Author Topic: Nats fanbase  (Read 5164 times)

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Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #25: October 14, 2012, 01:05:00 PM »
Fanbase is still growing.  The atmosphere has significantly improved.  Winning will help that.  We'll see how much next year.  It usually takes a year or so for that to show up in attendance figures.  If they keep winning, they have an opportunity to have a very strong fanbase.  It won't be on the Yankee or Cardinals level, but it can be very good.  Too early to say it's there yet, though.

Do the Cards have a large fan base?  The only time I see people in cards gear is when I visit my cousin in KC- they're popular in a huge swath if the Midwest,  but it's not exactly a heavily populated area

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #26: October 14, 2012, 01:10:38 PM »
OC, have you seen any numbers on average attendance in 2012 and the increase over last year? I predicted at least a 20% increase over 2011 before the season. And I predict right now at least a 10% increase in 2013. I might even change my prediction to 20% increase if they make certain offseason moves.

Regular season per-fixture averages (source: ESPN.com MLB stats):

2012 - 30,010
2011 - 24,877

...a gain of 5,133/fixture over previous season, an increase of a bit over 26%.

Offline DPMOmaha

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #27: October 14, 2012, 01:15:15 PM »
Do the Cards have a large fan base?  The only time I see people in cards gear is when I visit my cousin in KC- they're popular in a huge swath if the Midwest,  but it's not exactly a heavily populated area

I don'I don't know.  The midwest is very fragmented.  Lots of teams to chose from.  Since they're the most consistently successful they have more than their fair share.  What I don't know is if St. Louis is a town where people grow up and stay in or come back to or if it's a place where people grow up, go to school and then move to one of the coasts.  If that's the case, they'll have a pretty good fanbase nationally.  Locally, it's as strong as any in baseball.

Offline Baseball is Life

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #28: October 14, 2012, 01:19:24 PM »
Regular season per-fixture averages (source: ESPN.com MLB stats):

2012 - 30,010
2011 - 24,877

...a gain of 5,133/fixture over previous season, an increase of a bit over 26%.


Thanks, OC. I should have taken MDS's bet!

I see no reason why attendance can't increase by at least 10% next year.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #29: October 14, 2012, 01:21:48 PM »
The city is half the size of DC,  so absent some government sponsored breeding program,  there aren't that many of them to spread out nationally when they grow upm

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #30: October 14, 2012, 01:23:33 PM »
Thanks, OC. I should have taken MDS's bet!

I see no reason why attendance can't increase by at least 10% next year.

Easily,  especially when you consider that the bandwagon took a while to get going this year

Offline Baseball is Life

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #31: October 14, 2012, 01:24:00 PM »
I don'I don't know.  The midwest is very fragmented.  Lots of teams to chose from.  Since they're the most consistently successful they have more than their fair share.  What I don't know is if St. Louis is a town where people grow up and stay in or come back to or if it's a place where people grow up, go to school and then move to one of the coasts.  If that's the case, they'll have a pretty good fanbase nationally.  Locally, it's as strong as any in baseball.

Friend of mine in Denver says the Rockies and are like the Cards in that they are a regional team, drawing from entire state or two. No reason the Nats can't do the same with Virginia. Huge population areas like Fredericksburg, Richmond, Hampton Roads, Roanoke, etc., can come up for the weekend or during the week when school is out.

I was in Norfolk this summer and a bar I visited had the Nats on in every TV in the place. Well, ok, there was one set tuned to the Boreoles.


Offline Baseball is Life

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #32: October 14, 2012, 01:28:23 PM »
Easily,  especially when you consider that the bandwagon took a while to get going this year

Aside from the winning and entertaining team, the Nats broke through the city's entertainment consciousness this year. People in Washington have a lot of options for spending their entertainment dollar and they found the Nats to be be one of the better options. Lots of people I know visited the park for the first time this year and they said they would be going back.

Offline DPMOmaha

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #33: October 14, 2012, 01:45:47 PM »
The city is half the size of DC,  so absent some government sponsored breeding program,  there aren't that many of them to spread out nationally when they grow upm

Right, but it's also a team that's been a part of the St. Louis culture for generations.  It gets passed down over the years.  It's very collegiate in that way.  They're very loyal.  If you've got that happening over the course of 100+ years, it can get pretty big.  Like I said, I don't know how it works there, I don't know if people leave or stay post college.  I'd assume it's mostly local with a decent national following.

Offline Tyler Durden

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #34: October 14, 2012, 03:17:09 PM »
Thanks, OC. I should have taken MDS's bet!

I see no reason why attendance can't increase by at least 10% next year.

If that happens, we'd be at around 33k per game.  That would put us just outside the top 10 going by the 2012 numbers.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2012-misc.shtml

Offline Tyler Durden

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #35: October 14, 2012, 03:25:52 PM »
A Wizards player was apparently sent threats over twitter after he tweeted support for his hometown Cardinals.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/14/washington-wizards-guard-bradley-beal-receives-threats-after-tweeting-in-support-of-cardinals/


Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #36: October 14, 2012, 03:51:00 PM »
Bradley Beal likes the team that bounced the Nats?  More reason to not give a damn about the wizards

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #37: October 14, 2012, 04:25:57 PM »
Bradley Beal likes the team that bounced the Nats?  More reason to not give a damn about the wizards

He was born and raised in St Louis.

[not endorsing a potentially tactless remark - just sayin']

Offline cmdterps44

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #38: October 14, 2012, 04:30:40 PM »
He was born and raised in St Louis.

