What do you guys think about this?

Dr. Giganto

Oh, a couple more reasons why the Yankees dont have even more people in the stands for their games...

A decent portion of the city's population is people who are very wealthy...people who look down upon things like going to a baseball game. I remember when I was working as a stockbroker, my boss (who made about a million dollars a year, no exaggeration) was making a big deal about how he was gonna go to a Yankee game. What made it really bad was the fact that he was like "And I'm going to take the subway!!!! I dont think I've EVER taken the subway before!!!"

People like that go to one or two games a year to make themselves think they're not the rich snobs that they really are, and that they really are just common folk. But they're not really fans, and dont go to a lot of games

Plus, there's a large contingent of hipster fucking ***gots who spend too much time trying on new trucker hats and discovering shitty bands with no talent instead of following sports.

As for taking seats out, why would you do that when the Yankees sell out so many games? I mean, every weekend home game gets 50,000+ fans. They have 13 guaranteed sell-outs a year: The ten games against the Red Sox and the 3 against the Mets. Thats roughly 20% of all the home games. Plus, if there's a big interleague series, like this weekend agains the Cubs, those sell-out too.

Taking out seats wouldnt make more people come to the games that bring down the average, but they would make less people come to the games that bring up the average. So the Yankees would make less money that way.

Also, if Yankee Stadium was the size of Fenway, they would sell out every game too. I dont think they've had a home game with less than 35,000 fans this year.

Also, the new Yankee Stadium will have less seats, but it's because they are building more luxury suites, which bring in more money than regular seats

Dr. Giganto

I believe it was like 450 games, which is roughly 6 entire seasons

AudioSavior

Didn't they say it won't be ready til 2009? I find it hard to believe it would or should take that long to build it.

Dr. Giganto

I think that's about when they expected the West Side stadium for the Jets to be done too...

I also dont know why it would take so long

Profit

Screw Yankee Stadium and Fenway - burn them BOTH to the ground, for all I care. Now, the new Mets stadium in Queens? That's the new hotness.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

lol..You lost me at this part, but it was funny anyhow.


I don't think there is any doubt that the Yanks would sell out every game if the park was the size of Fenway, but I do have a different question.

If the Yanks ever got bad, and by bad I mean like a .500 team after the all-star break, would the fans still come out and see them? Me think not. I'm not saying you would give up that easily D but I have this feeling that most of the Yankee fans are like the Laker fans. "We'll see you when you're the hottest thing in town, but if you fall off a bit, go screw yourselves."

Any truth to this?

Dr. Giganto

Um, I'm not sure what the attendance numbers were like in the 80's and early 90's, but I'm sure it was nowhere near the level it is now. The Yankees, of course, have a TON of bandwagon fans. But there are a lot of die-hards too, obviously.

Let me look up attendance numbers and get back to you on that...

Dr. Giganto

They made the playoffs in 1982, then not again until 1995 (they were in first place in 1994, plus it was a strike year, so I wont count that year). there were 26 teams in the league during that time. I put their record that year in parenthesis

OK...In 1983, the Yankees drew 2,257,976 fans, which was 6th (91-71)

In 1984, they drew 1,821,815 fans, which was 12th (87-75)

In 1985, they drew 2,214,587 fans, which was 7th (97-64)

In 1986, they drew 2,268,030 fans, which was 7th (90-72)

In 1987, they drew 2,427,672 fans, which was 6th (89-73)

In 1988, they drew 2,633,701 fans, which was 5th (85-76)

In 1989, they drew 2,170,485 fans, which was 11th (74-87)

in 1990, they drew 2,006,436 fans, which was 14th (67-95)

In 1991, they drew 1,863,733 fans, which was 19th (71-91)

In 1992, they drew 1,748,737 fans, which was 19th (76-86)

In 1993, they drew 2,416,942 fans, which was 14th (88-74)

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Based on those numbers it looks like the fans dealt with the team for a while, which was still a good team, but then as the late 80's continued and into the early 90's they got sick of the team, but this could be more of a anti-Steinbrenner thing with all the poor moves he made during this time rather than a lot of fans jumping off the bandwagon. I'm still not really certain either way, but thanks D.

My team the Braves, their attendence has dropped quite a bit and they've made the playoffs every year. I guess people just think it's getting old with only one World Series title.:erm2:

Dr. Giganto

I think it's a combination of both things...If you've got a good team, the fans will stick around for a while, but if you dont make the playoffs for 13 years, or lose 95 games as the Yankees did in 1990, they'll stop coming.

Plus, the Yankees simply werent a very likable team back then. George was at his ultimate craziness, there was the whole business with him being suspended for the Dave winfield saga, and besides Mattingly there wasnt a single likable player on the roster. Well, I guess Righetti too.

Also, the Mets were good back then, so thats where the bandwagon fans and the "I'm not a big baseball fan, but I feel like seeing a game" fans were going. Not to mention the fact that the location of the two stadiums played into it as well...

I dont know if people realize this, but New York City was a VERY dangerous place until Giuliani became mayor in 1993. The area surrounding Yankee Stadium is bad now, but it was MUCH worse during this time