The Rays Owner Said They Don't Have To Worry About Social Distancing Because Nobody Goes To Their Games Anyway
This is a big topic leading into the 2021 MLB season. Will there be fans in the stands? We've seen it a bit in football, but what about baseball? All the teams are wondering that going into next season, and rightfully so. MLB Teams are saying they're broke now because they didn't get that revenue from the 2020 season which is a legit excuse, but the Rays are in a different situation here. Tampa Bay's owner Stuart Sternberg told the Tampa Bay Times that he was “pretty confident that come the summer we’re going to be able to have in as many fans as would like to be at our ballpark.”
When he brought up the subject of having fans in the stands for games while having socially distanced restrictions he hit us with this gem.
“Most of our games are attended by less than 10,000 people, so we could probably for the most part run a normal stadium operation.”
Hey Tampa Bay, your owner says you have no fans.
Now I know they made it to the World Series this year, and for the past few seasons they've been one of the best teams in baseball. Those are facts. But their attendance is god awful every year, and this comes from an Orioles fan. Here is where they rank in attendance out of 30. Hint, it’s not great.
2019- 29
2018- 29
2017- 30
2016- 30
2015- 30
2014- 30
I think you know where I'm going with this. But I think this is smart by the Rays owner. They know they can't sell out a 40,000 person ballpark, why not see if they can make a limit of 10-12K, spread everyone out, and make some money? I just love the awareness and candidness of the Rays owner, way to go out and boom roast your own team.