You may have picked up that I’m fascinated by the whole newspapers/blogs dynamic – and this morning I find myself writing about something I feel like has been well covered over here…but since the Times published an article about it today it will be “news” (and that’s not meant to be a diss at Times, it’s just the nature of the beast)…so I feel compelled to comment.
First the story…
Mets Lead the Majors in Declining Attendance
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: May 13, 2010
After 22 home games, attendance at Citi Field is down 6,852 fans a game, which translates to 31,892 fans at games this season.
The article talks about the bad 2009, the weather, stadium fatigue and even some analysis from David Howard that I agree with.
My take: Â yep. Â 2009 was a disaster, “new stadium” isn’t that exciting after all (whether this one or the one in the Bronx or the unnecessary one in the Meadowlands, and I am LMAO at the Jets. Â Good luck selling 10,000 PSLs. Â Coming up at 1pm, Bills vs Dolphins!), people don’t have disposable income, and May has been wintry.
Solution: Â win. Â You know when there were lots of Mets fans? Â 1970, 1987, 2007 (strangely 2001 dipped from 2000).
You kids won’t believe how many “Mets fans” there were in the second half of 1986. Â If you are looking for them now, they are the folks with the Jeter jerseys with the name on the back.
Follow folks like @ericfishersbj or @bizballmaury on twitter and you would have read about this a week ago. Â Again I don’t mean to dump on the newspapers, it’s just a different medium. Â Â It takes time for stories to bubble up to the mainstream – and here at Mets Police I assume most readers are superfans or you wouldn’t come back day after day to read about a fat guy’s man-crush on Lee Mazzilli. Â Similarly, it’s not like I don’t read interesting things in the papers or the beat reporters don’t break news. Â Read matthewcerrone.com for more on this type of discussion.
I’m @metspolice by the way, I hope you’ll follow.
Some pictures from the game tuesday that I wrote about yesterday: http://www.nleastchatter.com/realdirtymets/2010/05/13/empty-stands-at-citi-field/
To be fair, it’s early and the attendance will pick up to normal amounts by the summer. Especially if they fire Manuel and start winning some games.
Too damned expensive. Go back to the days when each level had one price.
Polo Grounds like that?
Shea certainly wasn’t. Field level had at least 4, Loge/Mezz at least 3, and Upper 2.
When Shea opened, there were three prices: Field level was $3.50; loge and mezzanine was $2.50 and the upper deck (no reserved seats) was $1.30.
i’m from queens and thought i’d introduce my young kids to baseball so I went to the site to purchase 4 tickets, cheapest $116 (including a $6 fee)!!
of course not including the ice cream and hot dogs and souveneirs.
I guess that would put me around $200 bucks. Honestly, it’s not worth the money esp considering maybe my kids (7 & 5) won’t understand the game and maybe be bored. Not worth it.