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That's pathetic.  If this team were here in NY, it'd draw 2.5+ million a year easily.  The Mets are on pace to get there this year despite their crummy playing. OK, genius.  Do the math.  A city of 8 million in the actual city itself vs. a city of 4 million in the entire metro area.  Gee, that's a fair comparison. First of all, the original poster is ignorant; New York has done a comparatively poor job supporting its _base_ball teams.  The Yankees have not drawn well, historically, and haven't drawn 2.5 million a year easily. Second, you correctly described the statistics, but in doing so, may have mislead people into thinking that NY is only twice as big as Atlanta.  NYC itself has 8 million, but the NY metro area has *21 million people.*

That's pathetic.  If this team were here in NY, it'd draw 2.5+ million a year easily.  The Mets are on pace to get there this year despite their crummy playing. OK, genius.  Do the math.  A city of 8 million in the actual city itself vs. a city of 4 million in the entire metro area.  Gee, that's a fair comparison. First of all, the original poster is ignorant; New York has done a comparatively poor job supporting its _base_ball teams.  The Yankees have not drawn well, historically, and haven't drawn 2.5 million a year easily. Second, you correctly described the statistics, but in doing so, may have mislead people into thinking that NY is only twice as big as Atlanta.  NYC itself has 8 million, but the NY metro area has *21 million people.* I know;  I was just making the point that the city of NY alone is twice as big as the entire metro area of Atlanta, making the comparison extremely unfair.  The original poster is also failing to note that, despite the fact that they are drawing smaller crowds than usual, Atlanta is still one of the top teams in attendance this year (I believe the article noted this).  Atlanta's current problems are not just Atlanta's problem; they are _base_ball's current problems as a whole, apparently.

That's pathetic.  If this team were here in NY, it'd draw 2.5+ million a year easily.  The Mets are on pace to get there this year despite their crummy playing. OK, genius.  Do the math.  A city of 8 million in the actual city itself vs. a city of 4 million in the entire metro area.  Gee, that's a fair comparison. First of all, the original poster is ignorant; New York has done a comparatively poor job supporting its _base_ball teams.  The Yankees have not drawn well, historically, and haven't drawn 2.5 million a year easily. Second, you correctly described the statistics, but in doing so, may have mislead people into thinking that NY is only twice as big as Atlanta.  NYC itself has 8 million, but the NY metro area has *21 million people.* Yes but I don't think the original poster was talking about Atlanta.  The Braves are going to draw 2.5 million anyway.  I think he was talking about Montreal.  But I could be wrong. dick

  :The original poster is also failing to   :note that, despite the fact that they are drawing smaller crowds than   :usual, Atlanta is still one of the top teams in attendance this year   I believe the article noted this). Someone up the line posted words to the effect of if the Braves were in New York, they'd draw 2.5 million a year easily, deftly ignoring that the original article said that the Braves are projected to sell 2.6 million tickets this year. So, apparently, the mark of a real _base_ball town is that a city five times the size (but with two teams, so call it 2.5 times) can sell almost as many tickets.

: Someone up the line posted words to the effect of if the Braves were in : New York, they'd draw 2.5 million a year easily, deftly ignoring that the : original article said that the Braves are projected to sell 2.6 million : tickets this year. So, apparently, the mark of a real _base_ball town is : that a city five times the size (but with two teams, so call it 2.5 times) : can sell almost as many tickets. The writer of the article noted, but conveniently failed to make a point of this: in the last year, the cost of going to a ballgame has risen 9.6%, while attendance has dropped 0.3%. That represents a big jump in revenue for a business that is still climbing the elastic side of its demand curve, if you ask me. It's a healthy business. Or, to put it another way, I'm sure General Motors would kill to be able to raise the prices on its cars nearly 10% and see demand stay approximately constant. I've been to a couple of Braves games this year, and they cost an arm and a leg. They're not hurting. If Kasten opens his mouth one more time with veiled threats of cutting back expenses if the fans don't show up, I'm going to paper his car.