Newsflash: Attendance means very little anymore

[Hoofhearted]

(12-13-2018, 11:06 AM)kevin Wrote: There are flaws in your concept, and attendance is important. 

First, you are basing everything on Forbes, who isn't always right.  
Second, you are going on estimated net worth, which isn't the same as cash on hand. 

So lets start with The Yankees, because in real money, there is the Yankees and then everybody else. Now the Yankees have attendance, the great TV contract, the marketing, The Championship History, The New York Yankees have it all. 
So after the Yankees, where do you think the Reds are. Certainly not in the top 10.  Easily the bottom half of baseball.  The bottom 15.  The small market teams. 

Yes, the Reds have a Fox Ohio TV deal, but they won't have it for long if nobody is watching. TV rating have to be very low for the last place Reds. Commercial time will become cheaper and cheaper if Reds stay in last, because very few people are watching. Reds TV ratings are getting lower than reruns of Gilligan's Island.  Companies are not going to pay big commercial prices for TV ads nobody will see. Fox will lose money and end result will be next Reds TV contract will be a lot less money for Reds. 

If 90% of the seats are empty, you can bet nobody is watching on TV either. Poor attendance is a sign of a franchise in trouble, be it baseball, basketball, whoever. Poor attendance teams often fold or move to another city.  Even in the TV revenue sharing NFL, no owner wants poor attendance.  Mike Brown doesn't have to share the attendance money, so the more seats sold, that is real money, not estimated hypothetical net worth.  Look at all the franchises that have folded or moved in sports over poor attendance.

So Fan Attendance does mean a lot to these sports franchises. The big cities don't really have to worry about low attendance.  The smaller cities like Cincinnati.  Look for the Rays to move out of St Petersburg to the mainland of Tampa because they can't afford the low attendance in St Pete.  If attendance means nothing, the Reds would not have fired everybody.  They have not brought in a new manager and a whole new coaching staff for no reason.  Last Place, Poor Attendance and Low TV Ratings are Killing the Cincinnati Reds franchise. They have milked the Pete Rose events for every last drop and the cow is dry.  

The good news is the Reds are making changes.  Bell looks like a good hire and I think even Buddy Bell is on Reds Front Office staff. Joe Morgan and Barry Larkin are on Reds staff. These are indeed baseball people that could turn this last place franchise around. Even Lou Piniella is on staff.  Reds could win more which would make attendance rise and TV ratings go up, and as Yogi Berra said, that is money which is as good as cash. 

Fan attendance makes up a small portion of the money they make as noted in my post (18%). And yes, you're correct about the surrounding areas suffering because of this, but that is not something that is relatable with them sharing their figures. But it most certainly suffers, just don't know how much.

And the TV ratings actually grew last year. The Reds ranked 8th in regional TV ratings. So there's fans watching, but just not from the park.