Attendance and TV Ratings (Midseason)

[Obst]

TV

 

Two teams that have been in the news for the wrong reasons — the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are now in bankruptcy court, and the financially distressed New York Mets — have seen two of the biggest drops in MLB’s local TV ratings so far this season. Both major-market teams have faced high-profile ownership controversies that appear to be affecting local viewer interest this season. Dodgers games on Prime Ticket have the third lowest local rating among all U.S. MLB teams (1.19), and Mets games on SportsNet New York have the seventh lowest mark (2.30). But it’s the drop in ratings from last year for each team that is the most telling statistic. The Mets’ local ratings are down 29 percent from midseason last year; the Dodgers’ ratings are down 27 percent. Only the Astros (down 34 percent on FS Houston) and Rays (down 37 percent on FS Florida and Sun Sports) have seen steeper local declines.
The Dodgers have struggled on the field this year, mired in last place in their division, and that surely has affected viewer interest. But just how far have they fallen? The team is in danger of being watched by fewer Los Angeles-area homes than Los Angeles’ second most popular NBA team. The Dodgers’ 67,000-home average is just above the 56,000
homes the Clippers averaged last season. By comparison, an average of 271,000 Los Angeles-area homes tuned in for Lakers games last season.

MLB’s local ratings — where 16 teams have dropped and 13 teams have increased — generally are trending the same as the league’s national TV ratings. Fox (1.9 rating for Saturday afternoon), ESPN (1.5 rating for “Sunday Night Baseball”) and TBS (0.4 rating for Sunday afternoons) are all flat with last year.

The St. Louis Cardinals, last year’s local ratings champion, remain on top with the highest local ratings thus far in the 2011 season, posting a 9.06 average on FS Midwest.

Another strong story is in Philadelphia, where Phillies games on CSN Philadelphia are making a charge for the local ratings crown, posting an 8.87 average rating, up 29 percent from last year.

The Yankees, once again, are producing the biggest overall audience, averaging 309,000 homes for each game.

The Red Sox are stopping their three-year ratings slide on NESN. Fueled by the team’s offseason acquisitions and its first-half story lines, Sox games are up 22 percent so far this season in the Boston DMA. The team’s 7.66 local rating is fourth best in MLB.

MLB’s Florida teams are having a rough TV year. While ratings for the Rays (3.46) and Marlins (2.31) are in the middle of the pack, their drops from last year are significant. The Rays are down 37 percent; the Marlins are down 26 percent.

Despite fielding its most competitive team in years, Nationals games on MASN and MASN 2 are down 24 percent, and their 28,000-home average is MLB’s lowest. Last year, ratings jumped during games when Stephen Strasburg pitched. He is injured and hasn’t played this year. MASN says the posted rating does not reflect bonus coverage on the RSN’s second channel, MASN2, after Baltimore Orioles games end. That bonus coverage would lift the Nats’ mark from a 1.17 rating to a 1.25.

Some of MLB’s small-market clubs have enjoyed strong numbers so far. Fueled by their surprising first-half on-field performance, Cleveland Indians games on SportsTime Ohio are up a whopping 80 percent, the biggest increase in baseball. Their 6.32 average rating is seventh highest in the league and highest at this point in the season in the six-year history of the team-owned network. The Pirates (up 33 percent on Root Sports Pittsburgh), the Brewers (up 32 percent on FS Wisconsin), the Royals (up 26 percent on FS Kansas City) and the Reds (up 24 percent on FS Ohio) are also doing particularly well this season.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal.aspx

Home Attendance

 

The numbers in order represent: How many games played, total number of fans who have attended, average per game, and percentage of how full the stadium is.

*Only team cut off was Florida who had 50 home games, 855,073 total, 17,101 fans on average, 43.7% full.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

 

[Chrispy]

Tampa Bay needs to move, it is sad, they are a really good team.

 

[EmpireWF]

Two teams that have been in the news for the wrong reasons — the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are now in bankruptcy court, and the financially distressed New York Mets — have seen two of the biggest drops in MLB’s local TV ratings so far this season. Both major-market teams have faced high-profile ownership controversies that appear to be affecting local viewer interest this season. Dodgers games on Prime Ticket have the third lowest local rating among all U.S. MLB teams (1.19), and Mets games on SportsNet New York have the seventh lowest mark (2.30). But it’s the drop in ratings from last year for each team that is the most telling statistic. The Mets’ local ratings are down 29 percent from midseason last year; the Dodgers’ ratings are down 27 percent. Only the Astros (down 34 percent on FS Houston) and Rays (down 37 percent on FS Florida and Sun Sports) have seen steeper local declines.

