Maybe Their Fans Just Suck

On Monday night the Tampa Bay Rays had a chance to clinch a playoff spot at home against the Baltimore Orioles. Well, they didn't win, but it didn't really matter because no one was there to see it. The announced attendance for the game was just over 12,000 fans, which means in reality there were closer to 10,000 people in the stadium. One of the Rays' pitchers, David Price, took to Twitter (as you do) to complain about it, calling all the empty seats for a contending team about to secure a playoff spot 'embarrassing.' I have no problem with him calling out his fans, either. Having been in Gillette for Revolution games which featured 12,000 people in a 67,000 seat stadium, I have felt the lack of juice in the place. Huge stadiums with minimal crowds are downright depressing. I don't care how loud 10,000 people are, they cannot pick up the slack for all the people who didn't show. Now, Price quickly backed off that stance and apologized if he had offended anyone, while the Rays announced that they would give away 20,000 free tickets for tonight's game. Here are my questions: A. What did the guy have to apologize for? and B. Why are you rewarding a bad fanbase with free seats? Doesn't it set a really bad precedent when all people have to do is not show up for an entire season and then they don't even have to pay for tickets to the bandwagon?

Personally, I think it is time that we all accept the reality of the situation: Tampa Bay isn't a great sports town. They don't sell out for the Buccaneers or the Lighting and the Rays play in a half-empty stadium almost every night. You can forgive not wanting to sit in 90 degree heat and 100% humidity to watch a rebuilding Bucs team, just like no one expects Florida to be a hockey hotbed. But the Rays have been good for a few seasons now; the mentality that this is a one-year fluke not worthy of long-term support went by the wayside a long time ago. Still, if the Rays didn't host 10 games a season against the Yankees and Red Sox then they might not sell out a game all year. And it's too bad, because this team is everything a group of fans could want: they have good, young talent, a smart manager and a front office that clearly knows how to draft talent. If fans aren't coming out to support the team now then they never will. And I don't want to hear the excuse that the economy is hitting that area particularly hard, because times are tough everywhere and other teams don't have the problems drawing fans in. Pittsburgh, a team that hasn't been a playoff contender for 20 years, is nipping at the heels of Rays for attendance. There is talk that the Rays may have to be dismantled after this season because they can't afford to keep all this talent together and the fans aren't showing up as a way of protest. Well, do you know how teams make money and have bigger payrolls? By fans showing up and paying for tickets, not ignoring them all year and only appearing when the seats are free.

Now, I'm not going to suggest moving the franchise, because I would never do that to any fanbase, no matter how small the group of diehards are. But, instead I just want us all to agree to stop trying to come up with reasons as to why the fans aren't coming and accept the fact that Tampa isn't going to ever embrace this team. They can bring up the flimsy argument that there being too many transplanted fans of other teams in the area, but the same holds true in Arizona and the Diamondbacks do just fine drawing a crowd. And the Tampa fans can complain about how horrible their stadium is, but why should ownership build a shiny new field when no one is going to fill it? Basically, I just want all this fresh on your minds when the Rays host a playoff game in a couple weeks and fans magically appear with their stupid cowbells. Also, because I don't think it's right to show up so late without some kind of penalty, I would appreciate it if TBS could include a graphic along the bottom of any crowd shot in which the stands are full that reads, "None of these people went to a game all season. They only show up for the playoffs and don't let them tell you any differently."