If I read this 10 years ago I would have never believed it
by Clyde Simmons on Jul 30, 2010 8:24 AM EDT
39 comments
"Feed the Beast: Only the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies Operate on this mandate"
The Phillies just got grouped with the Yankees and the Red Sox. Amazing. The Phillies are becoming a super power of the majors.
But wait, it gets better:
"Philly Nation", as called by Verducci, is even larger than Red Sox nation:
"Think Red Sox Nation is big? The Phillies' viewing audience is 41 percent bigger than the Red Sox's audience and 60 percent bigger than the Cubs' audience".
The Phillies conintue their upward trend. This is the most exciting time to be a Phillies fan I can remember (although I am only 25, and my earliest memory is getting Schilling's autograph). I think I just forgave the Cliff Lee trade :P.
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What’s even nicer about that is, I think the vast majority of our audience actually has ties to our city. No celebrity hangers-on. No losers who became fans based on a bad movie.
Which was a remake of a really good movie.
I don’t know anyone who became a red sox fan because of fever pitch
by SportingFanaticism on Jul 30, 2010 6:26 PM EDT up reply actions
For the life of me, I cannot understand why Jimmy Fallon still has a career.
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
Cause he’s a goofy looking adorable funny guy (not that I see it, but that’s the perception so that’s why he has a career)
And seriously, does he REALLY have a career, i mean sure he’s on the 12:30 NBC show (seriously, for such low ratings people worry a whole lot about late night tv, never got it) – but what kind of work was he really getting before that?
by SportingFanaticism on Jul 30, 2010 6:57 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m sure no one became a serious fan because of it, and certainly not because of the contact. The fact that a movie about them existed, however, along with the fact that they’re a part of the pop culture, that Jay Leno asked Jennifer Garner questions about the Red Sox on his show, etc etc, does affect the atmospherics, such that people who don’t follow baseball and are unaffiliated might nominally support them once playoff time rolls around. Like people who don’t watch football but pick a side just for the Super Bowl.
The bandwagon is filling up...
I wonder how much of the 3 different kinds of bandwagon dynamics are at play here…
Bandwagon dynamic #1 – Fan isn’t really all that into baseball in comparison to other sports, but always considered the Phillies to be “their team,” and are now much more interested due to the success of the team. I was very much guilty of this offense with the Flyers playoff run.
Bandwagon dynamic #2 – Fans throughout the country, frustrated with their own crappy team, have latched onto the Phils. Much bigger offense, but at least they’re pumping money into the organization with merchandise sales.
Bandwagon dynamic #3 – Fans within the Philly area, latched onto some other team when the Phils were bad, and are now standing at the front of the parade. These people need to just be shot.
I wonder what the percentage of each are “the new fans.” I’d say 75-20-5.
Formerly Bye, Dawk :(
I’m a little bit of a #1. I stopped watching baseball entirely in college, started watching off and on after I graduated, and started watching more during the WS season. My watching pattern was also affected by my work, though, since one of my newer coworkers is a massive Mets fan, and I watched more in order to be able to give him a hard time.
Honor is no substitute for victory.
I am somewhat of the first one, although I also think that timing had something to do with it. I wasn’t big on sports at all in middle and high school (other than watching the Eagles, but that was more about family bonding than a huge love of football). I considered all of the Philadelphia teams to be my teams, in as much as I was a fan of any of the major sports. In college, I got into football, as its weekly games fit in with my life— game time was a perfect respite from homework in the middle of Sunday afternoon, and Monday Night football was a great break after marching band practice. Baseball did not fit into my life as well— it started as I was gearing up for finals, and continued through the summers, when I worked 80 hour weeks to save for the school year and with games every day, I did not have the time and energy to keep up in the same way. The Phillies were starting to come out of their bad years as I graduated law school, and post clerkship unemployment gave me time to watch their 2007 playoff run. This is when I re-discovered baseball— not only did I enjoy rooting for the Phillies, but I really enjoyed the sport. I kept up with the team as best as I could the following year, although a return to full time work made it harder to watch closely— the team’s success possibly kept me more interested than I otherwise would have been, but, I am also in love with the sport now, and fully expect to be here through the good AND the bad. I think that the team’s success may have brought in lots of casual fans that will drop off, but I think it has also created some fans who will be around for life- including me.
I think that’s baseball though…How many Yankee fans do anything other than wear a Yankee hat a Jersey because they are the winningest franchise ever?
by Clyde Simmons on Jul 30, 2010 9:15 AM EDT up reply actions
Plus, even I’ll admit that I watch baseball alot more when the Phillies are doing well.
However, I do the same thing with the Eagles. When the Eagles win I find myself wanting to watch Sunday and Monday night alot more than when they lose.
by Clyde Simmons on Jul 30, 2010 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions
we need to create the PET…Phillies Entertainment Network.
It could be death to comcast AND a source of extra revenue at the same time.
Yes, one regional network will kill the company that just bought NBC
by SportingFanaticism on Jul 30, 2010 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Wouldn’t that be PEN?
