Most of the readers around these parts know I follow the Delmarva Shorebirds closely, and I go to a lot of games over the course of a season. But something I’ve noticed this season came out when I was cleaning out the office over the weekend.
I found a stat sheet from about this point last season, and what it revealed was surprising: through 19 openings in 2010 the Shorebirds had drawn 65,290 fans. This year opening number 19 came yesterday; however, only 49,612 had attended the games to date. That’s about a 24% drop from season to season, and if the trend continues the club will fall well short of its previous low attendance figure.
Of course there are caveats to these stats; for one thing the preponderance of games for the Shorebirds thus far have been at home and they hit the 19 opening mark a week or so earlier than they did in 2010. Attendance seems to pick up once school is out and the weather gets warmer.
Yet the team is more competitive than last year’s model, sporting a 22-15 record thus far compared to 17-20 at the same point in 2010. They also have one of the best prospects in baseball (Manny Machado) and are far more offensively gifted then the 2010 team, hitting .276 as a squad and averaging over 5 1/2 runs a game. If chicks dig the longball, they should be happy as Delmarva’s hit 25 as a team so far in about 1/4 of the season (compared to 63 for a full season last year.)
So why aren’t people showing up?
It’s not ticket prices, because they haven’t appreciably increased, and the parking fee remains the same as last year, when it was instituted for the first time. Food isn’t much more expensive, either. Perdue Stadium is sporting a new line scoreboard which replaces most of the functions previously placed on the videoboard in right-center field (which is also working much better this year.) Promotions are reasonably comparable to last season’s lineup, and obviously the team has pushed ticket deals which include admission to the South Atlantic League All-Star Game in June.
In truth, the biggest difference seems to be that the sluggish economy and high gas prices are keeping people home. People who are having trouble making ends meet don’t have a lot of money to go to a ballgame, even if they’re spotted two free tickets for having a child who reads a certain number of books. The fireworks shows that used to draw 5,000 to 6,000 now bring in about 1,000 less, and over a season that will add up.
I don’t think we are at a critical point yet because there’s the financial backing from the Orioles – they pay the players. While there wasn’t a direct competitor to the Shorebirds in the immediate region, some of the financial struggles being encountered by independent baseball leagues across the country (a number of teams folded and leagues merged after the 2010 season) indicate the entertainment industry is hitting a rough patch in many places. (Maryland only has one independent team, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the Atlantic League. Along with the Frontier League, these two leagues are perhaps the most financially solvent of the independent leagues out there.)
I bring this up because there’s always a number of cities which would love to acquire an affiliated minor league baseball team, as Delmarva did from Albany, Georgia after the 1995 season. While the SAL has been relatively stable over the last few years, there was one franchise move where Columbus, Georgia lost a team that moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky. (That team, along with the Lake County Captains, shifted to the Midwest League after the 2009 season for travel reasons.)
We are truly blessed to be a city of 30,000 in a county of under 100,000 people yet have a minor league baseball team which is relatively successful. And it may just be an anomaly that attendance so far is dragging well behind last year’s pace – a good homestand or two will get it caught up.
But the economic doldrums we’ve experienced here for the last half-decade or so (essentially since the real-estate bubble burst and the growth slowed to a crawl) may be finally taking its toll on this particular institution. It’s hard to imagine a summer on Delmarva without baseball, but if this trend continues for a few more years that may well happen. Seventh Inning Stretch is out to make a profit, and they may not be all that loyal to the area if attendance continues to wane.
I think a lot of people aren’t going through to OC because 1} it is no longer safe or fun in OC 2} Gas prices are bogus 3} People don’t have the ‘disposable income’ due to prices of all other commodities/tuition going up.
The trends I see are increased Netflix, BBQs at home and people are actually putting their credit cards in a bowl of water in the freezer to assure they only use the card when they NEED it instead of because they WANT it. Personally, I would rather go see the minor league ball game {enjoy Manny while you can-he may not be there in August} than puchase a music CD or go see a movie, but if you look closely-nobody is buying CDs or movie tickets either {although this could be more because the music and movies are excrutiatingly lame!-sales of old vinyl classic albums are actually up..}.
“Staycations” sort of fell out of favor last year, but I think you are correct that they’ll be back in this year despite gas prices making a slow decline. We’re a long way from the sub-$2 per gallon price present when Obama took office. Then again, having lived here for a few years I know to stay away from spending money in OC as much as possible between Memorial Day and Labor Day; the only exception is when my daughter and her fiance come down because she’s a tourist.
I won’t comment on current pop culture because by and large it doesn’t interest me (at the moment I have a Lynch Mob CD on the stereo so that may indicate my frame of mind) but I will see your Manny Machado gone by August and raise you a month. I think the SAL All-Star Game here will be his Delmarva swan song, since there’s normally quite a bit of roster transition at the mid-season break anyway.
Yeah.. Manny is a commodity that will be selling Boog’s sammiches soon. I have to tell you, I find Bowie/Shorebirds/Suns/Keys games infinitely more enjoyable for an affordable day. Many of the current Os starting pitchers cut their teeth meeting, and greeting, the ‘little people’ like us while they also paid their dues. I wish the Shorebirds the best, and hope more Wicomico folk take them under their ‘wing’ at least once every couple weeks. share a ride-you only pay gas and parking once.The fireworks gigs alone are better than going to that confounded duck decoy museum.BTW-that is a great way to spoil a future long/short term relationship by taking a date there!! ” Look honey…another duck-like thing..that isn’t alive.. hey, where are you going??”
I’m just happy we don’t have to see the Lake County Captains anymore.