The A's won #20 tonight (WOW!!!)... in extra innings after being up 11-0 at one point. Still the win is a win and I think it's awesome for baseball. There was a huge crowd in the stands tonight (55,000+), but this article begs the question, "Where are the fans?" That have been winning for a long while now, and tonight's attendance was an aberration (they were going for the magic number 20, an AL record). Let's see how they do the rest of the season. Winning will only help. A World Series appearance will keep them in the Bay Area for a good long while. - TBGR

A's doing it all -- where are the fans?

San Francisco Chronicle
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

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Here's one Oakland A's baseball stat worth chewing on -- for all the front-page headlines and excitement the record-streaking team has generated of late, attendance this season is still lagging behind last year's.

Stats show the A's drawing an average of 25,496 fans per game, or about 1.7 million to date this season.

In fact, there were just 26,325 paying fans on hand at Monday's Labor Day game to see the A's come from behind and tie the American League record of 19 consecutive victories.

Hardly something for the A's management -- which has been grappling with up- and-down attendance -- to start jumping up and down about, even with the 16, 000 streak-happy, walk-up fans to give the team a boost.

The A's are still only 18th among the 30 major-league ballclubs in attendance -- and nearly 900,000 ticket sales shy of the cross-bay rival San Francisco Giants.

Why?

Well for one thing, even before the first crack of the bat, the Giants (with their smaller, limited-seating ballpark) had sold 28,000 season tickets.

The A's -- who are still playing at a mega-stadium where seats are always available at the last minute -- sold fewer than 9,000 season tickets.

And therein lies the rub for Oakland.

A's President Michael Crowley told us he still expects the team -- with its last 10-game homestand against three division rivals later this month -- to close out the season on par or even ahead of last year's 2.1 million attendance.

And if they make the playoffs, Crowley is hopeful those all-crucial season ticket sales will go up next year as well.

Still, "the fact is we have 50,000-plus seats, and we are trying to create a demand here . . . (and) it's tough when you have so many seats," said A's sales marketing head David Alioto.

So there you have it -- the good news is the A's are winning big, and everyone can still get a seat.

The bad news: The A's are winning big, and everyone can still get a seat.

A man has to have goals- for a day, for a lifetime- that was mine, to have people say, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." - Ted Williams

Another article -- this time by the Oakland Tribune -- brings up the attendance woes at "The Net". They did get the big crowd though last night. 55,528! - TBGR

By Monte Poole
Oakland Tribune

A's deserve their biggest crowd tonight

AS THE STREAK continues, the joy spreads, and the attention grows. There is a celebrating, with singing and dancing and cheering in several countries.

Now if only a few more folks in the Bay Area could join the party.

The A's are front-page news, a national story that transcends sports, offering up elements of inspiration.

The team that symbolizes so much of what is right with the troubled sport of baseball has won 19 in a row. The A's have won with hitting, with pitching, with defense, with the aid of just about everything except slippery elm.

They have done just about everything they can do -- except coax a few more fans into the home ballpark.

Twenty hours after the most dramatic victory of the season, Sunday's 7-5 win over Minnesota, a mere 26,325 paid their way into the Net for a Labor Day afternoon game played in 88-degree weather.

In other words, more than 20,000 tickets went unused as Miguel Tejada rapped a game-winning single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth.

This can't be blamed on the opponent. The Kansas City Royals surely don't quicken the pulse, but neither do the Milwaukee Brewers. Yet the Brewers and Cubs, despite the low stakes of the game, were privileged to look up at

36,797 at Wrigley Field.

Can't blame it on the laid-back attitudes of us Californians. Not when

31,837 strolled into San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium to see the Padres and

Colorado Rockies wrestle for the National League West cellar.

Can't blame it on the ballpark. I've seen Qualcomm, and I understand why the Padres are sprinting out of there.

Some of the blame for the A's failing to approach sellouts in any of the weekend games might be placed on the threat of strike, which was averted early Friday morning, hours before it was to take effect.

Many by then had made alternate plans and had to settle for watching the game on TV, if at all.

But, then, that doesn't explain why there were more fans in seven of the 12 ballparks in which games were played on Monday.

Not when the A's were the only team in baseball with an 18-game win streak.

The only team in baseball with an MVP candidate, a Cy Young candidate and a Manager of the Year candidate.

The local fan has to eat some blame, and the suspicion is that many are perfectly willing to do exactly that.

