[wvuauthor]

Check out this article about Pirates fans....

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06111/683960-63.stm

Good read...I think all Bucs fans can agree on this...

[Lefty Noob]

The article hit it dead on. Pirate fans have come to accept losing while hoping for a halfway decent team and counting the days until football season starts. There's no passion for the team anymore. The apathy is almost sickening, really.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

The article hit it dead on. Pirate fans have come to accept losing while hoping for a halfway decent team and counting the days until football season starts. There's no passion for the team anymore. The apathy is almost sickening, really.

Speaking of Pirate Apathy..anyone seen BBB lately?...the man hasn't posted in weeks...what gives?

[wvuauthor]

Good question, whered he go? I loved his insight!!

But you are right Lefty. Every season we hope for something different, but it never happens. Looks like this season is headed down the same road...

[Trashed]

Pirates didnt sell out the stadium when they used to be in the NLCS with Bonds, Drabek and Bonilla on the team in the early 90s. Pittsburgh is a football town unfortunately for the Pirates.

[ThePundit]

In the days of Murtagh and Clemente did they draw people? And what about the We Are Family team of Chuck Tanner, Willie Stargell, Dave Parker etc..Anybody know?

[MJHMarc]

Pittsburgh is known for their Steelers and not really the Pirates, lately. The Pirates got rid of most of their players who had the potential. Aramis Ramirez, Brian Giles, Kris Benson, and this list continues to this day. If they kept what they had, they could've won something.

I guess you could consider them in the "rebuilding process".

[legend]

You can check team attendence for each year on baseball reference.com. In 1960 their World Series winning team ranked 3rd of 8 NL teams with 1,700,000 fans thru the gates. By 1971, in a new stadium, they were 5th out of 12 NL teams with 1,500,000 paid attendence. 1979, their last WS winner, Pirates were 10th out of 12 teams in attendence with 1.435,000. Their Bonds, Leyland teams of early 1990s were in the middle of the pack, with around 2,000,000 a year. Once Bonds headed West in 1993, Pirate attendence went South, as they have been in the bottom numbers-wise ever since.
Fans have failed to come back as they have not seen a commitment to winning by the team, which probably feels they cannot compete because of low revenues. A catch 22 situation if there ever was one.
The new park initially boosted the numbers, but the rotten team playing inside it quickly turned the fans off.
Folks, I come from an industry that suffered a similar fate- the greyhound racing industry. Once casinos and lotteries and racebooks sprang up all over, only the strong survived. I worked at Plainfield Greyhound Park in Connecticut for 25 years and watched as Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun Indian casinos came to life in the early 1990s and sentenced us to a slow death. The track closed its doors in 2005 after 30 years, and racing in all of new England will be limited to Lincoln in RI soon, and only because they have slot machines. The point I am making is that in our lifetimes, cities like Pittsburgh will no longer have a Major League team.The economics will win out.

[MJHMarc]

I think they should start a baseball franchise out of Las Vegas. All the people and tourists would love to gamble in the casinos and hit the baseball games on their way home. Think of it, a casino and a baseball stadium. That is pure heaven for visitors just out of college.

The only problem is, what would be the support level from the people living there?

[Lefty Noob]

In 2001, they averaged over 30,000 fans per game. From 1990-1994 it was steadily over 20,000, then again in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002-2004. In 1984 and 1985, though, it was just under 10,000 per game. By comparison, the Reds have drawn over 20,000 per game every season since 1985, and averaged 30,000 fans per game 3 times during that span.

Complete Pirates attendance history can be found at: kenn.com > sports > baseball > mlb > pittsburgh pirates

[legend]

They had a dog track in Vegas in the early 80s. It went out of business in less than a year. There's a reason there is no pro sports in Vegas.

[ThePundit]

Originally Posted by legend

The new park initially boosted the numbers, but the rotten team playing inside it quickly turned the fans off.

I think if they started winning the people would come. When the Islanders won their cups, you couldn't get a ticket. Then when they got bad, you couldn't give away a ticket. There attendance went up again when they made the playoffs a couple of years ago. There are too many other entertainment options for people. They're not going to pay good money to watch losing teams.

[legend]

The problem is-how are they going to win? They cannot sign big name free agents because of money problems, so they need to use kids. And if they develop a good player, that guy will more than likely bolt for big bucks as soon as he is eligible to.

[EmpireWF]

My problem with that argyment legend is other teams do well with little money and their development systems are outstanding and they keep their players for as long as possible.

Pittsburgh has trouble in all facets except for that stadium. Some people say ownership doesn't put money into the team while he argues there is no money.

[Lefty Noob]

Well, they did spend some dough this year - they just spent it on guys like Jeromy Burnitz