[not endorsing a potentially tactless remark - just sayin']

I HATE YOU

Offline cards12in12

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #39: October 14, 2012, 05:47:17 PM »
I don'I don't know.  The midwest is very fragmented.  Lots of teams to chose from.  Since they're the most consistently successful they have more than their fair share.  What I don't know is if St. Louis is a town where people grow up and stay in or come back to or if it's a place where people grow up, go to school and then move to one of the coasts.  If that's the case, they'll have a pretty good fanbase nationally.  Locally, it's as strong as any in baseball.

St. Louis is definitely a city where people tend to stay. When you just meet someone the popular saying in st. Louis is, where did you go to high school. That's just how we identify what part of St. Louis you're from. Once you get out of the city the suburbs are actually really nice.  We also draw from quite a few states, Iowa, southern Illinois,  Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. The only team i can think about that is around these states are the braves.  Unlike the east coast, the cardinals actually have a pretty big following on the west coast. Didn't see many Cards fans at the games in Washington. But it is hard with the Nationals red and red towels. Which actually looked neat on TV, wish the cards would do red towels.

Offline miller10

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #40: October 14, 2012, 06:13:50 PM »
St. Louis is definitely a city where people tend to stay. When you just meet someone the popular saying in st. Louis is, where did you go to high school. That's just how we identify what part of St. Louis you're from. Once you get out of the city the suburbs are actually really nice.  We also draw from quite a few states, Iowa, southern Illinois,  Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. The only team i can think about that is around these states are the braves.  Unlike the east coast, the cardinals actually have a pretty big following on the west coast. Didn't see many Cards fans at the games in Washington. But it is hard with the Nationals red and red towels. Which actually looked neat on TV, wish the cards would do red towels.

I was surprised how few Cardinals fans were at the games in DC.  There are usually quite a bit more during the regular season games.  I have family near Champaign, Illinois and their town is pretty evenly split between Sox, Cubs and Cards fans. 

Online zimm_da_kid

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #41: October 14, 2012, 06:17:53 PM »
I was surprised how few Cardinals fans were at the games in DC.  There are usually quite a bit more during the regular season games.  I have family near Champaign, Illinois and their town is pretty evenly split between Sox, Cubs and Cards fans. 

Our natitude overwelmed them.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #42: October 14, 2012, 06:20:46 PM »
I was surprised how few Cardinals fans were at the games in DC.  There are usually quite a bit more during the regular season games.  I have family near Champaign, Illinois and their town is pretty evenly split between Sox, Cubs and Cards fans. 

I was surprised too. Cardinals supporters used to turn out pretty heavily in RFK days and on into the first season or two at Nats Park - not as heavily as Mets or Cubs supporters at that time, but enough that if one was in the loo or on a beer queue and a roar went up from the crowd, one couldn't tell whether it was a good play by the Nats or the Cards.

Offline cards12in12

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #43: October 14, 2012, 06:29:44 PM »
I was surprised how few Cardinals fans were at the games in DC.  There are usually quite a bit more during the regular season games.  I have family near Champaign, Illinois and their town is pretty evenly split between Sox, Cubs and Cards fans.

i thought i saw that you guys were over 100% attendance for the series. I suspect that were just no tickets left. Also, i would be scared for my life traveling to another teams stadium during playoff time. Even when my team did score i would probably never stand up and cheer in order not to be singled out. Just wouldn't be worth spending money. But that could also be the paranoid side of me.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #44: October 14, 2012, 06:53:58 PM »
At least there is one thing Nationals and Cardinals supporters can agree on:

CUBS SUCK!

[Cardinals vs Cubs - going back before the 'modern era', back when the clubs were known as the Browns and White Stockings respectively - quite possibly the oldest rivalry in baseball.]

Offline miller10

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #45: October 14, 2012, 06:57:24 PM »
i thought i saw that you guys were over 100% attendance for the series. I suspect that were just no tickets left. Also, i would be scared for my life traveling to another teams stadium during playoff time. Even when my team did score i would probably never stand up and cheer in order not to be singled out. Just wouldn't be worth spending money. But that could also be the paranoid side of me.

Yeah, they sold standing room tickets so that put us over 100% but there were over 5,000 or so tickets on stubhub but the cheap seats were in the $100 so if you wanted to go you could but it will cost you.

My parents went to game 2 in St. Louis and got tickets for $20 on stubhub in the lower level.  Was surprised at how cheap the tickets were. 

Offline PowerBoater69

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #46: October 14, 2012, 07:10:52 PM »
It was 99% home town fans, a rarity for the DC area.

Offline USF_Football

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #47: October 14, 2012, 11:19:47 PM »
It was complete f'en awesomeness (besides the final result). Wish I could have been at games 4 and 5... but at least I got to the first game...

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #48: October 14, 2012, 11:40:19 PM »
Actually if merchandise sales are any indication we were 3rd to the Yankees.

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Nats fanbase
« Reply #49: October 14, 2012, 11:57:50 PM »
Actually if merchandise sales are any indication we were 3rd to the Yankees.

I wonder how much that is due to out-of-town "bandwagoning" (though with a team this young it's really difficult to call someone a "bandwagoner").

But that's a promising sign. A lot of people have gotten sucked into this charismatic team. Characters like Gio, Harper, Werth are very public and engaging players, and obviously this team's talent has attracted a lot of attention. When I got sucked into the Nats this year I brought a lot of people along for the ride, all of them enjoying every game they attended at the ballpark as well as enjoying watching the games from home.

It's really nice to see a lot of fans at the park! I can't imagine attendance not going up this year. These fans have something to hope for and believe in. It's really, really fun.