I'll disagree with that point. The article lumps in the ownership issues of both teams as if they're the same thing (as bad as the Mets thing got, the Dodgers situation is a total mess). Besides, I don't see how the Mets ownership being sued has caused SNY ratings to decline by 29%. The reasons for the decline are obviously the fact that for the majority of the first half, the team was not good. There was no excitement around the team until more recently (and even that is not all roses).

It's simple, if you have a great product on the field and you're winning...more people will watch your TV product. Whether your ownership is dealing with court issues or not.

 

[NAHSTE]

Wow, the averages are higher than I expected. 19k really isn't all that bad for Florida and Tampa Bay, considering they play in fucking Florida.

The problem with both of those clubs is the stadiums. Both are dumps, and Florida's is too big. Florida is halfway to solving that now with their construction of a Minute Maid/Chase Field retractable roof mall park clone which will seat I think 35,000, but I think they may have been better off building an even more intimate 25,000 seater. You're never gonna fill a full sized park in south Florida, so might as well avoid the cavernous empty space and limit the supply a bit more.

As for Tampa, yeah, they should probably draw much better than that given the quality of the organization but there just isn't a local fan base to draw from there. For all the doom and gloom articles we were getting from April and May, I'm actually not too upset by the current stats.

19k or 17k is not ideal by any means, it's actually kind of pathetic, but it's certainly better than what a lot of teams were drawing at the beginning of the season. I was seeing Cleveland games with 13,000 "announced" attendance but visibly the crowd had to be less than 10.

Now that school is out I've seen some huge crowds at some smaller market stadiums, which is encouraging.

Maybe it's time to admit that baseball will never draw well in Florida, but I don't think the attendance issue is cause for panic across the league. There are three hopelessly bad stadium situations when you include Oakland, but excepting those bottom three, even the middling clubs are drawing respectable figures.

 

[FirstTimer]

Surprised to see the Nationals TV viewership down.

 

[Obst]

Surprised to see the Nationals TV viewership down.

And by such a large percentage too, that is pretty strange.

 

[killgod]

Until the economy changes and money starts landing in the hands of the "middle class" folks, sports teams are going to have problems.

There's not enough money in the hands of the "spenders" to support the amount of pro clubs and their rising costs anymore.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Surprised to see the Nationals TV viewership down.

And by such a large percentage too, that is pretty strange.

The probably had a large artificial bump in their numbers last year due to Strasburg Mania. So going back to "normal" levels represents a drop.

 

[FirstTimer]

The probably had a large artificial bump in their numbers last year due to Strasburg Mania. So going back to "normal" levels represents a drop.

That's kind of what I was thinking too after I posted.

 

[Senser81]

That's kind of what I was thinking too after I posted.

Thats why its recommended that you think BEFORE you post...not after.

 

[Bmore]

Wow! More Pirate fans go to Pirates games, then O's fans go to Orioles games...


Baltimore has officially become a Football city. Oh how the Ripken Jr. days have passed...

 

[FirstTimer]

Thats why its recommended that you think BEFORE you post...not after.

:learnvsn:

 

[Rudi]

Good showing from the Reds TV viewers. Thats what making the playoffs last year will do I suppose.

 

[NAHSTE]

We just got the Rays in 98 and the marlins aren't moving for awhile either with their new stadium. I doubt either team is moved unless an area with good numbers and a stadium is built. I think we will see the A's move to San Jose before we see the Rays move.

I hope so, but Selig has been subverting their efforts for years. They've had two or three stadium proposals in the last decade but Selig doesn't want it to happen.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

San Jose A's does not flow off the lips very well. Fuck that.

 

[Senser81]

San Jose A's does not flow off the lips very well. Fuck that.

What about the San JosA's?

 

[Tailback U]

San Jose A's does not flow off the lips very well. Fuck that.

Pretty sure they'd stay with Oakland Athletics. Similar to how the Dallas Cowboys actually play in Arlington. Think there are a couple of other pro teams that have done the same thing.

 

[Goober]

Just wanted to remind everyone that the Brewers are the smallest market in baseball but they still pull in a top 5 TV rating, and they're 11th in attendance. And that's with a terrible start to the year.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Not much to do in Milwaukee since The Crusher died