For the A's to win 18 in a row while playing utterly dynamic baseball, and draw a mere 27,000 for a home game

on Labor Day is as pathetic as it is revealing. The implication is we are taking this thing for granted.

We have but one night -- tonight -- to make partial amends.

It would be crime if the A's perform tonight before anything less than the largest crowd in Oakland baseball history.

Network Associates Coliseum was not sold out as of Tuesday afternoon, though all the Dollar Wednesday tickets were gone, according to David Alioto, VP of sales and marketing.

Alioto projected a crowd in excess of 43,000 but remained hopeful the homestand finale audience would exceed 50,000.

For this team to go after No. 20 before anything less than 55,000 would be a borderline negligence.

Even if the A's don't win tonight, they deserve a full roar of appreciation for what they've already accomplished. It is overdue.

The A's, who have the best record in the American League, are winners in an area with a reputation for embracing a winner.

In an age when sports fans are said to be fed up with high

ticket prices, the A's believe, with justification, they are the cheapest buy of any major professional sports team in California.

It's not that the bandwagon is empty. There has been considerable local fan response. The club over the weekend sold more than 100,000 tickets for games through the end of the season, says Alioto.

Moreover, there is a drumbeat of interest for season tickets.

But the fever has been slow to catch for a phenomenon far rarer than a Springsteen concert.

The Streak sits at 19, tying the 1947 New York Yankees and 1906 Chicago White Sox for the best in AL history. Three more wins, and the A's will own the longest streak, ever, in the major leagues -- not counting streaks that included ties.

Which explains the presence of all the national newspapers, the inquiries from CBS Evening News and the sudden widespread discovery of Tejada, the shortstop who continues to prove he is an electrifying performer.

Tejada's presence on this team has folks in the Dominican

Republic bursting with pride. The eyes of Venezuela are upon catcher Ramon Hernandez. Olmedo Saenz's greatest contribution is as a pinch hitter, but that's enough to have Panamanians following the A's.

Almost everyone can find someone on this team worthy of admiration, if not someone with whom they can identify. The A's are a collection of high-quality spare parts -- but spare parts nonetheless.

It's hard to sell the East Bay as a baseball region certain to fill a new ballpark when there are clear signs of apathy even as this captivating team chases history.

One more game before the A's hit the road. The able fan already has a ticket -- or is trying like **** to get one for a snapshot of history.

A man has to have goals- for a day, for a lifetime- that was mine, to have people say, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." - Ted Williams

Plenty of playoff tickets in Oakland available
It was an exquisite, shirt-sleeve day for a playoff game in Oakland. Not a cloud in the sky -- and not a soul in the center field upper deck seats known as Mount Davis to see the A's play the Minnesota Twins. Roughly half the Coliseum's upper deck looked as deserted as the docks at the Port of Oakland. That and this report from The San Francisco Chronicle's Joe Garofoli
It would be easy for the faithful to be disappointed about not selling out a playoff game. Embarrassed, even. But instead of more hand-wringing about the need for a new A's stadium, or moaning about how expensive tickets were, perhaps it's time to salute the true stars of A's fandom -- the 34,853 who found a way to blow off the real world and show up for a 1 p.m. game. On a Tuesday. That was on TV.

Men like Adrian Poe, a truck driver from Sacramento and one of 14 people in Section 329 who saw the A's fall to the Minnesota Twins, 7-5. One fan up there was a woman in a large green foam hat. Poe was the guy with binoculars.

Last week, even before the playoff schedule was announced, Poe told his boss he had a doctor's appointment. Even though the word "appointment" implies a specific time and place, Poe wasn't too specific. "I just told him, 'It's next week sometime.'

"And then yesterday, he figured it out," Poe said. "He looked at me and said, 'You're going to the baseball game, aren't you? Ah, go ahead.' "

Memo to Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb: Forget the downtown ballpark idea.

Just find yourself 50,000 Adrian Poes. Or maybe 50,000 Adrian Poe bosses.

While A's officials may have been a bit red-faced about not selling out a playoff game, they weren't surprised. Not after they learned that they'd be playing at an hour on Tuesdays traditionally reserved for -- well, not blowing off work to wear large foam green hats.

Since the A's aren't the darlings of TV, the New York Yankees, they don't get the prime-time slots. Which means Oakland will play again today at 1 p.m. Tickets are available.

