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Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand?

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Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#1 » by LittleOzzy » Wed May 13, 2009 9:15 pm

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Another 43,000-plus fans in the stands?

Anything's possible with the Blue Jays these days as they prepare for game two of their three-game set against the New York Yankees tonight at the Rogers Center.

A feverish, loud, and very pro-Jays crowd roared Toronto to a 5-1 win Tuesday night, and that was as much a story as the game itself.

With Roy Halladay outduelling ex-Jay A.J. Burnett on the mound, fans simply ate up the tickets to the contest, one of the most significant and important games the Jays have played in May in recent memory.

Halladay and Burnett had already started their duel, but fans were still lined up at ticket windows four innings in. That walk-up crowd pushed the attendance figure well past the pre-game projections of 30,000-35,000, based on advance ticket sales and the hope for a decent walk up.

Tonight should see numbers back into the 30,000's, but no one can be sure. The good weather outside, plus a first place team inside, made for a winning formula at the turnstiles Tuesday.


http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/article/633669
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#2 » by evilRyu » Thu May 14, 2009 3:06 am

i don't know what the attendance was tonight, but from TV, it appears that it was a huge drop-off from last night.. it's starting to bug me now, the Jays entered the game as the best team in the Majors..

I'll still give it time.. it took some time before the Rays started filling up a lot of those empty seats last year as well IIRC
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#3 » by Brinbe » Thu May 14, 2009 5:13 am

Yeah, a real drop-off tonight... but I'm willing to give the city some time. But if we're still in a position to compete in August/September, I certainly hope we have a nice audience on a consistent basis.
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#4 » by Mustard_Tiger » Thu May 14, 2009 7:16 am

Even if they are in contention (and we are a long way from saying they will be), the Jays won't be getting good crowds until August.
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#5 » by J-Roc » Thu May 14, 2009 12:05 pm

I know I myself have gotten so used to NOT going to games. Got my HDTV setup, I can fastforward commercials, watch my own replays, etc.

It's a chicken and egg thing. I'd want to go if I knew the place would be jumping. When it's dead, and if a game might go 3+ hrs, it's much easier to stay home.
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#6 » by s e n s i » Thu May 14, 2009 4:27 pm

Mustard_Tiger wrote:Even if they are in contention (and we are a long way from saying they will be), the Jays won't be getting good crowds until August.


If they are still in it next month I can see weekend attendance figures picking up, and then slowly carrying over to weeknight games into July.

It depends on what you classify as a good crowd. 30K is pretty dece.
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#7 » by bassmastert » Sat May 16, 2009 7:51 am

The '94 strike really hurt the attendance around the league, especially the Jays. They are just starting to become relevant in baseball again, so it will take a while before the seats fill up more regularly.

However with the recent state of the economy, I'm not surprised at all by the attendance. I know for sure I would be going to a few games this year if I could...
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#8 » by chargerxthirty » Sat May 16, 2009 4:44 pm

Well.... the thing we have to keep in mind here is that when we even draw a measley 20K, thats still a larger draw than any pro sports team in Toronto is drawing.

I want to see the stadium filled too, but I'm pretty certain that at the end of this month, if we're still leading the AL East we will start to draw 30K+ consistently.
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#9 » by J-Roc » Sat May 16, 2009 5:17 pm

Baseball itself is an odd sport to understand attendance wise. It's one of the more boring games to watch, yet they want to pack in a house double the size of a hockey/basketball arena, and do it twice as many games in a season. Really the only advantage baseball teams have is a lack of daily competition all summer. Basketball, hockey and even football all have to compete with each other.
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#10 » by Huskies1947 » Sat May 16, 2009 10:10 pm

If the team is competitive in the middle of June, still in first place, attendance will pick up. I still think this team needs a new ballpark with open air. They need to start opening the roof for jays games, the weather is not even bad anymore... unless it's raining ofcourse.
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Re: Love affair with Blue Jays or just a one-night stand? 

Post#11 » by evilRyu » Sat May 16, 2009 10:34 pm

Huskies1947 wrote:If the team is competitive in the middle of June, still in first place, attendance will pick up. I still think this team needs a new ballpark with open air. They need to start opening the roof for jays games, the weather is not even bad anymore... unless it's raining ofcourse.

agreed about the stadium... there is a recent thread (viewtopic.php?f=123&t=904851) discussing the situation about a stadium, and it doesn't look like one is coming in the near future :(

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