Miami and The Marlins Have A Thing Going On

Thanks to low attendance, I can be as far away from this guy as possible

The Florida Marlins have been playing their home games in a football stadium since they joined MLB in 1993.  Yeah, I don’t see what the big deal is either, but let’s just hear them out.  Miami-Dade county has finalized a deal to build a new 37-thousand seat baseball only facility for the Marlins, which should be finished before the 2011 season.  There’s been no official announcement made on the name of the ballpark, but an insider has leaked the early favorite: ‘Half-Capacity Field at No Sell-Outs Stadium brought to you by Floridian Indifference’.  I think it has a nice ring to it. 

Dolphin Stadium now seats about 38-thousand people for baseball and the Marlins averaged a near capacity crowd their first year in existence, but since then attendance has dropped off faster than Meg Ryan’s looks.  They haven’t averaged more than 23k per game since 1997, which was the year they won their first World Series title.  They won it all again in 2003, but don’t expect anyone in the area to know that since attendance was a mere 16k per game.  That was good for the second worst average turnout in the NL. 

In case you were wondering, 2003’s NL featured such abysmal teams as Montreal, Colorado, Cincinnati and Milwaukee. 

To be fair, the stadium sounds like a top-notch facility for the price.  Incidentally, that price tag is $625-million right now and will no doubt balloon before the project is finished.  But can you think of a better way to spend over half-a-billion dollars?  I thought I could, but it turns out Jurassic Park was highly fictional. 

The park will feature a retractable roof, which is a must have in a Miami climate known for it’s terrible weather.  Now, the Marlins can play through hurricanes.  If you think about it, it might be a good way to artificially inflate attendance numbers.  Those refugees have to go somewhere. 

The new stadium will also feature the most leg-room, elbow room and head-room in all of baseball.  No one has actually reported this, but I’m assuming.  That’s one of the perks of going to watch a team that no one cares about.  You don’t have to sit next to anyone and you can be in the first row by the 2nd inning, rooting for whoever is playing the Marlins.

Tags: baseball, Florida Marlins, MLB

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