Sussex Skyhawks - Is there a future???

[EHL Historian]

Attendance at mid week games has been very poor!!!
My count at two recent games was 175 and 280.

Herm Sorcher long time number two man for both the Skyhawks and formerly with the Cardinals has left the organization. Also departing this season was the well thought of Seth Battan.

What actions are being taken to overcome attendance problems and will this team survive for another year???

[OttawaBallFan]

> My count at two recent games was 175 and 280

I see no such attendance figures for Sussex. I assume you mean you actually counted people. As with every other pro baseball team, the official attendance includes all tickets sold, whether people show up or not.

I'm looking at the Skyhawks attendance figures this year and find something really strange. You guys have best attendance on Fridays, twice over 4000 on that day of week and looks about 1400 on Saturdays and Sundays. What's so special about Fridays in Sussex?

[skipster]

What's special about Friday's is that everyone just got paid, and living 10 minutes from the ballpark I can tell you there isn't much else to do in Sussex County. Went to the game last Friday, and the announced attendance was obviously tickets sold/given away, not people in the seats, which is the norm for most sports leagues.

[OttawaBallFan]

So why are they NOT showing up for the weekend games?

Here in Ottawa, some say that our attendance should be much higher since we have a metro population of about 1 million living within about 20 minutes drive from the stadium. But there is a lot more to do here, about 30 festivals, other sports, museums and what not. Next year, there will be 2 new water parks.

I hate to see sports teams move so I hope Sussex will be able to keep its team.

[preeths]

The above posts state fans ARE showing up for the weekend games. Midweek games are a fairly tough sell anywhere. People have to get up for work the next day. Weekend attendance will always be much higher.

[moxie]

So why are they NOT showing up for the weekend games?

Here in Ottawa, some say that our attendance should be much higher since we have a metro population of about 1 million living within about 20 minutes drive from the stadium. But there is a lot more to do here, about 30 festivals, other sports, museums and what not. Next year, there will be 2 new water parks.

I hate to see sports teams move so I hope Sussex will be able to keep its team.

Our attendance should definitely be higher... What other sports are going on in the summer in Ottawa? The Renegades are gone... What is the other sports ticket in town? I don't think there are any, and I don't think people are sitting at home deciding, "Hmm, I wonder where I'll go, to the Museum, or to the Baseball game." The only time we have had relatively decent crowds were on opening night (About 4,500 if I remember correctly) and on $2 beer night. (Just over 3,000) I agree that there are in fact other activities in the city that people are taking part in, but those things are mostly for tourists. There is no reason why a city of over a million people shouldn't bring in a good sized crowd to a baseball game. There are 11,000 seats in our stadium, I don't see why they can't be filled.

I think our record over the first half of the season is the biggest reason why we don't draw so well. If the team starts winning I wouldn't be surprised to see 8 to 10-thousand people show up. We held attendance records for AAA with the Lynx, so there are plenty of baseball fans. The weather has been pretty shady this month, but I am hoping that if we can get on a roll more fans will come out to the Ballpark in Ottawa.

More coverage in the local media would also help... For instance, in the Sun, they barely have a blurb about the Rapidz unless something big happens, like our 5 Home-Run night the other night.

[OttawaBallFan]

The festivals attract some tourists but they are not all for them.

The Hope Volleyball tournament didn't help last weekend (how many tourists attend that?) and neither did the Jazz festival. Do many tourists attend the Lebanese festival?

FYI, Opening Day attendance: 4246. June 29: 4390 (high so far, 9th in league, AC and Brockton splitting the top eight). June 26: 4128.

> There are 11,000 seats in our stadium, I don't see why they can't be filled.

We are having the same argument over at the Rapidz blog. There are many reasons but a major one, in my opinion and those of others, is that as stated, the Rapidz are competing against a lot of other events for the entertainment dollar. See other thread about Sussex attendance: it's the only game in town.

I disagree with you that if they start winning, we'll see 8-10k regularly. It would be nice, but that kind of crowd will happen once a season. The attendance record with the Lynx happened 15 years ago. It was the "in thing" to be at the stadium that year because we never had a baseball-only stadium and a team before. If it was simply a question of population, the Lynx would still be here.

There are baseball fans in the city, what you have to do is convince others to become so.

[moxie]

When we set the attendance records the team was winning. Nearing the end they were a bottom feeder team, and fans in this city will not hold interest if the team is losing. Even the Senators would struggle if they had a losing record. All teams in this city have a small core of dedicated fans, and the rest are pretty much bangwagon jumpers. It's a tough thing to admit, but it's what happens when your city's professional sports franchises have only been around for a relatively short period of time.

I think there are a couple major issues at Rapidz stadium but the biggest one is parking. There are not nearly enough parking spaces for that building. The congestion of opening night probably turned A LOT of fans off to the idea of supporting the team on a regular basis. On opening night it took me 45 minutes to get a hot dog at the concessions and the building was at like 30% of capacity.

I still do not think that any of the other "events" in the city are a reason why the fans don't come out. None of the events other than the Volleyball game (which was a ONE day event in the summer) are really of any significance. People don't come out because there is nowhere to park, the concession staff for the first three weeks were HORRIBLE and slow, the team is losing, and we have been cursed with pretty bad weather this summer. The key is having events that actually bring people out to the ballpark. I might get some flack for this here but if they had a fireworks display that would be a big time draw for families to come out that first time, and many of them would get hooked and keep coming back.

[moxie]

Wow I just realized that we kind of de-railed the Sussex content of this thread... Sorry about that.

[jackalsfan]

I'm pretty sure that the Skyhawks will be there in 2009. The stadium lease forces them to stay there for at least 4 years, from what I remember. Fireworks, camp days, and giveaways always attract fans.
But 2010 is a different answer.

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