Just a thought I had that I don't think has been brought up much, if at all. As we all know, the Marlins are moving to the new ballpark in Little Havana next season(and their almost certainly legit hideous new cap logo was leaked earlier today... google it... ). Anyhow, this could be a real coup for the Strikers. Think about it, the only summertime competition for the local sports fans dollar is moving another 30 minutes south to downtown, and for icing on the cake they are totally disrespecting their history with the name and color change. That means for sports fans in Broward/Southern PBC, the Strikers can position themselves as a much closer, much cheaper entertainment alternative. The Marlins will surely lose some of the fanbase up here, so it stands to reason that the Strikers could pick up some of those fans. Thoughts anyone?
Great idea in theory...when you say the Strikers have to position themselves as a better entertainment value, that assumes they will do some active marketing...for all the strides we've made this year with the rebrand, I still have serious doubts that Traffic will put up the money to get the word out (TV, radio, paper spots) that we are here and we are, indeed, the best summer entertainment value out there--especially in Broward and points north. We couldn't even get "I'm a Striker Liker" bumperstickers made this year. How hard would that have been? I've pleaded with team officials to make them available for sale. Imagine 2,000 cars blanketing the tricounty area with this classic, catchy message. But nooooo.....!!!
Maybe you are right. This could help the Strikers. That is until the Marlins ever get an owner that is dedicated to winning instead of "making money", then it might not. In reality I don't see it affecting the Strikers either way. I'll remain a Marlin fan and a Striker fan. I don't go to Marlin games because of the $$$ involved and I was not fond of baseball in a football stadium. However, I do intend to spring a few bucks loose next year to see the wonder in Little Havana, which is a few miles from downtown, BTW,......and watch baseball being played in a venue built for it. This is to say, I don't see any conflict. If you are a true SoFla fan you'll go to both as the spirit and finances move you. But the price of season tickets at Lockhart will get me to go there more often than to Marlins Stadium. Free parking there, too... As for the Striker Liker bumper sticker....is the online Striker store open again? I've not seen it available on their website for a couple of months. Is it available now? Maybe they'll reopen eventually with a whole bunch of nice stuff for us. Bumper stickers, jerseys, t-shirts, scarfs, hats & all of the neat stuff that we buy. Hopefully. Until then, as the popup on the Striker site says....go to their playoff game. Of the 2 teams they are the only one that got that far. Get up.....get out....get LOUD! GO STRIKERS!!!
I'm not saying people will stop being Marlins fans, but they should be easier to attract to Lockhart then to Little Havana if they live in Broward or Southern PBC. I've attended MANY more Marlins and Panthers games over the years than Heat games. I still love to go to the AAA one or twice a year(even made game one of the Finals this summer), but it's the most expensive ticket and it's a hassle to get down there most of the time. The Marlins and Panthers, and MFC/Strikers, have both been closer and cheaper so I frequent their games more ofter.
I'm completely with DR on this one. Actually, I think a lot of Broward and Palm Beach fans have already abandoned the Marlins, ones that were fans in the first place. I think there already is a fairly large casual sports fan base in place up here, I just think it's going to take spending some money to try and tap into it with proper marketing. We all loved the rebrand, well except a few snobby 305ers like Lucho. LOL But outside of the one billboard on 95, and a couple of pre-season ads on the Sun-Sentinel.com online sports section, what actual advertising have they done for the team this year? The pre-season appearances at the Ft. Lauderdale Centennial events were great, I don't discount them at all. I think it helped make those first few home games where out average was over 5,000. But then there was nothing. If we had won all those early games, things might have been better afterwards, but we didn't, so no additional marketing helped cause the big dropoff. Most casual sports fans I know wouldn't go anywhere near downtown Miami for baseball, with a possible exception being to see their actual favorite team play, because most of the South Floridians I know could care less about the Marlins. I'll never, ever understand how they were able to swindle Dade into building them that stadium. Anyway, marketing the Strikers as an affordable sports entertainment product in the summer should be well worth the money spent to do it. That's how you get people hooked and wanting to come back, or become season ticket holders, which is the of course the #1 way to grow your fanbase.
