[shaunbaus]

There are many reasons for a lack of attendence at Rays games. I don't think its fair to bash the fans that do show up and support the team, the ones that do are very good loyal fans. For example, the fans that showed up last night were pretty good, they were chearing loudly. St. Pete is nowhere near as big a city as Tampa so I imagine that is part of the problem. Unfortunately they also stuck a team where the Yankees and Phillies (2 huge fan bases) hold spring training and have deep roots in the area as well as other spring trainging teams in general. Having an actual team in Florida was probably a bad idea but myself and the other fans that do care about them certainly are very grateful. Most people are transplants that moved here from somewhere up north as well so they follow there teams and this is true with any sports team here really. I suppose there is also the economy. Weekend games get far better attendance then games during the week. Some people have to put food on the table... Its probably cheaper to just watch the game on TV as well. I'm sure there are similar issues with every team that has fans that just watch the game on tv and such. There is also the fact that for like the first 10 years the team was absolutely terrible so certainly no one bothered to give up on there original teams. The Rays are currently building a strong culture with winning and playing very well, it certainily has to be building the fan base and turning some fans here n there. Certainly if they can keep it up the fan base will grow and even more so if they can win a championship. Certainly we dont have the culture of the Yankees or Phillies but then again, those teams have been around for like a century...

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Some say Florida is heavens waiting room... Guess we gotta wait til all these Yanks, Sox and Phillies fans move on and make way for the upcoming generation of future Rays fans! lol...