Miami Marlins Need to Keep Accelerating

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A beautiful new ballpark. Better location. New uniforms. “Miami” instead of “Florida.” Bigger budget. The Miami Marlins have created a perfect storm of excitement that should earn the team fan support it hasn’t consistently in the past. Teams don’t get a mix of these things very often, and it is up to Marlins management to take advantage of the opportunity, and build for the future.

Once the novelty of the stadium and uniform wears off, there will likely be a decline in attendance and interest down the road. Plan wisely, and the Marlins can minimize that decline, and keep fans excited about coming to the ballpark, loving the product on the field, and just having fun rooting for the team. Having a consistent winner doesn’t hurt either. The Marlins have only once had three consecutive winning seasons, and two of those were just a shade over .500. The Fish can do better.

The budget boost this past off-season definitely sent a good message. Though we can’t expect a Jose Reyes signing and an Albert Pujols chase every December, the Marlins can show fans determination by avoiding any signs of the fire sales of the past. Doesn’t mean you can’t trade away bulky contracts – just refrain from engaging in salary dumping. Though the Marlins excel at reaping maximum talent from such trades, fans don’t want to see more of the same.

Twitter and Facebook have become great new tools for teams (and players) to interact with fans, and increase interest. Use them, and use them a lot. Tweet, Like, and promote, promote, promote. Coasting, like some of the recent comments from Marlins president might suggest, will eventually bleed fans and interest. Surely, Logan Morrison can offer the team some tweeting tips. You can bet Miami manager Ozzie Guillen will do his part. The animated former White Sox skipper will definitely make fans, and the national sports outlets pay attention when he gets on a rant and roll.

It is not enough to go Field Of Dreams here. “If you build it, they will come” could finish with “…but only for a year or two” if Miami doesn’t continue to keep the franchise accelerating into the future. A new lease will keep the team in Miami for the foreseeable future, but I don’t want to see the Marlins on television with 3,000 fans in the stands in 2016.

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