Technically, we have outdrawn the Pirates because last night’s 20,900 moves us past them with the same number of home games.
But still, this is embarrassing. I saw my brother on Easter Sunday and asked if he ws going to any Reds games over his spring break. The Marlins were in town. He looked at me like he didn’t know who the Reds were.
I can’t view the link at work, but Reds attendence in April has always been pretty poor, hasn’t it? The walk up crowd Friday was nice, but Sat and Sunday wasn’t with the weather. The longer the Reds play well and the warmer the days get, the better the attendence will be.
Someone on the radio recently pointed out that people in “Reds country” who don’t live in the immediate Cincinnati area are starting to have to figure gas prices into their travel/entertainment budget when going to see ballgames now. What used to cost $5-6 in gas for the trip can now be more than a $15-20 a trip for people living as close as Indianapolis.
I remember a couple of years ago that the April attendence was poor, but the Reds were playing great. I had tickets to a late season game vs the Cardinals with pretty good seats because I had purchased them at the beginning of the season when very little single game activity had started. It ended up not being meaningful, but a ton of people were buying tickets in April/May for late season NL Central matchups. The game ended up being a sellout and a fun game to watch with a large crowd that was really into it.
April has always been a poorly attended month. After OD, you were looking at the teens. The losing seasons have some skepticism to fight against, but the crowds will be there in june if the team is playing consistent winning baseball.
This sounds like an opportunity for enterprising tavern owners to organize gameday bus trips from Indy to Cincy.
Get a group rate on tickets, use the ticket discount to pay for a bus and get a crowd to meet the bus at the tavern before the game. Then bring the whole crowd back to the tavern for more beers after the game of course.
Based on an analysis I did earlier in the year, the Reds have drawn almost exactly what you’d expect them to draw given their record, stadium quality, and population size. Also, a lot of the attendance benefit to winning occurs the year after a big season, rather than the year during the winning season. http://jinaz-reds.blogspot.com/2006/03/quantifying-fan-interest-pt-3.html
So, while we can certainly do better than we have, Cincinnati isn’t a bad baseball town by any means. -jinaz
Minor clarification: my analysis was on the years 1998 through 2005, so it doesn’t include this year’s figures. However, it is interesting to look at what happened in ‘99 and ‘00. The Reds attendance did increase by an expected amount in 1999 with their great year, but they surged to 400,000+ more fans in 2000 than would be expected for the city size, record, etc. Reds fans love winners… -j
Don’t forget, J, that 2000 was the first year that Junior was with the team. So the winning wasn’t the only cause of the surge. In fact, I think the Reds were one of the top road draws that year too.
Very good point Joel, hadn’t thought of that. That definitely could contribute to the high residual.
Nevertheless, it remains the case that teams usually get an attendance spike the year after a big season, rather than during it. Therefore, a lot of the attendance benefits to winning this season (if we continue to win) are likely to be realized next year. -j in az
May 2nd, 2006 at 11:54 am
Support Your Winning Team!
Reds fans should be embarassed….
May 2nd, 2006 at 12:00 pm
Technically, we have outdrawn the Pirates because last night’s 20,900 moves us past them with the same number of home games.
But still, this is embarrassing. I saw my brother on Easter Sunday and asked if he ws going to any Reds games over his spring break. The Marlins were in town. He looked at me like he didn’t know who the Reds were.
May 2nd, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Easy with that finger, Pinto.
May 2nd, 2006 at 12:09 pm
I can’t view the link at work, but Reds attendence in April has always been pretty poor, hasn’t it? The walk up crowd Friday was nice, but Sat and Sunday wasn’t with the weather. The longer the Reds play well and the warmer the days get, the better the attendence will be.
Someone on the radio recently pointed out that people in “Reds country” who don’t live in the immediate Cincinnati area are starting to have to figure gas prices into their travel/entertainment budget when going to see ballgames now. What used to cost $5-6 in gas for the trip can now be more than a $15-20 a trip for people living as close as Indianapolis.
I remember a couple of years ago that the April attendence was poor, but the Reds were playing great. I had tickets to a late season game vs the Cardinals with pretty good seats because I had purchased them at the beginning of the season when very little single game activity had started. It ended up not being meaningful, but a ton of people were buying tickets in April/May for late season NL Central matchups. The game ended up being a sellout and a fun game to watch with a large crowd that was really into it.
May 2nd, 2006 at 12:49 pm
April has always been a poorly attended month. After OD, you were looking at the teens. The losing seasons have some skepticism to fight against, but the crowds will be there in june if the team is playing consistent winning baseball.
May 2nd, 2006 at 1:10 pm
This sounds like an opportunity for enterprising tavern owners to organize gameday bus trips from Indy to Cincy.
Get a group rate on tickets, use the ticket discount to pay for a bus and get a crowd to meet the bus at the tavern before the game. Then bring the whole crowd back to the tavern for more beers after the game of course.
May 2nd, 2006 at 2:13 pm
I’m sure the contigent is a small one, but if anyone’s out in AZ come see our Reds whack the d-backs this weekend!
May 2nd, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Ahh… once again the attendance monster stirs under the stairs
http://www.baseballminutia.com/
May 2nd, 2006 at 4:34 pm
I’m confident attendance will pick up. Cincy’s a baseball town. Folks are just still stunned that a quality product has made its way to the field!
May 2nd, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Cincy’s a baseball town.
When they win…
May 2nd, 2006 at 10:39 pm
Based on an analysis I did earlier in the year, the Reds have drawn almost exactly what you’d expect them to draw given their record, stadium quality, and population size. Also, a lot of the attendance benefit to winning occurs the year after a big season, rather than the year during the winning season.
http://jinaz-reds.blogspot.com/2006/03/quantifying-fan-interest-pt-3.html
So, while we can certainly do better than we have, Cincinnati isn’t a bad baseball town by any means. -jinaz
May 2nd, 2006 at 11:14 pm
Minor clarification: my analysis was on the years 1998 through 2005, so it doesn’t include this year’s figures. However, it is interesting to look at what happened in ‘99 and ‘00. The Reds attendance did increase by an expected amount in 1999 with their great year, but they surged to 400,000+ more fans in 2000 than would be expected for the city size, record, etc. Reds fans love winners… -j
May 3rd, 2006 at 8:29 am
Don’t forget, J, that 2000 was the first year that Junior was with the team. So the winning wasn’t the only cause of the surge. In fact, I think the Reds were one of the top road draws that year too.
May 3rd, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Very good point Joel, hadn’t thought of that. That definitely could contribute to the high residual.
Nevertheless, it remains the case that teams usually get an attendance spike the year after a big season, rather than during it. Therefore, a lot of the attendance benefits to winning this season (if we continue to win) are likely to be realized next year. -j in az