Flyers Fans: We've survived Lock-outs, Lindros and Cooperalls. If you want to get rid of us, you'll have to split an atom or two.
by KreiderDesigns on Jul 31, 2010 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions
This weekend’s games will demonstrate the wide spread fan base. I’m expecting at least 60/40 Phillies fans tonight for Oswalt’s debut.
by phillies fan in bowie on Jul 30, 2010 11:35 AM EDT reply actions
Meh
I didn’t see this before I posted this link in the other thread. I like his info about the Phils getting bigger, however, I didn’t like the overall tone of the article.
As for bandwagon, all are welcome. More money equals more Roys.
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
Right. And why does “bandwagon” carry such a negative connotation? If a team does well, more people become interested. The converse is also true. Is that such a hard concept to grasp?
by Boundforbeach on Jul 30, 2010 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions
possible reasons
i dont know how many people have been in the upper deck of a phillies game recently, but the entire place is filled with college students. me being one as well, i am not bothered by it, but i am just commenting that students from st joes, temple, philau, lasalle, villanova are flocking to the ballpark like never before.
Plus you add on the phillies taking over the cental philadelphia fan base (no body in central PA roots for the pirates anymore), and taking part of the northern NJ fan base originally reserved for yankees fans, it is not surprising that philadelphia has a large following
Articles like this provide people with an unrealistic expectation of what the phillies can and can not do financially. The phillies budget has not changed, their ability to ‘spend more’ is no where near the red sox and yankees, and neither is their national fan base, not to mention that the Yankees and Red Sox have revenue streams that the Phillies will never have. It’s too late really.
When the phillies start causing sell outs in Florida or Arizona, maybe.
by SportingFanaticism on Jul 30, 2010 3:06 PM EDT reply actions
According to Forbes, the Red Sox’s revenues last year were only $33m more than the Phillies. The Yankees were in a league of their own, at $441m, but two through ten were:
Mets $268m
Red Sox $266m
Dodgers $247m
Cubs $246m
Phillies $233m
Anaheim $217m
Giants $201m
Cardinals $195m
White Sox $194m
Honor is no substitute for victory.
The Phillies do not have their own TV network. That would make a world of difference.
Plus…I am pretty sure the Phillies caused a sellout in Florida: See Halladay perfect game (Ok I am sorta kidding about this one).
But if you are referring to the BoSox ability to sell out a game in Baltimore, I don’t like the comparison. The NE is much more densely populated than Florida and AZ that I don’t think you can practically compare that as an argument.
by Clyde Simmons on Jul 30, 2010 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions
I am certainly ignorant on this subject, but I would imagine that the Phils simply cannot start their own TV network primarily because of existing contracts. It would nice, of course, if we had something akin to the YES network for revenue, but my guess is that would be one extremely complicated… and possibly impossible… undertaking. Otherwise, wouldn’t we have done it by now?
by Boundforbeach on Jul 30, 2010 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions
No – I was referring to the Red Sox ability to sell out a game In Florida actually…before the rays were any good, ever see a red sox game in tampa – sell outs – mostly red sox fans.
by SportingFanaticism on Jul 30, 2010 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions
While the Phillies may not be a one team sell out machine, I have been amazed at how many Phillies fans I have seen watching televised games in places as far away as San Francisco. While it is true that I was watching the Phillies feed for the games, the fact that their cameras were able to find as many Phillies fans as they found was a statement to how far flung Phillies fandom has become (or maybe, in the case of fans who have moved about, taking their loyalties with them always was).
It’s Jayson Stark, but this is why the comparison is ludicrous
Dude (Raleigh) Lots of Phils fans clamoring for bullpen help — are the Phils done or still shopping?
Jayson Stark – They’re pretty much tapped out on payroll now that they’ve added Oswalt. So while I know they’re still looking, it has to be a guy making no money. They were in heavy on Octavio Dotel before the Oswalt trade. But I’m not even sure they can take the $1.1 million he has left.
If the red sox or yankees needed bullpen help mid season, who thinks a 1.1 million payout between now and the end of the year would hold them up?
The Yankees and REd Sox would not have traded Cliff Lee immediately, they would have let a market build
The Yankees and Red Sox understand the importance of the draft, they are willing to pay the money to get the prsopects they want, both teams have better GMs and over all front offices.
by SportingFanaticism on Jul 30, 2010 4:27 PM EDT reply actions
Whoops – the italics should have ended after 1.1 million he has left – the rest is me – not stak
by SportingFanaticism on Jul 30, 2010 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions
on no, not this again. This happened a few months back. Everything comes up in italics
by Boundforbeach on Jul 30, 2010 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions
sorry about that I think I forgot to put in the closing italics tag
by SportingFanaticism on Jul 30, 2010 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions
(Cause I put it in the above post, only the closing tag) and the italics stopped
by SportingFanaticism on Jul 30, 2010 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions
fixed?
2005 Chicago White Sox. 2006 Chicago Rush. 2008 Philadelphia Phillies. 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks. CHAMPIONS.
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