Why do the Miami Marlins consistently finish last in attendance? In the National League that is (luckily there is worse attendance for certain American League neighbors and other teams ). Have you ever wondered that? Is it tied to Bruce Sherman needing to spend more money to win a World Series? What is the reason behind this bizarre situation? I mean shouldn’t a team in a big market in Miami have better attendance? Especially when the team is so close to Downtown?
The Miami Marlins don’t have very good attendance to day the least.
The Miami Marlins don’t have very good attendance because we are not winning that much. This is despite The Fish being historically better than most of the Major League teams at winning the World Series since we began play. The obvious answer is of course that we haven’t won a World Series since 2003, despite our interesting record of success in comparison to other teams.
Bad ownership is almost certainly a big factor in this issue. Jeffrey Loria in particular almost completely ruined the team. He refused to spend on the team and lied about trying to build a winner until no one believed him or his word. This lack of trust in ownership plays a pretty big factor in why The Fish don’t have such good attendance. Of course we have new ownership, but there are questions about Bruce Sherman’s commitment to winning as well.
Anothrr reason for bad attendance is the lack of loyalty. The fact is that if you’re over the age of 29 you’ve been alive when the Miami Marlins didn’t even exist. Anyone who moved to Miami to retire or for jobs from elsewhere, likely has previous teams that they are loyal to and that they grew up with. This explains why teams even with worse histories have stronger fanbases. They have family traditions of following their favorite teams.
The Miami Marlins need to start winning and to build back trust from the fans. This means actually trying to win and not lying to the fanbase. Bruce Sherman can make the difference, but will he?