LenexatoKCMO wrote:
Detroit is always upheld as the prime example of a downtown ballpark failing to deliver as promised. However, there are a couple of important things to remember about the Detroit situation. The park was built in a bombed out part of town with little to no development initiatives going on in conjunction with the arrival of the ballpark - well gee, I wonder why their downtown hasn't miraculously turned around in a few years.
You'll notice that Detroit is far from the only example. Several other teams have attendance similar to that of the Royals, and many more, although their attendance is higher, experience year after year of decline. Further, I wasn't addressing the idea that moving the Royals will help downtown, I was responding to dangerboy's comment that the Royals "need" downtown. As all those cities I mentioned have shown, you can play the games wherever you want to, but if you're losing, people will stop coming.
In addition, Detroit moved into their new ballpark just in time to have a couple of the ugliest seasons in the history of the league.
Exactly my point. If the team is bad, no one will come, no matter where the stadium is.
So on the basis of the fact that two out of the umpteen downtown parks that have been built in the last decade or so havn't been successes durring the first couple of years of their operation, we are supposed to ignore the successes? We aren't supposed to pay any attention at all to major successes like SF candelstick vs. SF SBC, or Seattle Kingdome v. Seattle Safeco, or Cleveland memorial v. Cleveland Jacobs, or Baltimore Memorial v. Baltimore Camden, Houston, etc, etc?
Did you pay attention to why Detroit hasn't done much yet?
No, we aren't supposed to pay attention to perennial playoff contenders like the Giants (until this season, anyway) or the Mariners (until the past two years) or even to a lesser extent the Indians (until 2002) or the Astros. We're supposed to pay attention to teams that, like the Royals, find themselves win-challenged. Successful teams draw crowds...what a shock. At question here is whether a downtown stadium will create an audience for a bad team. The Orioles are the only team on your list there that haven't been a serious playoff contender in a long time, and as I noted in my previous post, their attendance has been dropping dramatically every year until it posted a modest gain last season (when they managed to improve by a few games and finish in third place behind two of the best teams in baseball). My contention is that people will not come to see a bad team, even if the stadium is downtown. dangerboy says the Royals need downtown and I say the Royals need wins.