145 replies to this topic

[TwentyThirtyFive]

8 games vs. 81.

More and more people prefer to watch games from home.

Hence some of the renovations oin-going at M&T Bank and coming to OPACY... which will try and make the fan experience that much better / more enticing.

Watch the Ravens audience this year. The games might be sold, but there are numerous empty seats, and late arriving crowds.

Orioles... in '22 the average attendance was 17,543.... in '23 the average attendance was 23,911... as of July 12th, attendance was up 27% over '23...

https://www.baltimor...is-complicated/

It's not an overnight process.

The O's are on pace to sell 2.3M tickets this year. That's their best year since 2014.

I think they can jump up to around 2.6M next year, which would be their best year since '05, and would probably have them in the 10-14 range overall across MLB.

That should be within reach, we will see if they can get there.

I think 30,000 is around their realistic max even in the best of times. And that would be fine IMO. Do we know what the expected capacity will be once they take out seats and are done renovations?

[BSLChrisStoner]

I think 30,000 is around their realistic max even in the best of times. And that would be fine IMO. Do we know what the expected capacity will be once they take out seats and are done renovations?

It's like 46k now. 
I'm pretty sure it will be around 38k when they are done. 

[TwentyThirtyFive]

30,000 avg. Obviously some nights the house will be full. 38k sounds like a good number. Will be fun to see what it looks like when done.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

HD/4K TV and so many camera angles have just made sitting at home so much better than going to a sporting event. Now you don't have the crowd experience and that is great too.

 

But no traffic issues.

Less time commitment.

Food is usually better and for sure cheaper.

Beer is WAY cheaper.

 

But what has started to really make me not want to go in person is TV replays. Have no idea how the O's are handling things but BSU shows very very few replays anymore and then only like TD plays. The MWC doesn't let them show replays of any referee calls because they are afraid it will upset the crowd. So you sit in the stands and have to call somebody watching on TV to know what is happening. Ridiculous.

[cprenegade]

I get what everyone is saying.  81 games vs. 8 for the Ravens makes sense.  Except that Ravens game day tickets are about 4x what O's tickets are.  And even then it does not matter.  Being 18th in MLB attendance when you were the best team in baseball last year, and have at times been that this year speaks volumes.  

 

I don't know the reasons, but the Orioles should be better than 18 in attendance based on the team they have fielded.  The Ravens were a lot worse of a team in the late 2010's and still sold out.  Some of the teams above the Orioles in attendance are not nearly as good as the Orioles.   Colorado, Toronto, Seattle.  How are these teams out drawing a team in a city that has been starved for a winner for quite some time?

[Ravens2006]

There are many factors in play, and while you could debate the order of magnitude for each, that's less relevant to me than the overall combination. Ticket prices aren't great (not awful, but not a definite pro either). Concession prices are NOT appealing. Ingress and egress on game days has somehow gotten worse / less efficient to my view. And Baltimore city crime perception doesn’t help. You have a myriad of factors that all lend some small reason to get people to decide "Eh, I think I'll just watch the broadcast tonight".

I will say I went to an earlier season game on a Saturday night. Pretty full stadium, and missed about 1/3 of the game waiting in lines for concessions. First time I realized a soda was like $8 or $9 I almost went in to full Falling Down mode. Walked out of THAT game swearing I will never go back for a crowded weekend game ever again. Give me a mid April weeknight game vs the Padres from now on.

I went ALL the time back in the early days of OPACY when it was crowded all the time. And I don't recall ever being that aggravated by concession lines / waits. It's somehow gotten worse or less efficient with time.