I was a rarity, someone who was willing to go down to the new ballpark on a regular basis for the Fish. But that was before they set on a path to totally disrespect the fans and history of the team, and mangle my team beyond recognition. I agree there needs to be more evenly distributed marketing. The stuff before the season this year was great, but you gotta keep it up. The Sentinel has upped it's coverage over years past, but they need to step up a bit further and treat the Strikers like a real team. They need to give them their own tab and section in the sports section, not lump them in with the generic "Soccer" section and the "More Sports" list. Gotta get Dave Brousseau his own little Strikers slot on the side where Ira Winderman and co. are for the other 4 teams, as well as FAU, UM and outdoor sports. If they can put hunting and fishing on the front page of the sports site, they can put the Strikers there too.
The Marlins downtown? You 2 seem to be as ignorant of Miami as the 305ers are of the rest of South Florida. Miami's Little Havana ain't downtown. Maybe that's why you won't support teams there anymore? Could it be that the fragmentation of the area applies not only to provincial 305ers, but to the worldy kind and gentle folks to the north of Aventura & Carol City, too? A little tit-for-tat my friends. Don't expect people in Dade to head north to do what you won't head south to do. If a 40 or 50 mile drive south is out of your comfort zone in a town you don't identify with don't expect someone in South Dade to do the same to go to Lockhart in a town they don't identify with.
I never said I would not go to games in Miami, nor that I don't identify with the city. I go to Heat games a few times a year and made a bunch of MFC games at Tropical Park and FIU. Despite never living in Dade I truly consider it a part of my hometown. Also I never said Little Havana was downtown. It is however practically driving to downtown, and the traffic you deal with on 95 between the Golden Glades and the 836 is the some of, if not the worst in South Florida. It's easier to get to the old MFC venues honestly, at least from where I am. And I don't blame Dade county folks for not coming to Strikers games all the time, my issue is with those who flat out refuse to support the team in any way simply because they are not "Miami's" team. That's asinine. <begin rant> But the drive is not my beef with the Fish. My issue lies with them(i.e. Loria) blatantly disregarding the history of the club and it's fans, all based on his personal preferences. Have you seen this? It has been confirmed by a few sources including ESPN Uni-Watch that this is the new cap logo for 2012(sans the "Marlins" type, that's generic as this is apparently a t-shirt design they're doing for every team): Would I have liked them to keep the name "Florida Marlins" instead of going with "Miami"? Absolutely 110%. Not because I'm opposed to Miami, but because it's the name I grew up with, and IMO the history associated with the Florida name(2 WS titles) vastly outweighs the spotty, unremarkable history of the old minor league Miami Marlins teams(of which I own a sweet 1957 Satchel Paige jersey). But I accepted the switch to "Miami" as a necessary part of the deal to keep the team in South Florida. But in addition to changing names, Loria has been on a mission since 2003 to remove any remnants of the Florida Marlins from the identity of the team. And what we end up with is this OKC Thunder-Dolphin Stadium mash-up joke of a rebrand. In essence, they are doing exactly the opposite of what the Strikers did this past offseason. Rather than embracing local history, Loria is throwing it away, quite literally placing his ugly stamp on baseball in South Florida. As if his years of penny pinching and overall piss poor management haven't made the club into a joke, now we'll look like one too. For the record, if branding our soccer team as "Miami" had positive tradition and common sense behind it, then I'd be down for that 110%. But as we all know that's not the case though. </rant> Anyhow, as you can see I'm always down for a good Marlins rant lol, back on the original topic, this does I think open the door for the Strikers to make a move on capturing some of the disgruntled Marlins fan crowd north of the 305.
