The great baseball expansion to Florida occurred 25 years ago with the Marlins starting in 1993 followed by the Rays 5 years later. It has failed badly.
I lived in Florida in the early 90's and I had doubts then if people in the state really cared for the game. The Florida State League never did well in attendance and while the Marlins drew 3,000,000 fans in their first year, fans quickly tired of hot humid nights and traffic at what was Joe Robbie Stadium,
St. Petersburg was just the wrong choice period for a stadium. Rays ownership was convinced they would sellout every game until the first day tickets went on sale.
Rays: What went wrong?
ST. PETERSBURG - The line began to form on Thursday night, and by the time the Devil Rays put tickets for their inaugural season on sale that Saturday morning, it stretched more than four blocks from the stadium.
It was a festive scene, complete with player autographs, free snacks and managing general partner Vince Naimoli, who had visions of selling out the entire season, raving about the turnout. There was reason for his optimism, given the success of previous expansion teams and the enthusiasm Tampa Bay fans supposedly had after a decades-long quest for a team.
Tickets for opening day were gone within minutes. Business was steady all day. With only about 16,000 seats to sell for each game (29,000 had been set aside for season tickets and day-of-game sales), Naimoli predicted at least 20 games would be sold out that day.
But when team officials gathered in the ticket office that December 1997 afternoon, the totals weren't what they expected. Nor were the nervous looks on their faces.
The historic opener was their only sellout - and it would be six years before they got another.
I personally thought Orlando was the best landing spot and it would be an easy sell for out of town fans who could partner baseball and the theme parks.
The key in South Florida is getting the Cuban population engaged. Marlins Park in Little Havana should have done it but then Ozzie Guillen praised Castro and Loria did not act immediately to fire him and the Cuban population did not forgive.
Major League Baseball has a serious Florida problem
As Commissioner Rob Manfred grapples with pace of game and decrease of action issues impacting fan interest in his game, the events in Miami and Tampa Bay these past couple of weeks have further demonstrated how baseball has a real Florida problem, with no solution in sight.
Worse, it's a problem that was self-inflicted.
I lived in Florida in the early 90's and I had doubts then if people in the state really cared for the game. The Florida State League never did well in attendance and while the Marlins drew 3,000,000 fans in their first year, fans quickly tired of hot humid nights and traffic at what was Joe Robbie Stadium,
St. Petersburg was just the wrong choice period for a stadium. Rays ownership was convinced they would sellout every game until the first day tickets went on sale.
Rays: What went wrong?
ST. PETERSBURG - The line began to form on Thursday night, and by the time the Devil Rays put tickets for their inaugural season on sale that Saturday morning, it stretched more than four blocks from the stadium.
It was a festive scene, complete with player autographs, free snacks and managing general partner Vince Naimoli, who had visions of selling out the entire season, raving about the turnout. There was reason for his optimism, given the success of previous expansion teams and the enthusiasm Tampa Bay fans supposedly had after a decades-long quest for a team.
Tickets for opening day were gone within minutes. Business was steady all day. With only about 16,000 seats to sell for each game (29,000 had been set aside for season tickets and day-of-game sales), Naimoli predicted at least 20 games would be sold out that day.
But when team officials gathered in the ticket office that December 1997 afternoon, the totals weren't what they expected. Nor were the nervous looks on their faces.
The historic opener was their only sellout - and it would be six years before they got another.
I personally thought Orlando was the best landing spot and it would be an easy sell for out of town fans who could partner baseball and the theme parks.
The key in South Florida is getting the Cuban population engaged. Marlins Park in Little Havana should have done it but then Ozzie Guillen praised Castro and Loria did not act immediately to fire him and the Cuban population did not forgive.
Major League Baseball has a serious Florida problem
As Commissioner Rob Manfred grapples with pace of game and decrease of action issues impacting fan interest in his game, the events in Miami and Tampa Bay these past couple of weeks have further demonstrated how baseball has a real Florida problem, with no solution in sight.
Worse, it's a problem that was self-inflicted.