"When we saw the schedule, we kind of figured we'd have this, maybe a little more," Jim Young, the A's director of public relations, said as he surveyed a crowd 8,000 below capacity. "It's hard to see those (empty) seats, but we understand. We're going to worry about the fans that are here, not the ones that aren't."

They need more fans like Rick Workman. He showed up at his son Cary's San Ramon middle school Tuesday morning and asked to have his son pulled out of class. When the attendance officer asked why, Workman said, "He's got an appointment with Dr. A."

Sure enough, Cary Workman pulled out a yellow excuse slip out of his pocket.

There was an X marked next to "medical."

The stands abounded with tales of sacrifice. Eddie McBenttes, one of the famous crew of drummers in the left-field bleachers, skipped class at Chabot College. "I left a note on the teacher's car that said, 'Sorry to miss your awesome class.' " He made sure to use the word "awesome."

Fausto Minor is a carpet installer in Richmond. He works for himself, so he lost $200 in business by skipping work Tuesday. Or did he?

"If you never had it, you didn't lose it," Minor said.

Those who showed were truly hardcore. Men like Richard Shearer of Moraga and James Alexander of Livermore. Men who paid $35 plus finance charges to sit in deep left-center field. Where the sun didn't shine. Where you can't see much of center or right field. Or left, for that matter.

What they're here for, Alexander said, "is the atmosphere. I could urinate in the bathroom here for three hours and be happy. As long as I can hear (A's announcer) Bill King in there. It's the atmosphere, man."

A few rows away, a man stood up and started shouting.

"GET OFF THAT CELL PHONE," he bellowed to a woman chatting on the cell phone. "You're not at Pac Bell Park."

No. Tickets are available at the Coliseum for the rest of the playoffs. That and this report from The San Francisco Chronicle's Joe Garofoli

-----------------------------
Halo Playoffs 2002--It's Rally (Monkey) Time"!
Show me a man who has never failed and I will show you a man who has never tried....

I had hinted that the A's were a part of something bigger than what we first knew about.
It looks like once again, I'm on the mark.

Numbers don't lie. People do.
Beware of the Silver & Black attack

Despite their on field success story, A's appear to still feel they're an anomaly
When the A's-Twins "Little Engines That Might" Series continues today in the mad-house Metrodome, the temptation will never be greater to point a spiteful finger and scream at lampooned baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

"See, the little guys can win!" That and this report from The Sacramento Bee's Gregg Bell

Because this autumn, one of the have-nots will finally be in the American League Championship Series. But get this: Selig, for all his hugely visible and inconvenient, sometimes inconceivable faults, is right.

Even with the newly signed, still inconclusive collective bargaining agreement -- the theoretical cure for baseball's financial inequality -- small-market, low-payroll teams cannot compete consistently for World Series championships.

And that is still, after all, why they train and play from February through October, isn't it?

"The true test is whether we can sustain this over time," said A's president Mike Crowley, a bottom-line, certified public accountant.

"This" is the A's string of 100-win seasons and a real chance at the elusive gated community that is the World Series. That, and the money to retain the players to do it.

No team since the 1991 Twins has won a World Series without having one of the league's top seven payrolls. Of the 64 teams to have qualified for the postseason since the playoffs expanded from four to eight teams in 1995, only four -- the A's, this year's Twins, the Houston Astros (2001, 1997) and the San Diego Padres ('96) -- were not in the league's top half in payrolls.

Since '95, teams in the bottom half in payroll have won only six of the 232 playoff games played (2.6%). The A's have five of those wins over the last three Octobers.

Anti-Seligs everywhere -- and today, they are everywhere -- have for the last three seasons proudly used the A's as the example of how smart baseball decisions and wise spending can overcome the New York Yankees payroll, which has been three and four times larger than Oakland's during the A's three playoff seasons. That and this report from The Sacramento Bee's Gregg Bell

"The Oakland story is a good one for them -- except for a few facts," Robert DuPuy, formerly Selig's personal attorney and now baseball's chief operating officer, argued earlier this season. "How many times have they been to the World Series?

"Oakland is the anomaly."

But those same anti-establishment types now can point to Minnesota. Out of the contraction and into the postseason for the first time in 11 years, the Twins further their belief that smart moves, and young, skilled players can, at times, beat cold cash.

Not over time. Just ask Pittsburgh. In the early 1990s, the Pirates had an outfield of Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Andy Van Slyke and a pitching staff that included All-Star Doug Drabek. They twice came within one game of the World Series.

