Thursday, April 20, 2006

Howlers

Checked out the Seawolves again last night. Beautiful night. Maybe 65 degrees at gametime (6:35 p.m.) Seawolves had won two in a row. And you know how many people showed up? Less than 1,500. What gives? I know the 'Wolves have set a goal of like 4,000 fans per game and are working/have done some stadium improvements. But to draw a sparse crowd (and I probably should have counted because it certainly didn't look like 1,500) like that on a night like that makes me question the team's future here.

Maybe things will pick up as the summer/tourist season approaches. We can only hope because the Seawolves played some good ball last night in picking up a 3-2 win. Had a couple nice homers, some strong pitching, and took advantage of a mistake by the opposing team to put up the winning run. But I felt bad for the players, playing in front of all those empty seats.

Through seven games, it appears the 'Wolves are averaging 2,225 per home game. Recent history says we can expect to average around 3,500 for the year, but this also includes popular 'buck nights and other free ticket giveway specials. Plus, maybe if this year's team can actually post a winning record, it will also help draw people to the park.

It will be interesting to watch this situation. Part of the problem may be the novelty has warn off, but it really feels in a lot of ways that the Seawolves buzz has warn off. Finally, last night, in the bottom of the ninth with two outs (and to some extent in the eighth, when we scored the winning run), there was a little life in the stadium. But aside from that, it was very quiet and subdued. Not a lot of the howlin' and cheering that used to go on in years past. Maybe all it will take is a winner. We'll have to see....

Ralph

4 comments:

Dr. Downing said...

Ralph,

How much does it cost, overall, to attend a game like that?

I guess it would include parking, tickets, drinks, snacks, souvenirs(?).

And, is it more of a family affair or is it a drinking (and possibly smoking) affair for adults?

Just wondering...

Doc

Ralph said...

Unbelievably, through some sort of Giant Eagle deal, we got seven reserved seat ($6) tickets for $10. (Don't even know how that happened, as our neighbor, who also used a Giant Eagle card paid like $16 for four tix.) Probably dropped less than $20 on food as well, as it was a bit too cold to drink too many beers. So, it was a pretty cheap night. At full price, I guess I'm looking at dropping about $40 bucks for a night out at the Wolves for 2-3 people.

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps MTR could make some kind of side deal and put some slots there.

I hear that slots really packs 'em in.

Dr. Downing said...

Okay...that's not too bad. But I really think that people in Erie are so in tune with the seasons that they really don't start "waking up" until mid-May or June.

In mid-April, they're just starting to get outside to clean up the yard.

Going to a baseball game is simply not part of the typical thought process. Not until the weather really gets nice.

I, too, think the season should be shorter, but I think that's true for just about all sports.

Doc