“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
Benjamin Franklin – Diehard Orioles fan
It took four games against the first place White Sox for 47,035 fans to come through the turnstiles at Camden Yards. The Baltimore Orioles attendance issues seem to be grabbing more headlines these days than the pennant contending team.
In four games against Chicago the Orioles drew 10,955, 12,841, 13,098 and 10,141.
After taking three of four in the series, Adam Jones hopped on Twitter and let Baltimore know how he feels.
Just heard that we drew around 47k for 4 games against the first place white sox…ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..ooooook
— Adam Jones (@SimplyAJ10) August 30, 2012
Jones did acknowledge the increase in MASN viewership this season.
MASN rating are at an all time high though. So they watching fasho.
— Adam Jones (@SimplyAJ10) August 30, 2012
But AJ doesn’t want to hear excuses about downtown traffic caused by the Baltimore Grand Prix. This race has become the Orioles fan’s reasoning for their poor attendance. I traveled to the games on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon and didn’t hit any extra traffic.
Please don’t blame it on the Grand Prix. Cause if the Ravens were playin it would def be a sell out. But we’re gonna
#StayHungry— Adam Jones (@SimplyAJ10) August 30, 2012
Jones’ complaints are valid. He’s just asking for the fan base to be passionate about the quality product they’ve put on the field all season long.
I wanna hear the “O” chant and get chills. Has only happened once. 2009 opening day.
— Adam Jones (@SimplyAJ10) August 30, 2012
And he gives credit to the few who have shown up to support the Birds.
sooo much love RT“
@ptisfly: The fans that have been showing up have been loud though, give y’all credit for that”— Adam Jones (@SimplyAJ10) August 30, 2012
For the record, Jones is 100 percent right about Baltimore selling out M&T Bank Stadium for the Ravens and not making excuses. Orioles fans have been complaining about walk up fees, traffic patterns and ticket prices to make themselves feel better about not supporting a winning baseball team after previously promising they would. It’s sad.
Folks with axes to grind will tell you that ownership deserves the empty seats or that the organization should discount tickets to bring fans back after 14 seasons of losing. But they’re the same people who shell out $100 to watch two fake football games and support a league who made $9 billion last year, but is too stingy to properly compensate their own officials.
These same folks have stood by as the Ravens killed a Baltimore tradition, removing open training camp from Westminster and flocked like sheep to the Naval Academy, Stevenson University and downtown to the stadium and paid to park to watch one of the few remaining practices we’re graced with.
No more excuses. Pack the Yard.
But it’s the Raven’s right to restrict access which increases demand for their product. You can’t compare it to baseball. 81 games – watch at the stadium, online or on TV.
PR dept. for O’s needs to be a little more creative to get fans out to the park. Yes, the team is in a pennant race so that makes it easier to promote the team. They do it in the minors (Bowie) so they can do it at OPACY. You can’t make any money off of empty seats.
Just out of curiosity, what promotions would make you more inclined to come to the ballpark? Promotions are usually a smoke screen for either not having a large enough fan base or having a losing team. The O’s have neither of those problems, and I don’t think their promotions or marketing department should be forced into bobble head night 5 nights a week to fill seats.
For me it’s the ticket price. I’ve attended 10 games so far this year. Mainly discounted tickets. $30 is my limit.
The All-star voting incentives (50% off) were great. I sat in the club seats for a couple of games. Even bought food/drink even though the prices were high. How about a $1 hot dog or bottle of water night?
Offer me a shirt or hat. You can keep the bobbleheads.
I wish I was more interested in the Orioles. The stink of Angelos’s taint on the Company is hard to ignore. You can’t erase 16 years of suck with one year. Talk about calling us sheep.
I agree though the Ravens did make moves to become less fan friendly. That is for sure. They still sell out in 9 minutes though.
The Ravens didn’t kill Westminster training camp, the new practice rules did. IMO, there’s no way Biciotti wanted to end that, but logistically, it no longer worked out.
Al,
I beg to differ. There are 17 teams that still host open training camp at an offsite location…Google it. One of those teams is the Steelers who took a shot at the Ravens by advertising “6 Super Bowl Championships started at Latrobe” site of their off season camp.
I agree with your argument about the Ravens and I am a diehard Ravens fan, however not a fan of that assclown Harbaugh.
Because Angelos and his minions ruined baseball in Baltimore for 13 years you can’t just expect the fans to forget about it and come flocking to the park. It doesn’t work that way. Angelos is reaping what he sowed. Now if Angelos shows that he is interested in putting a decent team on the field and I hate to say it, even though the Orioles are doing good (And that’s because of Buck who should be manager of the year) they still are not interested in doing so. And thats based on their “Down the stretch” acquisitions like Saunders, Thome, Quintanilla, etc… They still will not go after the one or two player(s) that will really help them.
I agree 100%,,,,,,,,,,,,the angelos stench reaches far and wide,,,,,,,,,,thousands of fans found other outlets during that fourteen year putrid run called baseball in Baltimore,,,,,,,,,,,, now those fans don’t care if they win or not as they have better things to do in their lives , you can live without baseball , not sure you can live without football as the world turns today……………………
Corecto Mundo…
The complaints about the front office recently are completely unfounded. Every move that the Orioles have made in the last year (stretching back to the Uehara trade for Hunter and Davis) has been a good one. In terms of making a big move or two to make the team competitive right now, look at the wild card standings. The Rays, A’s, and Orioles are the top 3 teams right now. Meanwhile, the Angels, Red Sox, and Tigers are all currently on the outside looking in. The Orioles haven’t spent a lot of money, but they haven’t wasted any of what they spent (okay…maybe Lew Ford), and that should be commended.
Good point , lets see if this trend continues , I want to see long term commitment to winning not just one surprise year,,,,,,,,go O’s……….