Where you there when....?

The biggest sports city in the US, if not the world, can't seem to sell out stadiums. I say biggest solely based on amount of teams. New York has the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, and if you want to include the Jersey teams, the Nets and Devils. That is a minimum of two teams in each major sport in the NYC Metropolitan area. There are clearly enough fans in the Yankee Universe, and most Yankee fans are Giants' fans, just as most Mets' fans are Jets' fans, so why is it that Yankee Stadium always has empty seats, and the Giants could not sell out their home opener in their new stadium? The Jets are hyped to win the Super Bowl this year, so why could they not sell out their Monday night-home opener?

Money.

Dirty, sexy, money. The Yankees charge an insane amount of money for their "luxury" seats. The Giants and Jets still need to sell PSLs, "personal seat licenses," in their brand new stadium. Such a ridiculous concept. I can't comprehend that everyone did not boycott purchasing their season tickets until the teams decided to drop PSLs. We are living in a recession and teams seem confused why seats remain empty. The true fans are being alienated because the true fans are the Bleacher Creatures. For the most part, the Creatures sit in the Bleachers because they can't afford to pay thousands of dollars to attend games.

While the NY teams struggle to sell out games, they still see most of their stadiums crowded with fans. Teams like Tampa Bay Rays though are a team that really frustrate me. Tampa is lucky to have 20,000 fans in attendance for games not against NY. (They're currently averaging 22,739 fans per game, and the stadium's capacity is 36,973. They are missing out on over one million fans this season.) Tampa is fighting for the best record in baseball and their ticket prices are like the Dollar Menu to the Yankees' steakhouse. So why isn't Tampa selling out games?

Tampa's issue appears to be fairweather fans. Tampa is a football town, even though the Buccaneers did not come close to selling out their opener either. (That was probably due to having Josh Freeman at QB.) The Rays, after a decade of futility could not build a solid fan base, aside from Dick Vitale. No one cared when they were bad, and now, as they take the lead in the AL East, fans only care a little. I was rooting for Tampa in the 2008 World Series, but now that city does not deserve it. The Rays should be moved out of Tampa since that city has proven that they do not support baseball.

All around the league attendance is down, even for good teams. Last year, all of the playoff teams were in the top half of the league in attendance, six were even in the top ten. This year, of the teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today, only three are in the top half, all three being in the the top ten; Philadelphia, NY Yanks, and the Twins, who hopped 12 spots in Target Field's inaugural season.

In the NFL, teams claimed to have sellouts this weekend but were not playing to capacity crowds. The Jets and Giants games were "sold out," but still had seats available. Teams should be going into every season expecting to win the Super Bowl, so their fans should as well. Given that hope, week 1 should be played in front of maximum capacity.

The biggest cause of attendance drop, besides high costs, is HDTV Sports Packages. Fans sitting at home get a better experience than fans going to the stadium. Replays, angles, crisp, clear picture, announcing; all of that gives the TV viewer better knowledge of what happens during the game. Going to the stadium gives you the opportunity to say "I was there when..." I love going to games, but with DVR, YES bonus cam, HD, why spend $20 for a baseball ticket, $15 for train/Subway, and an infinite amount on food/drinks?

Well, to say "I was there when...a perfect game was thrown," would be priceless.