac metro area. Then you have a real culture there that appreciates some of the finer things in life. Entertainment is not all about girls shaking their booty for $ 1 while glued to a metal pole. (p.s. I say my wife and I need to clarify this - my wife (the legal kind) did die 19 years ago. And I miss her dearly. I do live with my fiancé/girlfriend/other half of 16 years but we have never done or seen fit (as long as the tax laws are the way they are) the reason to get married legally - sorry to be so confusing).
Stringer, I have no idea if you have a wife & children (or in my case grand-children too), but I found that after some years of partying, that the best days & nights of my life have been spent in their company doing things that bond us closer together & closer with our Lord. Try the family life, I highly recommend it.
If I retired today, I would move to Seattle / Tacoma area in an instant. It's beautiful there, the people are nice (and after South Fla that is refreshing), and it just is a welcoming place.
The Dolphins also play in one of the largest stadiums in the NFL too. Still 74% is 74% for reasons, and Ross needs to take a look at them. The GM would be a place to start.
It's also indicative of the football that is being played at each venue too. It's been pretty bad for almost a decade here. I haven't looked at the numbers but I would guess we have a losing record at home in that period. If you are bad and don't win at home, what is the incentive to plunk down hard earned cash ?
We don't just have a losing record at home, we're horrendous at home (in the Sparano era, I'd have to look up the rest of the decade)
No thanks. And thats not to say my lifestyle is preferable to anyone else's. But my lifestyle is better catered to in Miami than Seattle. You aren't going to draw fans in Miami with the same strategy you're using in Seattle.
I can't agree more. Seattle is world class city. And its beauty blows Miami & South Fla away.....sorry but that's the truth.
It is that bad. I went to several of the Citrus series games over the last 5 or 6 years (I have a son & his family that live in Dunedin) and I actually preferred Sun Life to watching a game in that craphole.
Except for this year (when they were relevant for a while) the Pittsburgh Pirates couldn't draw flies. Even with one of the best, if not THE BEST new stadium (I have been there its wonderful). Maybe thats because the team had had 20 losing seasons in a row. Might have something to do with it. Also the Indians and already mentioned Mariners are now having attendance issues. They both have bad, bad teams and lose a lot. I wonder if that's a factor ?
