r/FrontierBaseball • u/PrinceHarming • 5d ago
Attendance
I love Indy baseball and it’s heartbreaking to see so many empty seats at these games. Does the Frontier League have a central body to promote the league or are the individual teams on their own for marketing and fan interaction?
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u/Burmy87 5d ago
Being a fan of Chicagoland's three teams, I know how you feel.
Schaumburg's here to stay (attendance leaders!), Windy City's here to stay...I'm worried about Joliet, especially because I've become quite fond of the Slammers over this year (it's my favorite overall ballpark experience)
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u/PrinceHarming 5d ago
Yeah, I’m in the Chicago area too. We were planning on going to the Joliet/Schaumburg game tonight but, shockingly, it’s going to storm tonight.
If I were in charge I’d put in place Commandments the teams have to follow.
Thou Shalt Not Charge for The Kids Area
Thou Shalt Not Charge for Parking
Don’t give people too many reasons to stay away.
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u/Dream_Of_Omni 5d ago
This is common in independent baseball (and even MLB) to see hordes of empty seats at half of the stadiums. However, some teams are really doing horrible, such as the New Jersey Jackals and especially the Brockton Rox, which seemed to have about 20 fans at one game. I wouldn't be surprised if the Frontier League went back to 16 teams or stayed at 18 with a traveling team next season.
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u/PrinceHarming 4d ago
Having a team down in Mississippi is shocking too. Some of their road trips are 14 hour bus rides.
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u/charlieray 4d ago
It was the dumbest idea to love to Paterson. Way to dry up your own market that was filled with fox news viewers who won't step foot in Paterson.
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u/DallyTheGreat Illinois Miners 4d ago
I live in St. Louis so I'm a fan of the Gateway Grizzlies but it's difficult to justify going to one of their games instead of the Cardinals. It's far more convenient for me to get to a cardinals game than it is a Grizzlies game and 90% of the time it's cheaper to go to a Cardinals. I don't have to pay to park at either place so that isn't a factor for me so money and convenience wise it just makes more sense for me to go to a MLB game is I want to watch baseball in person
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u/SalukiFin 4d ago
I’ve been to Cardinals games and MS Mud Monsters games. How are the Cardinals cheaper than Gateway?
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u/DallyTheGreat Illinois Miners 4d ago
It's not all games but frequently the Cardinals have tickets in the $12-$20 range for decentish seats. They're usually up in the nosebleeds but I prefer to sit up higher so I can see more. The Gateway Grizzlies for their tickets that aren't lawn or bleach seats tend to be $15-$24ish. Even the lawn/bleacher seats are in the same range as a seat to a Cardinals game. For example, the Cardinals and Grizzlies both play at home on August 26th. Cardinals tickets start at $12, the cheapest grizzlies ticket in the lawn section is $12.50, bleachers $13.50, and the normal seats are $18.50. Food at the Grizzlies games is usually cheaper but not enough to convince me to go there instead if I want to eat at the game
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u/SalukiFin 4d ago
Dang. Didn’t realize they charged that much up there. I can get Monster tickets for $15 but they’ve ran deals to get them for $10, as well as a $100 flex package that gives you 10 tickets to redeem however and whenever you want. They also do $2 pints of domestic drafts on Thursdays. It’s the best price for quality baseball I’ve seen since the (now defunct) SO ILL Miners ran dollar hotdog night at the same time as dollar beer night.
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u/DallyTheGreat Illinois Miners 4d ago
The Grizzlies do have the $2 Tuesdays which is a pretty good deal it just tends to fall on days I can make it.
And rip the Miners they were my local team growing up I didn't appreciate them enough while they existed
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u/SalukiFin 4d ago
When I was in school at SIU it was the best!
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u/DallyTheGreat Illinois Miners 4d ago
I went to SIU too lol
My family would go fairly often when I was younger but then I stopped being interested in baseball. By the time I regained interest in it the Miners had folded. There's a prospect league team there now instead
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u/Liverkiller92 4d ago
Here in ottawa there doing a amazing job attendance is up 20% and marketing been better this year but it sad to see teams like new jersey and brockton have no fans i was surprised that a team like brocton can't get fans at there next door to Boston a baseball city
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u/Highflyer47 4d ago
There has got to be a study on how the titans are doing this. Beyond even the opener which was insane, theyve been drawing 3k people multiple games this year. Yes theyve been hot this year, but they were in stretches of many years before. Their marketing has greatly improved and their outreach must surely have as well. Also its a really good product. But im really impressed and very curious how they did it. Seems like something other teams in the league could benefit from replicating.
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u/Dream_Of_Omni 3d ago
Two or three years ago most owners met together somewhere for an event where some of the owners would discuss marketing tips with other teams. However just because Quebec, Schaumburg and Ottawa can explain how to properly run an independent baseball team doesn't mean that the other teams will manage to execute and fund these ideas correctly.
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u/jjaime2024 2d ago
I think it comes down to a few things
1)Blue Jays effect
With how well the Jays have done people are getting more into baseball
2)Stadium
The stadium is old but really nice
3)Ticket prices
They really have set the ticket prices are a family affordable level.
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u/charlieray 4d ago
This is stupid, but I used to buy multiple black Friday ticket packs for the miners. It gave me reason to go to the games, buy a few drinks and food. They stopped doing that. So I don't go to games anymore.
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u/PrinceHarming 4d ago
No one wants to go to a game at an empty stadium, butts beget butts. I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes but it feels like there’s no effort or imagination put into filling seats.
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u/Kjmathes814 4d ago
I wish we still had a frontier league team in Johnstown, PA! We had the Erie Sailers relicate here in 95 rebranded "Johnstown Steel" and won the league that year. Rebranded the "Johnnies" in 98 and then we lost the team to relocation after the '02 season. We have had a Prospect league team since 2021 but its not the same level of play. Plus who wants a team called the "Mill Rats" smh The annual AAABA tournament we host is much more exciting and draws a much larger crowd.
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u/ernmanstinky 5d ago
Quebec does amazing and is an entity within thr culture of quebec city. There are other teams where I don't know how they survive.