There was an absolutely great post by Shadow of the Stadium on Sunday. (Sorry so late, been having computer problems.) In his post, “The Murky Economics of Spring Training … and How Florida Can Do It Better“, Noah Pransky details…
Category: Spring Training
New MLBVideo of Spring Training at Plant Field
Over at Grantland.com, Jonah Keri wrote about the ongoing efforts of the Major League Baseball Film and Video Archive to digitize old baseball footage. Keri showcased a few of his favorite videos, such as some old New York Giants footage…
So what type of baseball market is Tampa Bay? Or all of the above?
There were two interesting articles in the last week on baseball in Tampa Bay. Last Friday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times interviewed new MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. When asked about the viability of Tampa Bay to be the…
The Power of Perception and a Movoto.com Clickbait Article
I shouldn’t care about this. I really, really shouldn’t. But here goes: We’ve all seen hack articles circulate on Facebook. Most of them have clickbait titles such as “20 Things You Learn in Your 20s”, “50 GIFs You Love To…
Gary Sheffield thinks the Tampa area needs another Spring Training team
According to The Laker/Lutz News (a local Tampa suburb publication), former MLB star Gary Sheffield is supporting a group building a huge baseball complex in Wesley Chapel, an area just north of Tampa city limits. And Sheffield, a Tampa resident,…
Baseball at Al Lang Stadium Closer to End
Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg is a monument of baseball history. Originally built in 1947, Al Lang Field replaced Waterfront Park and became the spring training home of the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees. In those days,…
Tourism is up, but are tourists going to baseball games?
Florida Governor Rick Scott visited the Tampa Bay area Thursday to announce an increase in Tampa Bay area tourism and discuss record-setting numbers for tourist tax income. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Hillsborough County set a record for April…
Tampa Bay Area Spring Training Attendance 2014 Update
A few months ago, we published charts on spring training attendance in the Tampa Bay area since 2005. Yesterday, the Florida Sports Foundation published attendance figures for the 2014 Grapefruit League season. Since 2008, there have been four teams training…
Attendance Analysis: Tampa Bay Area Spring Training 2005-2013
[Update: We found additional numbers and ironed out some discrepancies.] This post will look at Spring Training annual trends for teams training in the Tampa Bay area from 2005 to 2013. We aren’t going to spend too much time on…