The problem is you can get a reserved seat at a Marlins game ($12 outfield seats) for cheaper than at a Strikers game this year. Granted, I'd guess that changes to at least be even next season, and parking is the big difference maker, but to anyone going on ticketmaster...they don't know the difference. When I first went to a Miami FC game at Tropical Park and then at Lockhart, I was surprised by the prices, knowing what the Marlins charge. Unfortunately, I'd venture to guess the majority of sports fans down here would rather have a bad (if they even perceive it as bad, which I don't) seat for Major League Baseball than a good seat for minor league soccer...even between fans of both sports. The Strikers need to do a better job of marketing the all-round affordability in general.
First, I'm still holding out hope that that logo is a feeler and the front office has something else in the works. I'm not overly optimistic. Second, as you alluded to, the Marlins didn't have a choice in changing the team name to Miami Marlins...it was the only way they were getting a stadium built. Considering that, I can cope with losing the team name I've been cheering for 19 seasons now. There's no point in complaining about that. Third, it was obvious blue was going to be a major part of the new color scheme based on the seats in the new stadium. I could live with that. It's not far from teal. I was hoping they'd go back to teal as a secondary color to blue, but was dreading their use of orange...though anticipating it. The reality is, aside from the outfield wall and uniform trim, teal hasn't been a major part of the franchise since 1995 (http://www.sportslogos.net/team.php?id=60) when they got rid of the teal hats (I was shocked they didn't sell anything teal a few years ago when I went to a game during a trip back down here from college...after which I ordered an old school all-teal hat online). If you want to argue changing the pinstripes to black in 2003 was a major shift, ok, but if it was, they still split World Series between the two. Expanding, the Marlins have drawn an average of 16,955 fans per game (that includes the few "home" games at Seattle and in Puerto Rico) since 1999, when the fire sale really sunk in. If you include 1998, the average only increases to 17,270. From 1999 to this current season, we've made 14th (2004) in the NL in attendance only once. We've been last since 2006 with six 15ths in there elsewhere. We've been 28th out of 30 in MLB the last two seasons. All the attendance woes and the years of losing have created a national stigma and it's crept into a local stigma. I don't blame them for trying to radically alter the team's persona, but I strongly disagree with them using orange after all the years of empty orange seats...regardless of what the other teams down here wear. I'd love to see the teal compliment blue...but I'm not going to call them out for failing to honor the past when they inevitably fail to use teal...and I'm certainly not going to blame everything on Loria...no matter how cheap he is (though, I believe they'll go after someone in free agency this off season). Aside from those two things, which are understandable...what other history are they abandoning? They've embraced the hell out of everything in this final season in Joe Robbie and I'm sure it's not going away at the new site...specifically the World Series years.
That comes down to the fans. If The Sentinel sees a spike in traffic for Strikers news, then they will improve the coverage. The Big Four and college teams will always have far more interest and therefore suck up much of the air. I don't think we will see the media treat the Strikers like real team until they join MLS and draw bigger crowds. The Sentinel and Herald use to give the Fusion very good coverage. It makes you wonder if Traffic had a firm 2011 budget for the Strikers and wasn't going to exceed it? Given what they are already spending on the entire league, it would be hard to argue with them.
