4/18 GDT: GNATS VS BRAVES

[The Chosen One]

Any attendance numbers for tonight?

[msstate7]

So when can we expect Ryan Howard?

[Braves1976]

Any attendance numbers for tonight?

sturg33 heard 21,800

[msstate7]

sturg33 heard 21,800

21,834 official

[Enscheff]

21,834 official

That's...not awesome. Did Swanson change his hair or something? Why aren't folks showing up to see him?

Oh well, the Braves don't need his age 29 season anyways.

[The Chosen One]

Lol at anyone who says the attendance numbers don't matter. If this continues it's gonna look bad. How bad was the Marlins in 2012 when they opened up theirs?

[goldfly]

Marlins in 2012 averaged 27,401 a game

[The Chosen One]

Marlins in 2012 averaged 27,401 a game

At the rate we're going, we're gonna need road fans of other teams to bail us out...

Hopefully it trends upwards.

[UNCBlue012]

All this attendance talk is so annoying. I just want the team to win and the rest will come.

On that note, we won't win many games with our bench. Freddie is over here playing his ass off and we're wasting his insane streak.

Once Kemp is back, I move Markakis into the two-hole or I give Adonis one last shot since he was successful there last year before I bring up Ruiz and throw him on the bench

[thewupk]

All this attendance talk is so annoying. I just want the team to win and the rest will come.

On that note, we won't win many games with our bench. Freddie is over here playing his ass off and we're wasting his insane streak.

Once Kemp is back, I move Markakis into the two-hole or I give Adonis one last shot since he was successful there last year before I bring up Ruiz and throw him on the bench

It wouldn't be annoying if attendance was good. Now attendance is up from last year so far but that's not saying much.

[msstate7]

MLB attendance for yesterday (home teams listed)...

Braves -- 21,834
NYY -- 30,075
Blue jays -- 29,281
Reds -- 16,018
Rays -- 16,265
Mets -- 23,536
Cubs -- 39,026
Twins -- 16,553
Astros -- 21,760
Cards -- 38,806
Royals -- 20,863
A's -- 12,091
Padres -- 19,869
Dodgers -- 37,960
Mariners -- 16,126

Total -- 360,063 for an avg of 24,004

Throw out the top park (cubs) and bottom park (A's)... avg of 23,765

[sturg33]

Ranking 7th out of 15th on the 5th game of the season of a new park against rival is just not a good sign

[thethe]

This is a long term plan to develop a burgeoning community. For you guys to use numbers from this year shows that you really don't understand what this group is trying to accomplish.

[striker42]

For those of you who don't live in Atlanta, one thing that needs to be kept in mind at the moment is we're dealing with I-85 being shut down in both directions in north Atlanta after a fire knocked out a bridge. A quarter of a million people used that route daily and they're now being shoved off onto other routes, most notably I-285. I drive 285 daily and my commute time has been increased by 25 to 30 minutes each way. Others have it much worse. The new stadium sits right at the intersection of I-285 and I-75 on the north side of Atlanta.

Right now you're seeing a lot of people just trying to get to work in the morning and get home in the evening. They're not attempting to go anywhere special and are especially trying to stay away from 285 on the north side.

Honestly, the stadium opened at the worst possible time. Atlanta has nightmarish traffic on the best of days and it's just cruel right now.

When you add in the fact that this team played it's first 8 games on the road and went 2-6 killing a lot of start of season excitement, the fact people aren't braving the traffic isn't much of a mystery.

Also, I don't think the pedestrian bridge across 285 is open yet. The Braves are counting on people parking at the Cobb Galleria on the other side of 285 and using the pedestrian bridge to get to the stadium. I drove beneath the bridge this morning and they're still working on it.

[thewupk]

This is a long term plan to develop a burgeoning community. For you guys to use numbers from this year shows that you really don't understand what this group is trying to accomplish.

Did the FO tell you this as well? The Braves need to have attendance increase of around 700K this year or it's a failure. Hopefully things pick up in the summer.

[Tapate50]

For those of you who don't live in Atlanta, one thing that needs to be kept in mind at the moment is we're dealing with I-85 being shut down in both directions in north Atlanta after a fire knocked out a bridge. A quarter of a million people used that route daily and they're now being shoved off onto other routes, most notably I-285. I drive 285 daily and my commute time has been increased by 25 to 30 minutes each way. Others have it much worse. The new stadium sits right at the intersection of I-285 and I-75 on the north side of Atlanta.

Right now you're seeing a lot of people just trying to get to work in the morning and get home in the evening. They're not attempting to go anywhere special and are especially trying to stay away from 285 on the north side.

Honestly, the stadium opened at the worst possible time. Atlanta has nightmarish traffic on the best of days and it's just cruel right now.

When you add in the fact that this team played it's first 8 games on the road and went 2-6 killing a lot of start of season excitement, the fact people aren't braving the traffic isn't much of a mystery.

Also, I don't think the pedestrian bridge across 285 is open yet. The Braves are counting on people parking at the Cobb Galleria on the other side of 285 and using the pedestrian bridge to get to the stadium. I drove beneath the bridge this morning and they're still working on it.

Now I 20 is donezo.

I think it will level out. I want to see a competitive product, and will make the drive when the stars align. The new ball park will be there when I can get to it. It isn't a once in a lifetime deal for me to go see a new park.

And by the way, I think everyone is forgetting that this didn't exactly go over with glowing reviews from Cobb County residents and other ATL folks. No one was really pumped, it was more forced on them.

[striker42]

Now I 20 is donezo.

I think it will level out. I want to see a competitive product, and will make the drive when the stars align. The new ball park will be there when I can get to it. It isn't a once in a lifetime deal for me to go see a new park.

I'm with you. I want to give the stadium enough time to work out the bugs (like getting the pedestrian bridge finished and figuring out parking) and want to wait until the roads are back to normal, then I'll go see it. Whether April or July, my first time at that park will still be my first time at that park.

[bravesfanMatt]

Complainers going to complain.

[thethe]

Did the FO tell you this as well? The Braves need to have attendance increase of around 700K this year or it's a failure. Hopefully things pick up in the summer.

No its just common business sense. Put your bias aside and understand community development. Check population trends. Check income trends. It's all there for you if you want to embrace....wait for it. Statistics.

[The Chosen One]

It took me and glavinebraves47, only 15 minutes to drive from midtown Atlanta to Cobb.

So while I know some of the roads are hurting, I was fully expecting it to take an hour or more and it was surprisingly pretty smooth. That was on a Friday afternoon in deadheat Atlanta traffic.