Why go when I can watch it on TV?

"Why isn't anyone going to these games?"

Simple, they play in St. Pete.

$9.00 tickets are great, no problem there.  You want to pay the gas for my 65 mile round trip to go to a game?   Shame really, to attend loyally every year (at 25+ games every year for the past 10 years), and then not being able to the one year they actually put a decent team on the field.

It IS about location, location, location!!!!  They are NOT going to draw people north and east of tampa all the way into St. Pete.  It's too bad the franchise owners are so stubborn about where they want their stadium.  

Everyone I know has the same opionion.  

The Rays are winning.. that's great.  Attendance is down.. that's not great.  Why?  Maybe because until the Rays won a game, all you could read about were the Bucs... or HS football.  This is a football mentality area and it will take a lot of PR to bring baseball to the forefront.  UT has been a baseball winner for years... but you would have to be a UT student to know it.  The Dome is easy to get to but the last time I was there I had to walk what seemed like miles to get to the entrance, then around the stadium to get to a seat I could afford.  I'm 73.  TV lets me see the players better but I really miss the "feel" of the ball park.  I grew up in NY.  During BB season all the sports pages carred was Dodgers, Yankees, Giants.  I've been in Tampa 14 years, Florida about 35 years.  It's only recently that I could find baseball writeups.  I'm a BB fan but the young folks are into tennis, bowling and especially football.  Mainly because that is what is promoted.  Guess that's the bottom line, PR and price.  I lived in Atlanta when the Braves when from worst to first.  I went to many games at about $20 a ticket.  Once they were in 1st I couldn't go anymore.  That same ticket was about $55.  Young folks find that money.  Us older folk need medicine and food and a seat that requires binoculars to see the players is not very inviting although I do admint, I would go to ballgames if I could get there without i costing me about $30 (auto, gas, tolls) to get there and then go home.  It is a tough problem but PR and incentives to the senior community could turn the trick... but not overnight.  Keep the faith and keep on winning.

I went to several Rays games last year.  None so far this year.  The games were good, but the atmosphere is BORING!  Tropicana Field has no personality.  It doesn't "feel" like a ball park.  I was in Atlanta this weekend and attended the Braves/Diamondback game.  I wasn't a fan going in, but had such a great time, I am one now.  with 36,000+ in attendance, outside, screaming fans, good food, atmosphere - - it was an exciting baseball game!  A walk off home run was just the cherry on top!  Yes, the fans play a big part too.  The Rays have struggled for years at a game in an area where there are many fans of other teams.  We get to see practically everyone in the Spring for cheap.  They have to step it up a notch.  The Trop could be a great venue, I am not decided about whether or not they need a new venue, but they definately need a personality!  Just an opinion.

The Rays never had fans in St. Petesburg and they never will.  St. Petesburg will not support the Rays.  The stadium is in the wrong location to draw fans.  You try and drive to the park through rush hour traffic, it is a joke.  Even on week end games traffi comes to a halt around the airport.  The new stadium in the location they have chosen is sure to be more of the same except more expensive for fans with higher ticket prices and no more free parking.  The only chance the Rays have to draw attendance is to put the new stadium east of Tampa along the I-4 and I-75 area.  The Rays play a series at Disney to try and get Orlando fans.  This area is driveable.  With the stadium in this location you can draw from all around it (Tampa, St Petesburg, Lakeland , Orlando, etc.).

For myself, it has nothing to do with the price.  Althought I do think paying more for parking than the ticke is a bit much.  

I have been going to the games for years.  I am a 20 game (weekendplan ) season ticket holder and I will probably go to another 5 - 10 weekend games.  I think it is unfair to expect attendance to go up for the weekday games when most people work Monday through Friday.  And if you have young kids, it's even worse.  I live in Tampa which means getting home from a game around 11:30 or worse if they go extra innings.  And I absolutely refuse to leave a game before the final out.  

"John" and "Charlie" are idiots. What..your thirty five minute drive from Tampa is too far? How far do you commute to work? 25-30 mintues with morning traffic? Get real boneheads. The location is fine. Tampa has the Bucs and the Lightning and NOBODY went to those games when they stunk. When they started winning, people showed up. Why not with the Rays? The traffic around Ray Jay is terrible on Sundays and the commute in and out of Channelside stinks on hockey nights. Why would you rather sit in traffic for those teams when you could breeze over to the most accessible stadium in the world, worry free. Traffic? What traffic? You get from the highway to your seats in the outfield in 10 mintues. Location is a cop-out. The Trop is great. Stop whining about the stadium location "Richard" The stadium isn't going to leave Pinellas County. Get used to it. Tampa can't have everything. (And I live in Tampa) The last time I checked, the name on the marquee is "TAMPA BAY", not TAMPA. Don't give me that lame excuse. Support a team that has a better chance of doing something special this year than EITHER the Bucs or Bolts do this upcoming year. I'm tired of the whining.

I don't know. I used to have to drive 3+ hours each way to watch the rays. I live closer to the trop now (1 hour away), and have gone to games this year, it seems to me that a lot of people in the area would just rather either complain about the lack of good rays teams from previous years, or complain about the reasons they are NOT going to games this year. You don't want the waterfront stadium, fine, the rays ownership have already said, if they can't get a deal done, they'll stay put.

But listen folks, the trop is getting close to 20 years old NOW, the ownership, has had to do a lot to the building to  make it a usable venue, but face facts, it's not a matter of if the rays will need a new place to play, but when they will need it. I understand about economics for people (gas prices, etc) but if the St. Pete area can't be encouraged to show more interest now the team is winning games, I don't see how the rays will be around there much longer. It's been shown in the past, when it comes to baseball, no fans=no team.

As a rays fan, I can see the day coming where all the people who would rather stay home and watch the rays play, will no longer have that option.

Peace.

Being from Boston and traveling south to attend some Sox-Rays games, I am stunned how lazy people in the South are. One just has to look at the way people dress, the homes they live in and the manner they present themselves.
This attitude is evident and reflected in the way they support certain Tampa Bay activities, whether it be the Arts, Museums, the Rays, etc.
Couple this with a brainless Nascar mentality that manifests itself on Sunday's in the fall where fat out of shape hillbillies  scream at the top of their lungs on how a linebacker should hit a crossing receiver when its obvious the only thing this redneck slob could hit in a crossing pattern is his toothless wife; you then get a sense to the challenge Tampa has in supporting anything that requires a deliberate thought process or an investment of time and money.
Tampa never deserved a baseball team and does not now.
The community is made up of retirees and under educated, under employeed, $35,000 a year scoundrels that fixate all day on how to scam some retiree out of $20.00.
Tampa Bay, what a community? get-r-done, right! I've never met a redneck that can get out of bed before noon let alone get something done

Richard suggest  putting a new ballpark out by I/4 and I/275. Where? Next to the new Confederate Flag welcoming sign destined to be hoisted tomorrow morning. I moved here 10 years ago from Baltimore and this community makes West Virginia look chic.
I agree with the Boston fan.
This community never deserved baseball and certainly does not deserve it now.
The people in this town are classic redneck. The only thing they will spend money on is cigarettes, beer, nascar, country music, bibles and kiddie porn.
This place is a toilet and I count the days till I can get transferred back to Baltimore or at least to South Florida.
Sternberg must be shaking his head as he watches 15,000 come through the gates each night that look like they came off the movie set  Deliverance.

The Trop is a DUMP!