Where is everyone?...

[madinmaryland]

Commissioner Bud Selig has an attendance problem. It's not a problem with the actual attendance, but a problem with perception people take from the snapshot of a wet, dreary April and extrapolate into doom and gloom for the sport. Far from worried, Selig offered a bold promise to SI.com: major league attendance will rise this year.

"Do I have any concerns? No. None whatsoever," he said. "We'll be up. All I can tell you is I'm bullish where we are and where we'll finish."

Selig has real ownership issues with the Dodgers and Mets and stadium problems with the A's and Rays that require his attention. But attendance is not a major worry, at least not as a flagging vital sign of the game's health or cultural importance.

"It's like a general manager once told me, 'I can never understand how people get upset about a team in April. There are five months to go. Don't draw any conclusions now,'" Selig said. "It's the same with attendance. Cleveland will be up, Kansas City will do much better . . . We lost 13 games . Look, I've been watching these things for 40 years. Overall, I know the ticket business. We're off to a beautiful start."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/05/03/bud.selig.attendance/index.html#ixzz1LKQ7eDSZ

I'm so happy that $elig is confident and has everything under control.

[trumad]

1. Bring back steroids.

[madinmaryland]

4. Is that you cboy? At least bring back those who did not knowingly use roids!

:P

[JonLP24]

2. I think he has a point

I think Cleveland and Kansas City will go up. Though I don't know anything about their fan bases but when it comes to most teams, when the team starts winning, fans start showing up. On the other hand there are fans like me that like to watch my team on TV whether their winning or losing.

[Auggie]

3. Selig is full of shit. Here's the real reason...

at least in the midwest.

Indians, Tigers, Pirates and Reds fighting population loss in the Rust Belt

Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY

CLEVELAND — Signs of desolation are everywhere. Stands are closed. Sections are abandoned. Occupants have fled.

"Can you believe this?" Mark Kissinger, 53, a Cleveland-area computer businessman and Indians fan since birth, said during Tuesday's first-place showdown game against the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field that drew 9,650 fans. "The stadium is starting to look like the city. I hate to say it, but I think we're back to the way things were in the '70s and '80s around here. Pretty depressing."

The Indians, whose rejuvenation more than a decade ago symbolized this city's economic renaissance, now are one of four teams in the Rust Belt— the USA's manufacturing heartland — with a wary eye on their shrinking populations and battered job markets.

Detroit (25%), Cleveland (17%), Cincinnati (10.4%) and Pittsburgh (8.6%) suffered the largest population declines among the 28 Major League Baseball cities in the 2010 Census. All rank in the top eight for population loss nationwide. Now, they are searching for ways to reunite with their fan base — or at least retain what remains — while enduring the nation's worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

MUCH MORE: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2011-04-28-baseball-attendance-population_N.htm

These cities are dying because jobs have gone overseas and our fucking Congress hasn't lifted a finger to stop it. Tell the truth Bud, you fucking coward.

[madinmaryland]

5. Thanks for the link, Auggie.

That is a really good point about those four teams. The population drain from the "rust belt" has really taken a toll on those teams. Plus the cost of living in those cities does not allow nearly the number of fans to attend as in NY, LA, Chi, Miami, etc.

[Auggie]

6. Even in The Bay Area...

I guess it would cost Mrs. Auggie and I $100.00 to see the Giants — at least. That's a purchase you need to compare to needs like home repair, health care and retirement savings, to name a few. For others it comes down more basics, like, you know, food and housing. Most of us are facing trying times and uncertain futures, and it really irks me when a plutocrat like Selig makes an asinine, bullshit statement that sugarcoats it.

[KamaAina]

7. Most MLB (and sports in general) ticket buyers live in the 'burbs

so those population figures, for the cities themselves, are a bit overblown.

Then again, Detroit and Pittsburgh metros have been flirting with overall population loss. :scared:

[Auggie]

8. A lot of Cleveland 'burbs were hurting when I last visited...

and that was in 2004. To be fair, I've heard from friends in Cleveland that the weather in April has been pretty lousy too.

[1gobluedem]

9. Weather is a definite factor

Tigers are playing the Yankees tonight which is usually a sellout, but it was 46 degrees at game time.