Florida Marlins Close Upper Deck For Rest Of Season To Save Money

The Florida Marlins are closing the upper deck at Sun Life Stadium.The Marlins rank last among the 30 major league clubs in home attendance, and the team no longer sees a need to sell seats in the second level of the football stadium they call home. Florida plans to move into a baseball-only ballpark in downtown Miami next year.Upper-deck seats may be made available for certain games, including the Sept. 28 home finale. Team officials say the move will cut operational costs, plus create a better atmosphere by having more fans in the lower level near the field.

Source: ESPN

 

So is this the economy? Or over-saturation of a product? I think it's a sign that MLB should start considering taking contraction more seriously. They have diluted their product to the point where it's simply not good enough to put asses in the seats.

 

Not really accurate. The marlins average 12000 a night in a outdoor football stadium that seats 80000 during the dead of summer where it averages 93 degrees plus 80% humidity. Next season in an indoor stadium where it will never be rained out. 20000 in a 30000 stadium is a whole lot better.

 

20,000 stadium...a MLB stadium? That's not major league.

 

The marlins new stadium will seat around 35000 or so. It's the idea of not having to worry about a rainout that will attract more people to the game. Plus when the rivals are in town the stadium would get close to a sell out.

 

i would just like to say that recently i went to our local minor league team, the durham bulls(AAA), an there were 11000 people there, so we have basically the same attendance as the marlins?

 

Again people fail to realize how hot it is in Miami Gardens during the middle of summer. Being in an air-conditioned stadium will bring double the numbers.

 

Sad that you're depending on out of towners for a sell out. If the stadium is only going to seat 20,000 then there is no damn way you shouldn't have a sell out every night.

The Rays have 34,078 as far as seat capacity goes which is the lowest in MLB... I could imagine the Marlins going much lower than that.

 

I really don't. When the Marlins are good, the fair weather fans show up. Tickets are cheap.

 

That's it in a nutshell. They don't have 35,000 core fans who will sell that snitch out consistently?

 

*shakes head*

1. Florida's population consists of a very large number of transplants (especially from the North East). Therefor these freaking idiots are loyal to their "hometown teams" like the Yankees, Sox, Phillies and so on. They don't adopt the Marlins or the Rays. So cut the potential fan draw in half to start with.

2. Like MJ said In Miami it's either 7,000 degrees or it's raining then the humidity can kill a water buffalo. So they really need at the very least a retractable roof.

3. FLorida's economy freaking sucks. I know the rest of the country is going through the same thing but, Florida's is easily in the top 5 worst in the country.

4. It's FLORIDA. We have beaches, theme parks, sailing, boating, fishing, and other crap that people actually do. As opposed to Philly or New York where it's sit a home thinking of ways to move to Florida or go to the game.

/rant

 

All I see is a list of excuses. That is not a market that warrants a major league team. They'd be better off letting the Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban teams tour down there. That might be a bigger draw.

 

What you call excuses most call fact. Unless you sat at a game when its 93 and feels like its 102 because of humidity, then you can't really say. Teams that struggle have poor turnout, IE Pittsburgh and KC. Are they not good market teams? San Diego is another. Seattle, Baltimore are others who don't sell out and have half empty ballparks until rivals come to town. But none of those parks have the weather issues or the 60% or so chance of the game being either delayed or postponed. And if you look at the stats, early in the season the Marlins have a great turnout because the weather is not harsh.

 

Hey I am one who believes a handful of teams have to go to make the product as a whole better.

 

A salery cap solves the problem. But that's a whole issue on it's own. But the fact is that the Marlins are popular, and the fact that a lot of the fans travel a ways to see them, it's hard to say yay let's go to a game when it's more than likely going to be delayed and/or postponed.

 

this is just a sign of the economy that were in. You gotta do what you gotta do to make money and not lose it

 

sorry - but boo freaking whoo

it was 90 plus and humid as hell in chicago (a place not as accustomed to such heat) last night and halladay had to leave because of heat exhaustion. the place was packed.

it will be 100 plus and humid as hell here in philly friday for the game. the stadium will be packed.

the issue is not just the weather as the majority of these games are played at night when the heat is much less. it's a general lack of support/interest. will an indoor stadium help ? sure it will but it will take teams like the phillies, mets, braves and others that have better fanbases to sell the new stadium out.

that's not exactly a thumbs up for the home fanbases' loyalty and support IMO.

 

Friday: 101 and 56% humidity in Philly ; 88, 50% Rain Chance and 76% Humidity in Miami.

20% difference in humidity. Not quite getting it there in Philly like you do along the coastal states. Just saying. And like said, there's plenty more attractions in Florida..than in Philly. I get the north and northeast are not used to the heat and humidity, but the south gets it nonstop in the summer. 88 degrees in Florida in mid to late july may be considered a miracle on some accounts.

So, if we're going to argue about who's weather is worse..then the point becomes invalid. Miami's summer heat is going to be worse than Phillys, New York, Chicago..at any point 98% of the time. Just saying.

 

20% difference in the humidity and almost the same in temp. point is weather is not the deciding factor. neither is "other attractions" as tons of people up here are on vaction in the summer and there is a ton to do around here so its truely ignorant to say we nothing else to do because it could be further from the truth. but hey, why let the truth get in the way of making piss poor excuses right ?

yeah forget that we are very close to the jersey shore points, the pocono mountains, a huge river that is filled during the summer with people, going out of town etc. that doesnt factor into anything up here.

bottom line is the biggest factor is support and mush it on the nail as to why with his first and only real valid point.

it is what it is.

 

Hmm have you been in that kind of humidity? The difference between 100 and 50% and 92 and 80% is that in 80% humidity it's nearly impossible to cool off. And boo freaking hoo to the Phillies having to play in the weather 10 nights out of 100, try 100 nights out of a 100. That is what the weather is like in Miami during the months of June, Jule, August, and even September. And did you know that up until the Marlins had their second roster plunge, the attendence was excellent for a football stadium. Once the new stadium is in effect, the loyalist can enjoy a game without the fear of a complete roster turnover because the whole no profit from the stadium excuses is gone. Mush had a valid point about the fans staying loyal from up north, but to say the weather isn't a valid point is simply ignorant.