22
2011
Mets Fans Are Loyal No Matter What The Polls Say
An article by 
The Mets were a mediocre team in 2010, finishing the season with a 79-83 record. That mark was the 20th best in baseball (or the 11th worst, if you’re standing on your head while looking at the standings). That was a nine-game improvement over the dismal 2009 season, when injuries turned the Mets into Johan Santana and the Four Rainouts, but the improvement in the win column was still not good enough to put the fannies in the seats.
It’s true that Mets fans did not turn out in droves for the 2010 season, but does that make us any less loyal than other teams’ fans? Apparently so, according to a recently conducted survey by Brand Keys, Inc.
The Mets ranked 23rd out of 30 Major League Baseball teams in fan loyalty. The two teams Mets fans love to hate, the Phillies and the Yankees, finished first and second in fan loyalty, respectively. Finishing third in the survey were the Boston Red Sox, while the San Francisco Giants, who won the 2010 World Series, finished fourth.
I have two issues with this poll, and they’re actually not about the Mets. First, how are the Phillies No. 1 on this list? Sure, they attract fans now, but where were these fans prior to the 2007 season?
In 2006, the Phillies did well, finishing only three games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL wild card berth. Even with the team battling for a playoff spot, their attendance at Citizens Bank Park for the year was only 2,701,815. They ranked seventh in the NL in home attendance, just slightly ahead of the small market San Diego Padres. Once the Phillies started winning division titles in 2007, it became “cool” to go to a Phillies game again in Philadelphia. To me, loyalty is about sticking with your team through thick and thin. Phillies fans love their team when they’re in the “thick” of things, but will find something else to do when the team is a little “thin”. This brings me to my second issue with the survey.
How are the Cardinals and Cubs not in the top five? For years, we’ve heard players say that the fans are what make them love playing in St. Louis. The Cardinals fans who were there when they won the World Series in 2006 (home attendance of 3,407,104) were also there in 1997 (home attendance of 3,225,334), when they finished with a 73-89 record and Mark McGwire played most of the season in Oakland. St. Louis perennially draws over 3 million fans through its gates because the fans are loyal to their team, regardless of where they are in the standings.
Similarly, the Cubs, a team which has a history of being at the bottom of the standings, also has fans who define team loyalty. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and haven’t won a National League pennant since 1945, but they still draw over 3 million fans annually. (In 2010, Chicago finished with a 75-87 record, but still drew 3,062,973 fans to Wrigley Field.) They do this despite having one of the smallest seating capacities in the National League.
Only seven teams in baseball supposedly have less loyal fans than the Mets. But for the past decade, the Mets have been among the league leaders in home attendance. So in 2010, attendance at Citi Field dropped by about half a million. Does that place Mets fans among the least loyal in baseball?
Loyalty is not all about selling out every game. It’s about being supportive of your team, win or lose. Phillies fans support their team when they’re better than the Mets. Where will they be when the Mets surpass them in the standings, whenever that is? Cardinals and Cubs fans have more loyalty in their big toes than Phillies fans will ever have. Let’s see what the survey looks like once the Phillies start to decline. Of course, when that day comes, it’ll be tough to find a Phillies fan to poll.
About the Author: Ed Leyro
Ed Leyro was hatched in the Bronx, but spent most of his youth in Queens at Shea Stadium. Apparently, all that time spent at Mets games paid off as Ed met his wife (The Coop) for the first time at Citi Field during its inaugural season. Guess the 2009 season was good for something after all. In addition to his work at Mets Merized Online, Ed also owns, operates and is head janitor at Studious Metsimus, where he shares blogging duties with Joey Beartran. For those not in the know, Joey is a teddy bear dressed in a Mets hoodie. Clearly, Studious Metsimus is not your typical Mets blog.
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I dont know who wouldn’t agree with you Ed! Phuck Philly!
We Mets fans have been through the worst possible scenarios and still bleed orange and blue. LGM! Ya Gotta Believe! Beltran Baby!
Bleeding orange and blue is nice…
Other teams fans bleed GREEN though and that is where it counts as far as making a competitive team!
Whatever team is on top will have the most “loyal” fans. That’s the nature of these polls. We used to OWN NY. In the middle 80′s Steinbrenner was blabbing about moving to NJ but they took their lumps, got things under control and followed a plan put forth by Gene Michael and since then they’ve been to the playoffs 15 out of 16 years, winning it all 5 times and almost 3 more.
Most teams concentrate their focus on getting the best players between the ages of 25 and 31. We religiously avoid this age group opting instead for the most decrepit, injury prone, expensive under achievers possible and a handful of undeveloped 20 year old’s we usually ask to learn a new position when they get here.
While we may have some incredibly loyal fans we are tired of having a FO that doesn’t have the ability to put together and follow a coherent business plan. We’re also tired of the buffon act. Firecrackers, bleach, drugs, beating up old men, Bernazard, groudskeepers and clubhouse guys selling steroids and bookmaking on the side. The Wilpon’s self serving adherence to their precious slotting guidelines, trading 2 first round draft choices for a DH and all the other clown moves over the last 2 decades.
