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While I think the standings are the foremost factor regarding the grim look of desolation in the StL. ballpark as of late, it’s my view that there’s another element coming into play. I think StL. fans are somewhat offended by the smug and pompous temperament featured by the Cardinal ownership and bosses. I recall earlier this season when Willie Jr’s. sprout arrogantly proclaimed that if Cardinal fans voiced their displeasure by refusing to spend their hard earned money on an inferior product, it would be counter intuative in the form of less revenue for his rich daddy to spend on bolstering the team. StL. may have plenty of good baseball fans, but people don’t like to be taken for granted and get fed up with that sort of high handed talk in a big hurry. Especially when it originates from the mouth of a haughty rich kid who’s never in his life had to stretch a hard earned dollar to make ends meet.
We do need to remember that a lot of tickets are sold even if nobody is there. How much revenue is lost due to poor turnstile numbers we don’t know.
I wonder if the corporate season ticket sales staff is reporting any softening of sales and renewals.
There is also the suites and such. All the newer stadiums are big on that presumably because it is a big revenue source. I have no idea how that is accounted for, and whether the numbers are off.
And then, I also wonder how much revenue is off at Ballpark Village. In past times when the team was in town that place was hopping.
As has been repeated, expected profit is lost when a $60 ticket is discounted to $6. It has been hard to miss the heavy promotion pricing on tickets all season long, for example, every game in August excepting the Dodgers series. Further, sold tickets that are no shows mean no money is spent in the ballpark on the overpriced beer and food. All together, it has to be significant.
I am sure they are taking a big hit on revenue. At least they seem to have been quick to recognize that their lame buy at the deadline attemp fell flat. They do still have 5 inning Fedde the KBO ace for what that is worth.
Wait a minute:
I was told the Cardinals could not be sellers at the trade deadline because they have tickets to sell.
Now, you are telling they aren’t selling tickets and have waived two oh their three trade deadline acquisitions?
What happened to selling tickets?
What changed in the last month is that they fell out of legitimate playoff contention. They know the fans aren’t coming back in 2024 so they are trying to save a few bucks.
Realistic take from Jim Hayes.
I think it’s kind of crazy to criticize fans for not going to games. It’s their money and they’re going to spend it as they see fit. They are basically entertainment customers who will drop some coin on what they think they’ll enjoy the most.
— Jim Hayes (@TheCatOnBallyTV) August 30, 2024
The problem with Hayes comment is that it’s gaslighting. Loyal customers do not wake up each game day and look at their entertainment options and decide whether or not to buy a ticket and go to the game or use the ticket they have already purchased.
The Cardinal fan base is and has been extremely loyal. It’s not like the Cardinals were rolling along, had a bad year, and the ballpark instantly became a ghost town.
Not so fast! Bill and Mo created and earned the current situation through several consecutive years of really bad decisions.
The division was awful in 2022 and if Puhols’ magic doesn’t save the season (Goldy and Arenado feeding off his great 2nd half notwithstanding) now how do the past 9 years look? The Cardinals were 2 games under .500 in 2021 before an unprecedented 17 game winning streak snagged a WC spot.
Nah, the Cardinals lack of attendance is not about the heat and is certainly not about other entertainment options. To even suggest that is foolish and unintelligent. It’s about inflated pricing coupled with a nauseatingly poor product for most of the past decade. That’s what it’s about.
Not arguing with you ZTR, but I am not critical of Hayes, either. Even if they have access to tickets, some fans are staying away instead of going to games and spending more money on food and drink, only to see a mediocre product on the field. Folks have a choice and the increasingly popular choice is to stay away.
He was implicitly taking exception to BDWIII’s oft-quoted comments from earlier this season that he “chuckles” at fans who decide to not come to the ballpark, as if fan support is an entitlement, not earned.
We should keep in mind that Hayes is an employee so that is about as far out on the criticism scale as any of them is going to express publicly. We know the truth and I am sure that he does, too.
