Tampa Bay Rays Fans Don't Support Team? Contraction? Enough Already!

For whatever reason, the Rays have been unfortunately miscast by the national media as a franchise in rapid decay. Last September a lot of media outlets chose to discuss ad nauseum the perceived lack of fan support for the Rays.

The team had managed to win their second AL East title in spite of having had to navigate the treacherous waters of the AL East in a financial dinghy, unlike their division brethren in New York and Boston. Yet there was precious little written about this momentous feat nationally.

If that wasn't bad enough, two of our young super stars, Evan Longoria and David Price, piled on by tweeting their frustration at clinching the division in front of a less than packed house. This provided even more fodder for the "Rays fans suck" contingent, and brought the wrath of the baseball faithful down on the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. It seemed like every baseball writer and fan had it out for the Rays and their supporters.

To top it all off, the Rays and their fans were negatively thrust into the spotlight on national television during the 2010 MLB Playoffs by the announcers, analysts, studio hosts, and anyone else who had an opinion on the matter. At times, true or not, it really did seem like there was some sort of misplaced vendetta against the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.

The saddest part though, was very rarely did I hear or read anything that even came close to accurately portraying the environment of Rays baseball that I personally experience on a day to day basis.

The general consensus nationally seemed to be that major league baseball and west Florida were not a good match. Yet nobody really seemed to be able to eloquently state their case. It was a mob mentality of distaste for Rays fans.

Somebody who covers baseball opined that Rays fans don't support their team...if he says so...surely it's true right?

As a loyal Rays fan since moving here in 2004, it was hard for me not to take all this personally. I jumped on the Rays wagon within a few weeks of moving here, and although I have been spared a lot of the losing that people who have been on board since the teams arrival in 1998 have endured, I can still remember when Dewon Brazelton and Mark Hendrickson were what passed for a staff ace around here.

Truth be told, I too have been critical of Rays fans. Having moved here from the North Side of Chicago via Baltimore, I had grown quite used to sellout crowds. Winning teams or not.

It was pretty hard for me to fathom why there were crowds of less than 10,000 at a major league baseball game, no matter how terrible the home team was. To me, baseball was baseball, and if there was a game on the diamond I was watching it, either in person or on TV. 

Being a transplant to Florida I have zero interest in the Florida Gators, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or football in general. I'm pretty much a one-trick pony when it comes to sports fandom. For me its baseball season and then hot stove.

Once I realized that most people have to share their love amongst multiple sports and franchises, it was a lot easier for me to forgive Rays fans for passing up a Saturday night game in September when the Gators were on national TV. Let's face it...football is king down here, especially college, and I don't see any amount of postseason appearances by the Rays changing that.

The truth about the Rays and their attendance is a complicated beast though. It isn't as simple as "well...they're all football fans down there" or "the stadium is awful." There are many forces at work, and honestly I don't think that anyone who doesn't live here can really understand why things are what they are in the land of the Rays.

With all the talk of contraction that has been spinning around the rumor mill the past few weeks, it's time to set the record straight about the Rays and the support they get from their fans.

The Rays were 22nd out of 30 in attendance in 2010. There were eight teams with worse attendance figures than the Rays last season, and virtually all of them were in areas where unemployment rates stand at 10.5 percent or higher. Here in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area its been even higher, closer to 12 percent. 

People need cash to go to baseball games. Times are tough everywhere, but west Florida has been hit as hard as any area in the country. Pardon our fans if they choose to pay their mortgages and utility bills rather than hitting the Trop for a game.

But attendance hardly tells the whole story. When you begin to look at our TV ratings, the attendance figures start to make a little more sense...and cast aside any claims of lack of fan support.

In 2010 the Rays had the seventh-best RSN rating, a rank that was higher than that of the mighty Evil Empire.

We also had the fifth-highest local TV ratings. What's even more impressive is that we had better ratings than any other team in the AL East.

Who knows why people don't show up in droves at the Trop. Maybe it's the stadium. Or its location. Maybe its because of the unemployment rate. Maybe people in Florida prefer to watch baseball on TV. Whatever the reason is...this much is clear: People in this area DO support the Rays. All of the attention given to our attendance issues is unwarranted and unfair.

The Rays aren't a "dead brand" either as some "insiders" have suggested, but a growing one. And not just here in Tampa but everywhere. Evan Longoria is one of the most marketable sports personalities out there. He has been in numerous national commercials, and his jersey was the 20th most purchased last season.

I can personally attest to the fact that more and more people are rockin' Rays gear than ever before. You used to never see anyone wearing a Devil Rays cap or jersey around town. Now...there every where. BRaysers anyone? 

Couple the obvious increase of merchandise with the fantastic TV ratings and tell me honestly: The Rays brand is dead?

Also let's not forget that the Rays have only been a winning franchise for three years. It takes time for momentum to build behind a team. It's started with our TV ratings, and if the economy ever turns around down here and/or we get a new stadium I'm confident it will begin to show more at the gate too.

Espousing contraction is a silly notion. Anyone who thinks that MLB will contract the Rays (or any team for that matter) is delusional. The league grossed $7 billion in 2010. It is doing well in a bad economy, and is arguably the healthiest financially of the four major sports.

The fact that it was discussed (has this even been confirmed?) smacks of a power play by the commissioner's office to perhaps jump start the stadium processes in Tampa and San Jose. They made a similar threat to the Minnesota Twins 10 years ago. Several postseason appearances and a new stadium later, the Twins are a thriving small-market franchise, one that Andrew Friedman and company have modeled their success after. 

So please, national media: Enough with bashing Rays fans. People follow this team and support them. The data supports this. It isn't nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Enough is enough.