OT: Pirates average lowest attendance since 1996

[PittPoker]

The Pittsburgh Pirates have averaged this year 18,479 which is their lowest attendance since 1996 when they averaged around 16,000. Last season they averaged 23,000. Half the time this year it didn't look like half that number showed up.

Frank Coonelly told the fans if they showed up they would spend. Fans from 2013-2015 showed up in droves and there was record attendance. Bob didn't spend. In fact he cut salary after 2015 and dismantled a 98 win team.

This pitiful organization did it to themselves.

 

[McKee Place]

By not spending they get a payroll overage penalty payout from the owners that do, which is supposed to be applied to higher payroll, but nothing mandates that, so they can put directly in their private bank account. So they aren't regretting a thing.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

The Pittsburgh Pirates have averaged this year 18,479 which is their lowest attendance since 1996 when they averaged around 16,000. Last season they averaged 23,000. Half the time this year it didn't look like half that number showed up.

Frank Coonelly told the fans if they showed up they would spend. Fans from 2013-2015 showed up in droves and there was record attendance. Bob didn't spend. In fact he cut salary after 2015 and dismantled a 98 win team.

This pitiful organization did it to themselves.

I hope they leave town and PNC Park is converted to a college football stadium like what Georgia State did to Turner Field

 

[kma0043]

Is there anything that’d draw you out to watch a middle of the road .500 baseball team with no identity or likeable personalities? Sad and it’ll only get worse.

 

[fairgambit]

I've attended over 1,000 Pirate games in my lifetime. In the 70's, with season tickets, I saw 50+ games a year. I have not been to PNC in the past 2 years and will never buy another ticket under current ownership.

 

[Mikefln]

I hope they leave town and PNC Park is converted to a college football stadium like what Georgia State did to Turner Field

I hope you leave town. I love the Bucs, I hate the ownership.

 

[Las Panteras]

I read somewhere that to make attendance matters worse.....visiting teams fans INCREASED their attendance at PNC this year.

Subtract out the fans that come in from other cities and man....it is abysmal.

 

[DiehardPanther]

I hope you leave town. I love the Bucs, I hate the ownership.

Well....the ownership isn’t changing as long as we are alive because he is passing it onto his daughters.

 

[oldpanther]

I hope they leave town and PNC Park is converted to a college football stadium like what Georgia State did to Turner Field

If the Pirates would depart a minor league team would just step in and play at PNC Park. Oh wait, we already have a minor league team, nothing gained, nothing lost.

 

[Panther Parrothead]

The Pittsburgh Pirates have averaged this year 18,479 which is their lowest attendance since 1996 when they averaged around 16,000. Last season they averaged 23,000. Half the time this year it didn't look like half that number showed up.

Frank Coonelly told the fans if they showed up they would spend. Fans from 2013-2015 showed up in droves and there was record attendance. Bob didn't spend. In fact he cut salary after 2015 and dismantled a 98 win team.

This pitiful organization did it to themselves.

I’m glad that the Pirate fans finally got smart. Supporting the team at this point in time is comparable to supporting a restaurant that continuously serves bad food.

Unfortunately, there’s no incentive for ownership to spend more money when the system enables teams to make a profit whether they win or not.

It’s a shame; there are plenty of hardcore baseball fans in the Pittsburgh metro area who would go all-out to support the team if the ownership would make a genuine effort to field a contender.

 

[Tony Zimmermans Dennys Adversary]

So you are saying that the PR move that was the Archer trade didn't translate into more going through the gate? What about keeping the great team guy Sean Rodriguez here while he was batting 150? The fans love serpico!

 

[Fsgolfdr]

How similiar to the Pitt Fb situation is this . Both organizations have it ass backwards . They both want fans to show up before they spend ,but the fans in this city have spoken loud and clear . Except for major events the fans stay home , they want to support a team that actually tries to win and does what it takes to compete . Baseball is absurb where star players sign contracts for 100's of millions of dollars and I can somewhat understand the reluctance of management to commit such large sums of money without fan support ,but college football only requires overpaying an HC and staff . Until such time that either of these teams shows that they are serious about being contenders and winners they won't recieve the fan support they want . Sometimes you do get what you deserve!

 

[paulbl99]

Where are the Saber Geniuses?

They were fast to jump on here and tell everyone how stupid they were when Nuttmeg was dismantling a 98 win team for the sole purpose of putting more money in his pocket.

The Saber Geniuses also have turned MLB into nearly unwatchable garbage...and it’s the best Game there was imo....

Go for Three plus hours to mostly watch strike outs, walks or HRs....
Putting a ball in play is becoming about a 50% event...
These shifts and launch angles and some of the other crap is killing the game.

But Nuttmeg has a sliding scale on his desk....payroll v attendance
He could give a flip about wins .....
The Bucco plan has a number in mind annually, it’s not number of wins it’s ca$h Nuttmeg puts in his pocket.

And he’s never going to miss it either so they’re here for the long run.

 

[McKee Place]

How similiar to the Pitt Fb situation is this . Both organizations have it ass backwards . They both want fans to show up before they spend ,but the fans in this city have spoken loud and clear . Except for major events the fans stay home , they want to support a team that actually tries to win and does what it takes to compete . Baseball is absurb where star players sign contracts for 100's of millions of dollars and I can somewhat understand the reluctance of management to commit such large sums of money without fan support ,but college football only requires overpaying an HC and staff . Until such time that either of these teams shows that they are serious about being contenders and winners they won't recieve the fan support they want . Sometimes you do get what you deserve!