We want our own players and we want them in their prime, for at least 6 years if not 8 or 10. The amount of players we have traded who then made an All Star team is second only to the number of former All Stars we have brought in here who didn’t.
I always go to 10 or 15 games a year. I have the game on outside in the summer all year long. Check in on it when I’m playing in between every inning. I’m not going anywhere but I can tell you that this Fan Base has shrunk. The constant raising of expectations by employing the old standby, the quick fix, only to dissapoint once again has taken it’s toll. Having a different poor player at the same damn positions year after year. It’s gonna take a while before this team sees 50,000 more than 8 times a year.
So the yard stick measurement for loyalty is how many fans are in the stands?
I’m not sure if that’s completely accurate although I understand the premise behind it.
I’ve been a life long Met fan since 1968, through the two championship years and the crappy ones in between. Went to Shea more as a kid than an adult. Due to circumstances I probably attended a only half dozen games at Shea as an adult and have yet to see Citi field.
However, I spend the baseball season watching as many games as I can. I saw all but 5 games or less each season since SNY premiered. Yup, that includes all Aug/Sep games in the season from hell (09) and all but 3 last season. I’m not the type of ‘fan’ that stops tuning in as soon as it’s apparent they’re not going anywhere, anymore than I’ll turn the game off if they’re losing in the late innings.
I consider myself a loyal Met fan even if I don’t have a bunch of ticket stubs to prove it.
“The Brand Keys Sports Loyalty Engagement Index® helps professional sports teams increase their broadcast, ticket and merchandise revenues by providing the precise loyalty rankings of fans in the home (and national) market.”
The Brand Keys poll parameters are not defined. It is likely about just revenues and not about fan loyalty. It makes no adjustment for ballpark size, ticket prices, attendance by out-of-towners who attend as part of sightseeing excursions, nor repeat visitors. The Yankees, Cubs, and Red Sox clubs are regular sightseeing venues and corporate perks locations for business customers, not locations where the Brand Keys folks can accurately measure fan loyalty. So the index is really piece of garbage.
In short, the Brand Keys parameters are revenue parameters, not loyalty parameters. There is quite a difference between the two.
Makes sense.
Srt the survey really wasn’t about game attendance at all. The OP brought that in but it had nothing to do with the survey.
Secondly agee, the team can’t get 50,000 with a dump that barely holds over 40,000… but then you can’t be expected to figure that out. You are too deep in your one endless boring useless, thought to understand complicated second grade nmath.
It’s a dump but it’s your dump right?
Of course it’s boring, endless, and complicated for you. You have the IQ of a peanut.
Have you had your prunes today, iz?
They might work wonders!!! LOL
EVEN FLOW, If you continue with your baseless claim that Iz has the same IQ as a common peanut I will be forced to institute a lawsuit for slander against you.
The common peanut has a far higher IQ than Iz could even dream of having.
Dumbest back * wards logic poll ever.
Loyal fans are fans that stay loyal when the team is losing. Somehow, this poll has fans of all winning teams on the top.
The morons who came up with this poll must be the same jokers that said Sarah Palin could win a presidential election.
I feel stupid admitting that I even read it.
You have a picture full of people that proudly wear those hideous black jerseys. If that ain’t loyalty, I don’t know what is.
Lots of people say they are LOYAL or that they LOVE the Mets usually they say it two seconds before they make some statement of complaint or fact that would prove they feel otherwise.
What is Loyalty?
Can you be loyal and not go to games?
Sure! If the situation is such that you can’t get to the game due to circumstances beyond your personal control.
Many Military people are Loyal to their spouses but hardly see them or can’t be there for them when they are needed. They would LIKE to be there for them but circumstances prohibit that from happening (SRT consider yourself drafted in this example. You can’t get to a game but it’s not really due to lack of loyalty but circumstances.)
Now lets look at a different set of circumstances.
Your Married but you don’t ever make an effort to see your spouse. Nothing is stopping you from doing so but you always find other things to do instead. Are you REALLY being loyal to your spouse in that situation? Well IMO that is the same situation as those who could go to ANY game but choose not to go because they have other things to do!
Another marriage analogy…
You say to your spouse “You know I love you and I’m Loyal to you but your a fat distgusting pig and you cost me too much money and you don’t make love to me the way you did 2 years ago.
Is that Loyalty?
The original poster did have one good insight regarding Attendance. The Cubs.
For those that think only the top teams have high attendance well the Cubs sold out 92% of their seats. They sucked! So much for the theory that bing good is the thing that drives attendance.
Why do the Cubs not lead the attendance selling out so much? Well because their stadium holds far fewer people per game than everyone else!
As for the survey it was not about attendance. The OP of this thread brought that into it the Survey was based on answers given by fans not their attendance.
But if you wish to make a statement about fan loyalty based on attendance numbers take a look at this link.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2010