As I noted with futbol in Miami, I don't knock someone for making the choice not to drive an hour each way to watch the Strikers. My beef with guys like him and Lucho is their blatant ignoring of the facts of pro soccer history here in South Florida. Nothing played in Miami itself has ever been successful. Even teams playing with the Miami name outside of Dade have been sketchy for the most part, not horrible for Fusion, but downright horrendous for Miami FC. Meanwhile the Strikers brand, as was proven this year, still has power in this market after all these years. Simply by changing the name, as Traffic certainly didn't make any monumental efforts once again this year to actually advertise its product much, they tripled the attendance. And that with some very poor weather, and very poor home field play by the team. Can you even imagine if that first Tampa game hadn't been rained out, and if they had actually won a couple more home games?!? I'd bet we'd have been well north of 4,000 for the year, maybe even 4,500. Anyone who continues to believe that MLS has any chance here long term besides as the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers, is just fooling themselves. Anyway, point is, you can't make people do things they're not already inclined to do, especially when it invovles spending disposable income. All that said, I have no problem proclaiming my disgust for ever having to enter the Miami city limits. Sure there are some nice areas, but overall, it's not a nice place to have to go, on countless levels. No one will ever be able to convince me that driving from suburban North Broward to Miami is at all comparable to the opposite. No way, not while applying any logic. You can call it snobby if you want to, but the difference to me is my "snobby" has a healthy dose of due care mixed in for reasons that have nothing to do with a sporting event. Practically every single experience in my nearly 40 years of South Florida living that forced me to travel south of Dolphins Stadium has been bad in one form or another. There's nothing in Miami I need that I can't safely and conveniently get somewhere else. As for my team support, like most transplanted residents, even though my parents came here when I was still an infant, I inherited the teams from whence my parents and grandparents came, with the exception of the only pro sports team here at the time, which was the Dolphins. I love the Dolphins, but I can tell you that I was only at the Orange Bowl for a grand total of two games. I've been to Joe Robbie (or whatever anyone else wants to call it) numerous times. It doesn't require me to go anywhere near the city. That's not a coincidence. But I love my Dolphins, and I live and die with them every Sunday, much to my wife's sports-hating chagrin. LOL But I can't afford season tickets to go watch them, which makes the Strikers even more dear to my heart. Not only did I love coming with my Dad to watch them as a kid, but it's the first pro sports team I actually care about that I could afford to buy season tickets for. I can bring my whole family to a game, not at all far from my home, for less money each week than it would probably cost for me to go by myself to a Dolphins game with a seat in a comparable part of that stadium. That last bit is part of what makes me believe that we don't need to get after the casual 305 sports fans to come up to Lockhart if their hearts aren't truly in it like the Uncle Ed's of the world. That's perfectly fine. Between those that do, Broward, and Palm Beach, we can easily grow this fanbase and show Traffic, or whoever else need be, that the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers could be a strong MLS team in a strong market. You get a Diego Forlan, or some other star power to play for the Strikers, and you'll pull more of those 305ers up as well, and you'll be adding them to a far larger core fanbase than you would anywhere down in Miami.
Definitely agree that after all was said and done, Traffic finally shut off the faucet of cash and said this is where it stops, no more. Personally I think the last minute having to step into Carolina probably hurt the marketing budget. If the Wellmans hadn't pulled out, I honestly think we would have seen the team build on a lot of the preseason stuff they did. But it just wasn't happening after that, they relied on word of mouth of the rebrand to try and get people in the first time, and then a winning product to get them to come back. The first part of that worked well I think, it was the second part that was too inconsistent. We played some of our worst home games for the largest crowds, and our very best for the smallest ones. That's not how you draw it up..... Best thing we can hope for is some investors coming through in either Atlanta or Cary during the offseason. Well and of course a Strikers NASL championship. That would certainly help, not only with increasing the fanbase, selling season tickets, and getting renewed and new sponsors, I think it would even be the fastest way to improve local media coverage.
Off topic again but when I found this article I thought of this thread. "(Loria) said, 'I want people to forget about '11, forget about Sun Life Stadium, forget about the Florida Marlins, and I want the Miami Marlins to have their franchise start by making history.' - David Samson Florida Marlins might consider even the most expensive free agents this winter If this is quote is accurate it seems like Loria views the Miami Marlins as a separate franchise from the Florida Marlins and if that's the case he is abandoning the Florida Marlins history.
That doesn't mean he's not embracing the positive parts of the history. The problem is there aren't nearly as many positive parts as there are negative parts. The quote in context is used to make people believe that they might actually go at a big name free agent...
BTW: At least by design, it IS the logo for the Marlins. It's on the seats at Miami Ballpark. I saw the image on MarlinsBaseball.com. (I'd post it here, but their IPBoard frontend is being a douche.)