Are you f*^%ing kidding me - Jacksonville Suns change name to Jumbo Shrimp

[BridgeTroll]

Makes my blood... boil... 

[KenFSU]

Cool front-page story on ESPN right now about the Jumbo Shrimp outdrawing the Miami Marlins.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23134000/miami-marlins-outdrawn-double-affiliate-jacksonville-jumbo-shrimp-wednesday-games

[Lostwave]

Cool front-page story on ESPN right now about the Jumbo Shrimp outdrawing the Miami Marlins.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23134000/miami-marlins-outdrawn-double-affiliate-jacksonville-jumbo-shrimp-wednesday-games

That is hilarious. 

[thelakelander]

There's really no reason to go see the Marlins right now. MLB has screwed the fans over and over again. The team they're fielding this year might as well be the Jumbo Shrimp. I expect attendance to continue dropping.

[Tacachale]

Cool front-page story on ESPN right now about the Jumbo Shrimp outdrawing the Miami Marlins.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23134000/miami-marlins-outdrawn-double-affiliate-jacksonville-jumbo-shrimp-wednesday-games

Wow, that's not even an over-the-top Shrimps crowd.

[JBTripper]

I'm chairing the committee to move the Marlins to Jacksonville. It'll take me a little while to make that happen, but that's fine because we don't actually want them right this second.

[remc86007]

I wonder what sort of attendance is needed for a MLB team to be sustainable? I think if the Shrimp were and MLB team they would see at least a 25% bump in attendance average.

[Steve]

I wonder what sort of attendance is needed for a MLB team to be sustainable? I think if the Shrimp were and MLB team they would see at least a 25% bump in attendance average.

My guess is that you'd see a higher bump than that if the Shrimp were MLB.....but realistically we're probably a quarter (at minimum) of what it takes to sustain a MLB franchise. Remember, the 6,900 number was for their home opener on a beautiful Wednesday night. Realistically, a MLB team should draw at least 35k for their home opener (Which the Miami Marlins game was not)

Here's a reference: http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2017

Don't use 2018 because the season is too young (plus some of the played game have been below 40 degrees....not exactly going to fill the park).

You really need to average 25k a game to make it work. Now, that's an average....you might get away with some 15-20k games on Tuesday evenings, but you have to then make up with it by having some 30-40k games on the weekends. Anything below that is really not long term sustainable.

Miami has two things going against them:

- Miami's new owner (Derek Jeter) gutted the team (think Hunter Harrison at CSX-style). The team wasn't even close to profitable. It was an interesting strategy because though he dumped payroll and will save expenses, no one wants to see this awful team.
- Miami previously reported tickets distributed. They now report tickets sold. This will inherently make attendance look lower. Many of the 20k a game the got last year were either free tickets or people that came dressed as Empty Seats.

[JaxJersey-licious]

I wonder what sort of attendance is needed for a MLB team to be sustainable? I think if the Shrimp were and MLB team they would see at least a 25% bump in attendance average.

Even if they averaged 25 thou a night, had healthy season ticket sales, and sold out pricey PSLs in a renovated Baseball
Grounds the city entirely paid for it would be nearly impossible to have a MLB team in Jax (at least a compettitive one) without one of the current Florida MLB teams folding or moving.

That's because they need to have the backing of one of the regional sports cable networks. The problem is what bargaining power to get a sweetheart deal on Fox Sports Florida or Sun Sports would be harmed by the fact that airing a new Jacksonville team's games would take away from money and viewership of the team that channel is already airing in North Florida. And since both networks are owned by the same company forget any possibility of a meaningful bidding war between them to get the rights to your new team. And then theirs the rise of cord-cutters cutting into your potential revenues.

And what's not going down, the cost of star free agents. Bryce Harper will possibly be getting upwards of $400 million dollars next season and no amount of ticket and merch sales or even a year round entertainment district owned by the team which they city would have to pony up much of the money for could cover costs like that and field a competitive pro team.

Double A baseball will be fine. It's been here for over 50 years now.

[KenFSU]

Statistically, Jacksonville already overachieves as a city with one major professional sports franchise.

We'd need roughly two million more citizens, plus a ~40% boost in median household income, to sustainably add an NBA, NHL, or MLB team.

[TimmyB]

Statistically, Jacksonville already overachieves as a city with one major professional sports franchise.

We'd need roughly two million more citizens, plus a ~40% boost in median household income, to sustainably add an NBA, NHL, or MLB team.

Not to mention, it's an awful lot easier to fill 75,000 seats eight times a year than it is to fill 30,000 seats 81 times a year.

[thelakelander]

5,300 in attendance at last night's Marlins game....

[KenFSU]

^Marlins to London, confirmed.

[Adam White]

^Marlins to London, confirmed.

LOL. Britons don't care for baseball. They think it's a women's game.

[TimmyB]

^Marlins to London, confirmed.

LOL. Britons don't care for baseball. They think it's a women's game.

Yes, they much prefer manly sport, like bus-stoning and the like!