At least the Pirates exploit a mechanism to profit. So as bad as it is, the rational side of the brain can at least grudgingly understand why they run it that way.

Pitt runs it in a way that is guaranteed to not only produce financial hardships but to erode the positive impression of the university.

We're stuck now however, being in the ACC forces Pitt to keep fielding a team in a sport it doesn't want to compete in. Yet it's still very costly to engage in even at a 0-12 level. Good for soccer and volleyball, but is it good for the university?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

How similiar to the Pitt Fb situation is this . Both organizations have it ass backwards . They both want fans to show up before they spend ,but the fans in this city have spoken loud and clear . Except for major events the fans stay home , they want to support a team that actually tries to win and does what it takes to compete . Baseball is absurb where star players sign contracts for 100's of millions of dollars and I can somewhat understand the reluctance of management to commit such large sums of money without fan support ,but college football only requires overpaying an HC and staff . Until such time that either of these teams shows that they are serious about being contenders and winners they won't recieve the fan support they want . Sometimes you do get what you deserve!

To be fair, MLB and college football are the most "capitalistic" American team sports so have-nots like Pitt and the Pirates have an almost impossible task of becoming elite. All the other American team sports are more "socialistic" in structure.

 

[Panther Parrothead]

To be fair, MLB and college football are the most "capitalistic" American team sports so have-nots like Pitt and the Pirates have an almost impossible task of becoming elite. All the other American team sports are more "socialistic" in structure.

Good points. But even NCAA football has its socialistic side, too. What has Pitt football done to deserve the megabucks that it gets from the ACC, other than to show-up and play the games? With all respect to Pitt's academics, it hasn't been Pitt's (recent) athletics that makes them an attractive ACC member, yet it gets a share of the monies that the ACC makes.

And in MLB, the small market teams are the beneficiaries of a "luxury tax" that's paid by the big boys of the league. Kinda socialistic - no?

 

[McKee Place]

To be fair, MLB and college football are the most "capitalistic" American team sports so have-nots like Pitt and the Pirates have an almost impossible task of becoming elite. All the other American team sports are more "socialistic" in structure.

Absolutely. It may be one of the biggest philosophical contradictions in the American mainstream. The progressive university system that makes hay on this entirely predatory, darwinist, and violent activity.

Nothing stops the Cleveland Browns from being able to obtain the best of the incoming talent when it has a bad year. In fact that great talent is basically forced to join that team if so summoned. Yes they still stink but that is incompetent management, not being frozen out of opportunity.

Conversely the best high school talent that similarly recoils from the likes of Pitt and other brown- bloods is free to flip us the bird.

The richest college programs get richer and leave the bad further and further in the dust. Conference money and bowl sharing help a bit but that money has to be fund the non revenue programs. Not much there for recruiting helicopters and resort spa training facilities and luxury athletic dorms.

Depressing... unless you're a blue blood, then it's fantastic.

 

[Farnox]

I read somewhere that to make attendance matters worse.....visiting teams fans INCREASED their attendance at PNC this year.

Subtract out the fans that come in from other cities and man....it is abysmal.

Funny you mention this. I had not been to PNC park in years but was given some free tickets so the family and I went to a game vs the Cubs in late August. The entire lower first base side was a sea of blue.

 

[Delpanther]

How similiar to the Pitt Fb situation is this . Both organizations have it ass backwards . They both want fans to show up before they spend ,but the fans in this city have spoken loud and clear . Except for major events the fans stay home , they want to support a team that actually tries to win and does what it takes to compete . Baseball is absurb where star players sign contracts for 100's of millions of dollars and I can somewhat understand the reluctance of management to commit such large sums of money without fan support ,but college football only requires overpaying an HC and staff . Until such time that either of these teams shows that they are serious about being contenders and winners they won't recieve the fan support they want . Sometimes you do get what you deserve!

I said about 9 years ago on this board that Nutting and Notdy subscribed to the same marketing philosophy....promise that you 're in it to win it and do nothing... both are frauds of the first degree

 

[Panther Holla]

Funny you mention this. I had not been to PNC park in years but was given some free tickets so the family and I went to a game vs the Cubs in late August. The entire lower first base side was a sea of blue.

Cubs, Phillies, Indians and, to a lesser extent, the Cardinals and Mets bring hoardes of fans. So do the Tigers if Detroit is winning, and in good times the same holds for the Reds. The rest of MLB, not so much. It's cheaper for a Cub fan in Indiana to trek to Pittsburgh for a weekend rather than pay through the nose to see the Cubbies at Wrigley.

 

[PittPanther44]

They were a better team with Dickerson instead of Cutch....but perception was rough

 

[paulbl99]

Brewers fielding a really good ball club. Every other day the Buccos are Minor League, what a difference.

Milwaukee, a modest size city with nothing east of it but fish and water...and as the Gunner used to say:

You can’t sell advertising to tuna fish.

Brewers making an effort, Nuttmeg using Bucco City Bank as his personal ATM....while crying to the State and County for more.

 

[jtownknowitall]

They might have been a better team with McCutchen. They certainly would have sold more tickets.