I don’t exactly buy in to the entertainment dollar approach. I think if they had $5 parking and concessions in addition to discounted tickets, it would not do much good. At least not beyond a couple games after the novelty wore off.
There is demand for Cardinal baseball, but unexciting baseball not played especially well from a poorly run organization is just not Cardinal baseball. You can’t sell what they’ve got to customers used to Cardinal baseball.
I dunno. Some people I know could sit through a lot for $5 beers! 😉
I recall in the past at other places, cheap beer promotions end up generating a lot of trouble. So maybe this wouldn’t be a good idea…
Well while not st louis media, a mlb network broadcaster is ctiticizing the fans for not coming out. For context, he is a st louis native. However i disagree with him. We arent the loser cubs fanbase who just willingly support a ownership who arent stepping up. This ownership has let the fanbase down. Not because we arent winning as much as wed like. But because ownership isnt functioning well. From firing a winning manager, hiring someone most didnt want, to not developing players to their best. All that needs fixed, not just part of it. The band aid approach hasnt worked. Everyone knows that sone of the veteran players havent stepped up but in fairness, they should have realized that possibility with some of the players. Also the whole bringing in carpenter and crawford for leadership fiasco. I dont think the whole team needs blown up and i dont think fans do as well. But i do think that ownership and managing needs blown up and i think fans think that as well. Really i dont think the team is that far off far as competing, but i just dont have confidence in anyone above the players to get us there. So quit trying to blame fans for not accepting status quo. This whole notion that just winning one more game than another playoff hopeful is enough to make the fans excited and suddenly flood the ballpark is absurd as well. Accept some blame and start the process of change. Fans will return even in a losing season if they see effort from all, not just players.
Greg Amsinger is passionate, but is a cheerleader. My suggestion is to follow the money. His paycheck comes from MLB Network, which is owned by MLB. Should one consider that an unbiased source of news and commentary any more than MLB.com? When push comes to shove, will they side with owners or fans? Not a tough call. I saw his quotes earlier this week but because of this, I didn’t give them a second thought.
Well i totally agree brian. But he uses his having a st louis connection as a weapon and i dont agree with that. I was a fan during those years he mentioned as well as many before. A lot of those didnt end with us winning. Its one thing to tote the company line, its another to try to use the im a bigger fan than you nonsense. He knows better if he actually is a cardinal fan.
Anyone trying to blame this mess on the fans can’t be taken seriously. In fact those kind of comments deserve to be severely ridiculed.
Obviously almost two years of poor and mediocre baseball has hurt Cardinal attendance. But I think more than that, and even more than the entertainment cost is management has impaired a chunk of the goodwill the Cardinals have built up in the last 20 years, and really much longer than that.
First it was recurring instances of traded or released players producing better elsewhere. Then management took a couple of big hits when Shildt was fired, and DeWitt’s comments about how fans would be dumb not to come out and support the team regardless of the quality.
Both of those communicate an arrogance that turns fans off. Thus in summary, it is not only the lack of success, but a bigger part is due to management’s excuses rather than taking responsibility. Fans see that as treating them as if they were dumb. That is a huge mistake, and will take years to repair.
Yeah, the boss’s kid basically maintained that if a customer received a lousy meal and refused to return to the table and sacrifice more money on another lousy meal it would be the fault of the customer when the food went from bad to worse…Where do these idiots come from?
Yeah, the boss’s kid basically maintained that if a customer received a lousy meal and refused to return to the table and sacrifice more money on another lousy meal it would be the fault of the customer when the food went from bad to worse…Where do these idiots come from?
This post makes the Captain Obvious point that the StL front office views the fans as their unwashed masses, their pawns, their butt wipes, etc. And it does so in a very Captain Extraordinaire manner, spot on, with perfect analogical reasoning! At least in this case, they weren’t lying when their lips were moving.
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