All but Van Slyke came up through the Pirates' farm system. And within two years in the mid-'90s, all were gone to big-market, free-agent riches. The putrid Pirates haven't sniffed the playoffs since.

A decade later, good, young, small-market teams going bad is still the norm.

"You look at Minnesota and Oakland this year," Crowley said. "OK, we had very nice seasons. In our case, we've had four pretty good seasons.

"But you just have to look at the rest of the league. Six teams won 93 games.

"Three lost over 100. One division (the American League Central) had one team over .500, another at .500, and the rest under .500.

"While one or two teams are doing well, the vast majority of teams are not doing well -- because of the system."

It's a system in which the Yankees' annual revenues are $176 million, thanks to owning their cable TV network; the A's revenues were $75.5 million heading into this season, far below the league average of $118.3 million.

The Twins' revenue was $56.3 million annually heading into this season. Only Montreal, at $34.2 million, was lower -- which is why Selig and his partners wanted to axe the Twins and Expos, until the players' union and the courts thwarted them.

And that is why the Expos, with relatively minuscule in-stadium revenues, appear to be on their way to the Washington, D.C., area next season.

"What the collective bargaining agreement changes remains to be seen," Crowley said, referring a give-to-the-poor luxury tax that, currently, only the Yankees would pay. "Long-term, we are going to have to keep our costs low, in line with our revenue."

While Crowley said the A's revenues have increased substantially -- enough to raise their payroll from $18 to $42 million in four seasons -- the league's higher-ups have drawn a simple line between thriving teams and endangered clubs that will drag down collective revenues for the foreseeable future:

Those with a new stadium, or the ability to receive one soon. And those without. That and this report from The Sacramento Bee's Gregg Bell

"Sooner or later, communities have to make their own choices," is how DuPuy put it months ago. "Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Houston and San Diego have stepped up."

The common denominator between those cities? All have built or will be building new stadiums -- read: new revenue streams -- in the coming seasons.

The only reason the Twins no longer are being considered for contraction when the new labor agreement allows for its re-consideration in 2006 is not because they are winning. It's because of the sudden possibility that they will get a new, baseball-only stadium.

The Twins have spent over $1.8 million in the last two years lobbying the Minnesota State Legislature for funding to build a park. The money was well spent -- to a point.

The Twins got the lawmakers -- and even Gov. Jesse Ventura, an outspoken Selig and baseball-subsidy opponent -- to agree to a financing plan. But no viable stadium idea has yet appeared. And filthy rich, tight-spending Twins owner Carl Pohlad, one of Selig's longtime cronies, has ignored the city of St. Paul's offer to pay for some of a new stadium.

Which begs the Pirates' old question, how long can the Twins pay for their success?

Yes, it is sad that payrolls and revenues and stadium subsidies ultimately determine how often we can see playoff series like the A's-Twins.

And it is downright depressing to wonder when we will see this again. That and this report from The Sacramento Bee's Gregg Bell

-----------------------------
Halo Playoffs 2002--It's Rally (Monkey) Time"!
Show me a man who has never failed and I will show you a man who has never tried....

Bring that team to Portland! I bet Portland would sell out a playoff game in a heart beat.


Kansas City Royals - 1985 World Series Champions

From the Bee's Gregg Bell:

quote:

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And that is why the Expos, with relatively minuscule in-stadium revenues, appear to be on their way to the Washington, D.C., area next season.

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AHEM!

Obviously, someone in Sactown is not paying attention!

Expos to Portland (if anywhere)
A's to DC. (if anywhere)

I'm beginning to think I've lost my bet with TGBR on the Expos. Guess I might as well work on my best Tommy Lasorda impersonation...

Numbers don't lie. People do.
Beware of the Silver & Black attack

Today's attendance for the all-important, do-or-die Game 5: 32,146.

Where are all the fans in Oakland? They were at the A's game.

From Dadda
Today's attendance for the all-important, do-or-die Game 5: 32,146.

Where are all the fans in Oakland? They were at the A's game.
--------------------------------------------
There was a Giants and a 49ers game across the Bay but at the same time that is a joke 32,146! That is sick! 32,146! I don't get A's fans...Maybe they need to lose their team after all....

-----------------------------
Halo Playoffs 2002--It's Rally (Monkey) Time"!
Show me a man who has never failed and I will show you a man who has never tried....

