Tampa Bays Rays Owner says “Not a Salary Dump”

Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg spoke with the media about the Scott Kazmir trade and said “I think any real fan who looked at it could clearly see that it’s not a salary dump”.
Stuart also discussed the Sept 1 game versus the Boston Red Soxs in Tampa and the low attendance numbers (17,692)  but he really had no explanation. The Rays are locked in a Wild Card Battle with the Boston Red Soxs and Texas Rangers six games out of the Wild Card.  As Boston loaded up the with Martinez and Wagner the Rays traded Kazmir which was not a ringing endorsement for the troops to charge the hill.
Rays Home Wild card Matchups Since August
Date-Visiting Team-Average Attendance
Tue, Aug 4 Boston W 4-2—29,873
Wed, Aug 5 Boston W 6-4—31,517
Fri, Aug 21 Texas W 5-3—20,639
Sat, Aug 22 Texas W 5-4—34,281
Sun, Aug 23 Texas L 4-0—29,101
Tue, Sep 1 Boston L 8-4—17,692
One explanation is your did not make any moves to improve at the July 31 trading deadline. Another explanation as to why fans are not showing up as much is because you are trading away players when your competition the Red Soxs are trading for players. A third explanation would be is that you are not making up any ground in the standings which ties back to trading away players who can help you win.
You can not ask the customer , a.k.a the fan, to put skin in the game and shell out money for tickets if you do not have skin in the game and try to win.
Mr. Sternberg goes on to say As a casual fan you want more, more, more—‘Why didn’t you get this guy? Why didn’t you sign this guy?’ We live within our means. It’s a reallocation of resources.”
Well the fans feel the same way, the fans did not fail to show up to the Red Sox Series they just reallocated resources. You can not start the Real (customer) fan and Casual (customer) fan stuff as an owner especially when you are trying to rebuild a fan base in a new baseball market.
 Tampa Bay Rays
Year-Avg Att-Payroll-Record
2009-24,067-63,313,034-71 60
2008-22,259-43,820,597-97 65
2007-17,130-24,123,500-66 96
2006-16,925-35,417,967-61 101 
2005-14,232-29,679,067-67 95
2004-16,139-29,556,667-70 91
2003-13,070-19,630,000-63 99
2002-13,157-34,380,000-55 106
2001-16,029-56,980,000-62 100
2000-17,897-64,407,910-69 92
1999-19,294-37,812,500-69 93
1998-30,941-25,317,500-63 99
Mr. Sternberg I will give you some advice on your customer base and your legacy as owner. The Rays have been bad for 10 years 1998-2007 and had a magical season in 2008. It is going to take more winning seasons to build up a loyal fan base and grow attendance. Trading a player who can help you win while in the playoff race that you want the fans to believe you can win is not a good idea. Treat your fans (customers) as partners cause you will need them to keep buying tickets.
 
 
©2009 The Fair Ball. All Rights Reserved.
.