How about listening to Sugar Land's Andy Powell:
“It gives us local community camaraderie. It beats driving to the Astros games. I gave up Astros season tickets for season tickets (to the Skeeters). It’s a lot closer, and it seems like it’s going to be more family and fan friendly.”
Or Haley Graves:
“It’s good for Sugar Land. It brings people together, and it’s cheaper than the major leagues.”“It’s closer to home. It’s more affordable, and I like supporting small town (teams). The pros have just become (too) big business. I can relate to (this) more.”
Or Richard Fields:
"I could be a baseball fan," Fields said. "I can't afford major league baseball. I can afford to go to this."
Or Mrs. Frelich:
"I like it better than the major leagues. It's not as standard and formal as the major leagues. And the players are really nice. They don't have the egos yet."
Or Sandy Jones:
"This is like our hometown team, something we can root for here in our area of town and not have to go downtown all the time."
Or Debbie Page:
"Forever we have Astros season tickets, too, but we were really looking forward to having someplace close where we can let the kids come by themselves and live the dream,"
Sure, everyone's going to be jacked up for opening night. There is a Kroger about 10 minutes from my house. And I went to that Kroger all the time. Then they opened up a brand spanking new Publix eight minutes away (that I don't actually think anyone else knows about - nobody's in there. Ever; and for a fairly anti-social guy, that's important to me). I still go to the Kroger sometimes, but I split it with the Publix. I have a feeling a lot of residents of Fort Bend County are going to feel the same way about the Astros/Skeeters. It could have been an Astros affiliate, breeding familiarity and buy-in with fans to the Major League team, but nooo...Drayton didn't want the competition. And, for now, that's exactly what the Astros have.
6 comments:
At the end of the day, it is still independent ball, and independent ball is depressing. It won't compete for real baseball fans.
That may be true> But if all you're looking for is a cheap night out at a ballgame, going to Sugar Land just may be more appealing than driving into Minute Maid, it's a halfway decent alternative.
I'm curious to see what other communities the Atlantic League moves into next after the Skeeters carve out their niche. Katy? Conroe? League City?
I do wonder how many fans the Skeeters need to average to be profitable?
Some baseball fans in my house are intrigued by the carrousel. I just want to go to see Van Ostrand and Locke (and Gustavo Chacin of the Long Island Ducks) and park for free.
Frisco certainly hasn't hurt Rangers attendence. Of course 2 wrold series appearances in the last 2 years might have some impact... That being said, I would certainly go to a minor leage game regularly if it was close to where I lived.
It's new, so everybody is excited. Once the newness wears off in a couple of weeks, the bottom line is it's still a bunch of players who aren't good enough to get jobs in real baseball. Who wants to watch that all summer?
I'm sure the Astros aren't worried.
It's pretty tough to watch independent ball after watching professional.....the minors can be sort of interesting because you are never sure if or when the routine play will be made, and you sometimes get that flash from a player that tells you that someday he might make the bigs....you don't get that in independent ball, plus watching a 29 year old heave a throw 10 feet over the first baseman's head isn't quite as charming.....
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