Miami Marlins need to be much more radical with attendance boosting plans

[Sean Millerick]

As you might have heard, the Miami Marlins got a bit creative with their start time recently. 

The organization made the curious choice to go with a 4:10 pm start this past Tuesday with an eye towards seeing if any kind of attendance boost could be gained from such a move. Once you get past the absurdness, the possible advantages are obvious. No rush hour. Works pretty cleanly as an after-school activity. No need to push back bedtime too much. What's not to like? 

Well, plenty, if the social media response to this is any guide. That 4:10 pm first pitch is even more of a non-starter than usual for the Broward County crowd. If you work a 9 to 5 job? Clearly not happening either, and in that case, some of the angst this experiment has seemed to cause is even understandable.  After all, thousands of South Floridians were unable to attend as a result. It would have been particularly upsetting if you were one of the precious few who regularly attend Marlins games. 

Should we now count how many potential Marlins ticket buyers work non-traditional hours, though? Add up all the teachers? Then tack on all the hospitality workers and a big chunk of first responders? Tabulate all the people able to telecommute and essentially decide when they work and when they don't?

Point being, there is no perfect start time. Nothing is going to be convenient for everyone. Over 2 million people live in Dade County alone, and there are less than 40,000 seats in loanDepot park. Which means that in a vacuum, there are plenty of ways for the ticket-buying math to math in the Marlins favor. 

Of course, as everyone reading this knows, you can't view anything the Marlins do attendance-wise in a vacuum. Merely shuffling a start time is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, putting lipstick on a pig level stuff for this franchise. Until they win consistently, and very likely spend more on payroll to do so, no dramatic turnaround at the ticket window is coming. 

However, that doesn't mean it isn't worth the Marlins time to get creative at drawing more people in. They just need to be far more aggressive at doing so than they have been so far. The same kind of aggressiveness that the club has taken with their analytics and player development should be pursued in boosting attendance. 

In 2003, the team created special D-Train inspired flex packages to give fans plenty of flexibility in when to come out to the ballpark. While the team doesn't have as equally marketable of a star right now, the idea of any kind of incentive for fans to buy multiple tickets seems worth considering. With thousands of empty seats, it's hard to see what the team would have to lose by even offering 2-for-1 seats, at least for weekday games. And speaking of weekday games, I'm not sure there's a summer camp in Miami that shouldn't be getting heavily discounted tickets to those June and July weekday afternoon starts. Not to mention sending those campers home with a voucher for a free ticket to a future game in case those campers are inclined to tell their parents how much fun they had. 

As long I'm spending Bruce Sherman's money, though, a radical idea even dearer to my heart would be bussing. The Marlins already have a trolley linked up with the Metrorail, and a bus deal set up with Brightline. Unfortunately, one of those serves a very narrow range that is already close enough to the stadium and the other involves an expensive train that is so popular it is heading for bankruptcy court. But what if the Marlins arranged for a location nearer to Broward to bus in all those fans that wring their hands at the prospect of driving much farther than they did in the past to get to a Marlins game? 

Hard Rock Stadium, perhaps? 

Not even kind of kidding, at least not for the many months the Dolphins aren't a factor. There might not be enough parking lot space for the Super Bowl's liking these days, but there's more than enough for Broward-based Marlins fans to park their cars and hop on a bus that gets them to loanDepot in time for first pitch. Same goes for Amerant Bank Arena when the Panthers aren't playing. Even if the stadium owners netted all the parking fees, the Marlins would still benefit plenty from tickets and concessions, as well as the potential for some fan goodwill from going that extra mile. 

Again, there are no silver bullets for the Marlins attendance woes beyond winning. Ideas like Tuesday's start time shuffle are a step in the right direction, but need to be part of a much more concentrated, creative effort to get people in the door. In my humble opinion, the suggestions offered here would be much more impactful. As would plenty of other ideas, I'm sure.  

Then again, I'm the kind of fan who used to cheerfully sneak out of school and endure summer rainouts in order to attend games. I presently live in Texas and have already been to three Marlins home games this season. Admittedly, I might not be the best sample size here. 

So the odd 4:10 pm start isn't something I have an issue with—this team needs to leave no stone unturned in generating interest and revenue. With attendance numbers as bad as Miami's, there are no bad ideas. Seeing as how only 7,521 people showed up for a showdown with the rival Braves, and this was only the third-best crowd on a Tuesday all season? Looks like it'll be back to the drawing board. 

Until the wins increase, tinker away, Marlins. Tinker away. 

 

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[1993 fan from start]

Miami needs to leave no stone unturned lol . Train thing is 2003 old stadium never work today .

Had this talk with couple people on Reddit. . Lot said they are not returning after Clevender and Fish Tank Gone . By my count and one it around 84 to 91 people .  and some said music an other stuff .    Am sure that does have something to do with it. 

Not helping change time like that. with tv and last minute like that.   Just wonder sometimes why Sunday time is not 12.00 or 12;10.

learn from old stadium timing. best you can do.

[Rob V]

Great points made Sean on attendance woes and how to get more fannies in the seats. I just saw 2 Marlins players yesterday doing a commercial advertising $5 tickets for school kids this summer, something that hasn't been tried here yet but a step in the right direction. I remember in years past big raucous crowds ovet 20k during weekday summer games because of all the summer camps around Dade and Broward making it a day trip for the kids. Including a coupon for a free ticket for a future game is a great idea like you suggested. You have to bring families back to the ballpark and be creative in doing it. Billy the Marlin giving out free ticket coupons for the kids at local schools would be a great idea. Those kids would give these coupons to their parents when picked up, all excited to see a future game with their family. I just took a roadtrip to St Pete with my wife because we live in SW Florida now and caught the Friday night game at the Trop. We were very impressed with the new renovations over there and the family friendly atmosphere and the beaches too lol. First off everyone working there plus the TB Fans were super friendly to us even though we were wearing our Fish hats and shirts. The atmosphere was always festive and kept that way thru-out the game with on field activities that got the crowd involved. Glowing neon lights that changed the new domes roof color and a new sound system hanging from the roof rafters that continually kept everyone awake and tuned in to the important moments of the game. Whether it was drums, horns or someone asking the crowd for noise, it kept everyone involved and off their phones. Wish the Fish gave us more to cheer about that night as TB creamed us good. Anyone else who made the trip knows what I'm getting at, you felt an improved difference from loan depot park which goes silent for too long a stretch at times. Here's  a video so you can see one of the on field stunts the Trop uses to keep fans excited and jump out of their seats, me included.