Relatively
DMZ · May 26, 2010 at 9:26 pm · Filed Under Mariners
I believe that according to announced attendance, the Sounders have outdrawn the Mariners every time both teams have played at home on the same date this year. Today, playing at night while the M’s went early, they got within shouting distance of doubling the M’s total.
4/17, Mariners 31,647 to Sounders 35,924
5/1, Mariners 30,225 to Sounders 36,219
5/8, Mariners 30,446 to Sounders 36,273
5/26, Mariners 22,422 to Sounders 40,122
I don’t know what MLS’ standard for sales is, but MLB uses tickets sold and not butts in seats.
I hope DMZ sent this to the M’s ownership. This is what they get, when fielding an uncompetitive product for nearly a decade now.
I like baseball way more, but I enjoy going to a Sounders game more these days.
It’s been mentioned here, so I’m adding my name to the list. I don’t like Safeco mostly b/c of the loud noise & the distractions on the video board going 24/7. Everytime I’m there I feel like I’m one step closer to being diagnosed ADHD, no joke. I’m not some old grandpa either, I’m early 30s and I’m usually ok with loud music & the tv always being on and that type of stuff. But, I can’t stand Safeco in this regard.
M’s marketing people, please move beyond the lowest common denom that we’ve been talking about here! I think we have a strong enough fan base that will show up w/o the continous freakin audio & video distrations. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. It’s teaching bad habits to the fans who are learning to become more legit baseball fans (and preventing that from happening of course). Plus, like myself, I think we’d have people coming (families too) who don’t come now, for the reasons I’ve just explained. Someday – maybe. I just wish there could be a dialogue about this topic somewhere. Thanks to USSM here for providing at least a small place for this to come up. The Ms people sure don’t seem to care about it. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up w/soccer as my favorite sport in 10-15 years if this keeps up. Not that I’ll ever not like baseball, I love it.
Go Sounders! Go Ms!
Different atmosphere, different type of events.
I agree with those who are pointing out that the Sounders popularity isn’t just some ‘flavor of the month’. The league I played in 30+ years ago is heading into the seventh decade of operation. FAR more kids in this area played soccer growing up than they did LL, or football, or basketball.
And yes, the folks from Vancouver and Portland will travel here, and Sounders fans will travel to those cities as well. Back in the NASL days, those were always some of the biggest, rowdiest crowds, with plenty of fans who were very obviously from Van. & Port.
Soccer is a sport that doesn’t have to be explained to most people around here, and for newer fans, the nuances of soccer are much easier to grasp than are those of baseball.
Sure, it’s a simple game; you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball, but understanding the infinite possibilities in those three actions takes a lifetime. Americans don’t seem to have the patience for the complex anymore.
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And they gotta have points, thinking a 21-14 football game is somehow different from a 3-2 baseball or soccer game.
It’s a legitimate point you make here, but I think you’re forgetting that this has always been Mariners’ baseball. When you have a team that goes more than a decade w/o winning more games than losing, you have to keep that lowest common denominator entertained.
Of course, now that we actually have Safeco, a field designed in a pseudo-classic style, you’d think we could move a little beyond this.
But personally, I can’t help but get excited when “Funk Blast” appears on that big screen. Not that this team lets us see it very often. I was lucky enough to catch a game at Wrigley recently, too. They may not have big video screens, but at least we don’t have TVs everywhere with the same damn commercials running all game long!! I will never go to Six Flags as long as I live.
Genre – We live by the gimmic, we die by the gimmic. Maybe our team has sucked for a decade in part because unconsciously the leaders of the org know that a large group of the fans are kind of…..really into entertainment other than the actual game. It’s like this website. I’ve been exposed on USSM to seeing the game and appreciating the game on a different level (beyond the usual fluff and sensationalist journalism – and as a result I was able to appreciate the last decade in new ways that makes me appreciate baseball as a game even more (even w/all the losing). But, for me, the stadium experience has lost much of it’s appeal due to the sensory overload. Safeco is such a great stadium too, that it makes that fact even worse!
This has not ‘always been M’s ball’. Going to the dome as a kid I loved every game I went to, and we were crappy as hell. They didn’t have all the crazy games on the screen and the loud noises 24/7. It’s somewhat where our culture is. But, we shouldn’t give into it and let the baseball game become the sideshow while the noise & video overstimulate the senses. The other sounds & smells and everything else about the game is one of the things that makes it so great. I can barely have a conversation with whoever I’m with in between the innings cause it’s so crazy loud. That’s messed up. The game is a great game by itself. Let the game be on center stage.
Well said, Dome. I just don’t think we’re the only stadium dealing with this. This is the unfortunate evolution of sports. While I was watching the game the other day, I could see part of ESPN’s PTI broadcasting on the big screen at Qwest. This isn’t unusual anymore.
I think that new stadium in Dallas represents where we’re going to a good degree. While I do believe that most of my iconic Kingdome memories where really trumped-up ballpark experiences, we didn’t have the technology to take too much away from the game. You’re quite right in that respect.
What I think is really unfortunate about the way the fan experience is changing isn’t the loud noises or finding out that Rob Johnson’s favorite cereal is Fruit Pebbles (yes, seriously); it’s the direction toward a minor league experience. I don’t mind loud music, but the gimmicky garbage drives me crazy. Seriously? We’re going to watch a guy catch a pop fly in a traffic cone? We’re going to watch a lady unlock an autographed Gutierrez baseball in a safe with a giant Keybank key?
I don’t mind the loud noises and music or the big screen graphics, and maybe that’s just me, but I’m tired of watching the same things I experienced when I worked in Spokane for the Indians appear on an MLB field.