The Niners have been sold out for years, and most A's fans are Raider fans, so I doubt that the Niner game had much bearing on the A's attendance. The Giants have the same attendance for virtually every game, so I don't think that was a factor , either. In fact, there was an AP story about many Giants fans that bought tickets to the A's game, and saw a playoff "doubleheader" in person. So, it could be said that the Giant fans actually made the A's attendance look better than it would have otherwise.

The city of Oakland won't support the team with a new ballpark. The fans won't support the team in the postseason, nevermind the regular season. This is a team that has done a terrific job putting a quality product on the field at a bargain price. If the fans of the Bay Area can't or won't support them, then the team should be looking to play elsewhere.

OK, Rob knows who we are, and he knows who I am so when I send him questions on ESPN he knows what I'm driving at... "What about Portland?"

So, I get what I deserve when I serve them up like this for him.

Maury (Portland): Hey Rob, What gives with the lack of rears in the seats at the A's games? They didn't seem to draw too well on the tube either. Is it time to pick up digs and move?

Rob Neyer: (10:25 PM ET ) I think the A's would do just fine if they had one of those new ballparks. A lot of people forget that the Giants were drawing nobody for a stretch in the 1970s, but look at them now! There are enough people in the Bay Area to support two teams, though it'd be easier if one of the teams were south of the Giants rather than north.

I would have agreed with this site unseen but then I looked up the W-L records on the Giants from 1970-1980:

1980 75-86
1979 71-91
1978 89-73
1977 75-87
1976 74-88
1975 80-81
1974 72-90
1973 88-74
1972 69-86
1971 90-72 (WON THE DIVISION)
1970 86-76

Not exactly the best run:
6 seasons below .500
A couple of them are 90 game losses

Still, he probably has a point about the stadium to a degree, but the fact that Schott raised ticket prices for the games, poor scheduling, and one very busy weekend of sports in the Bay Area didn't help either.

A man has to have goals- for a day, for a lifetime- that was mine, to have people say, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." - Ted Williams

Your quickly becoming a local celeb! Who else do you know in MLB and the national media..Your not Bud Selig incognito are you? LOL

-----------------------------
Halo Playoffs 2002--It's Rally (Monkey) Time"!
Show me a man who has never failed and I will show you a man who has never tried....

I am neither a "celeb", or Bud Selig. Anyone on the staff could have asked the question and got the same response. Simply came about from doing the interview with Rob and the fact that he lives in Portland.

If I were a celeb I wouldn't be going to work right now.

A man has to have goals- for a day, for a lifetime- that was mine, to have people say, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." - Ted Williams

The biggest factor in Giants attendance is that they don't play in unaccessable, inhospitable Candlestick Park anymore. Yet, I would also agree that a new park in Oakland is not the cure for the A's. A new city, South Bay or otherwise, would be their best bet.

Daddaborn's post:
The Niners have been sold out for years, and most A's fans are Raider fans, so I doubt that the Niner game had much bearing on the A's attendance. The Giants have the same attendance for virtually every game, so I don't think that was a factor , either. In fact, there was an AP story about many Giants fans that bought tickets to the A's game, and saw a playoff "doubleheader" in person. So, it could be said that the Giant fans actually made the A's attendance look better than it would have otherwise.


The belief that most A's fans are Raiders fans is untrue... there is a whole generation, 22 years worth of people here in Northern California that grew up A's and Niners fans because the Raiders were in Southern California.
That is like a whole other state down here... there is everything North of Bakersfield and then there is La La Land... La La Land is why all you guys up in Oregon can't stand Californian's, ha! Most Californian's can't stand La La Land.
I was at the 49ers game and I am a huge A's fan (I listend on KFRC) I have had tickets to the 49ers and Rams game for 2 years... Us 49ers fans remember when the Rams were from La La Land, and we still love to beat their guts in.... when the A's lost a huge groan went up at Candlestick.

I said:

quote:

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most A's fans are Raider fans

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Just like everyone else in the world, I hate generalizations! Guess I was running from personal experience - I'm a Niner/Giant fan, my wife is a Raider/A's fan. Anyway, it still makes the point that the A's don't have much of a fan base if a regular-season NFL game keeps them from selling out a playoff game.

Darth said:

quote:

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Most Californian's can't stand La La Land.

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Most transplanted Californians can't, either.

quote:

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Us 49ers fans remember when the Rams were from La La Land, and we still love to beat their guts in

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There are few things in life better than a good Ram-gut-beating!