BOB: How bad is the Marlins’ attendance?

Marlins close upper deck for weeknight games

With the potential for the Miami Marlins to have a historically bad team on the field, ownership has decided to close the upper bowl for weeknight games until attendance recovers. Despite being in just its second season, Marlins Field is last in the National League in attendance.

The Marlins have committed to closing the upper bowl for the next two weeknight home stands and while they haven’t said they’ll close it on weeknight games for the rest of the season, I don’t see attendance picking up anytime soon, so my guess is this move will stick.

The Marlins know all about cost cutting, so this will just be one more way for the team to live on a thinner budget. The fans who have season tickets in the upper bowl will be moved to the lower bowl on those weeknights that it’s closed. Fans can still buy upper bowl tickets, but if they show up and it’s closed, they’ll be moved down to the lower deck.

Astros president steps down

George Postolos, who played a big part in Houston Astros owner Jim Crane finally landing a baseball team, stepped down from his post as the team’s president and chief executive officer. Postolos worked with Crane to try to acquire both the Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs, but it was finally the Astros that turned out to be the prize for Crane. Since the purchase, Postolos has been in charge of rebranding the franchise, which has been tough because of the team’s on-field troubles the past couple of years.

Postolos will go back to his consulting practice, where he advises his clients on acquisitions and strategies in buying professional sports teams. Postolos says the decision to leave the team was his alone. There was no comment from Crane on the departure.

Cubs stadium renovation faces first hurdle

The first vote on the Wrigley Field renovations could happen as early as next month with the Chicago City Council considering changing the number of night games the Cubs can play. The proposal was introduced to the council last week. It mirrors the agreement Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Alderman Tom Tunney and the Cubs reached earlier in the month. The proposal includes increasing the number of evening games from 30 to 40, or up to 46 if MLB requests. It also lets the Cubs host four concerts and lets the team change up to six Friday game times from 1:20 to 3:05.

The renovations include $500 million of stadium improvements as well as a redevelopment of the area surrounding the ballpark. The controversial issues are a 6,000 square foot video board and the amount of advertising the team plans on the surrounding development.


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Justin Wang
10 years ago

Marlin’s attendance that bad?  Couldn’t have happened to a better owner, Jeffrey Loria, who is a master of pocketing public money while cutting the player payroll.  Anyone remember his work with the then-Montreal Expos?

Brian
10 years ago

I wonder if there is such a thing as a Jeffrey Loria fan?

Johnny P
10 years ago

I find it baffling that the Marlins (and the Astros, too) are somehow outdrawing better teams in Tampa and Cleveland. Unless you’re visiting the Miami or Houston area, there’s no excuse to go to any of their games.

Charles
10 years ago

Loria is probably the third worst owner of the Marlins and second worst of the Expos.

Marc Schneider
10 years ago

I think you have to take attendence figures with a grain of salt.  I believe the figures include tickets sold, including season tickets.  I know there are games where the “announced” attendence is significantly greater than the number of people at the game-unless, as the cliche goes, those people came dressed as empty seats.

To the extent that the Marlins are actually outdrawing some teams, it’s most likely because of the novelty of the new stadium, which will wear off, especially given its location.