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NEWS > SPORTS > FLORIDA MARLINS DRAW SEASON HIGH CROWD OF 347 PEOPLE
FLORIDA MARLINS DRAW SEASON HIGH CROWD OF 347 PEOPLE
August 27 2011
Miami, FL – Aside from a pair of World Series victories, the Florida Marlins have never been a great team. True, 2 championships in 18 years of existence is a pretty significant accomplishment for any time, but those years were largely flukes and are in fact the only two years they have ever been in the playoffs. Despite those successes, the Marlins are not a winning team.
That lack of success has often been reflected in the stands which have stayed mostly empty despite being situated in one of the largest cities in the United States. That alone should guarantee them a certain degree of fan and financial success, but it has not done so. Whether it is apathy towards the sport, or the tendency for the team to lose a lot of games, people just don’t show up for Marlins games.
However, things aren’t totally doom and gloom. Next year the team will move into a brand new stadium right in the heart of Miami and, on Thursday, the team drew a season high attendance total of 347 people, smashing the previous high of 342 set in July. Given that, many in the Marlins organization feel like their best years are ahead of them and that the past is exactly that.
“We are thrilled with the turnout recently. It wasn’t just the Thursday game, the averages have been up all across the board. Turnout for day and night games have been steadily increasing and that is very satisfying,” said a team spokesperson. 
“We’ve lost a few games this year but our product is certainly improving and we feel the attendance reflects that. We are very positive about the future and we plan to continue this upward trend. Wednesday’s crowd was just the beginning.”
The team plans on hiring more stadium personnel to deal with the traffic increase, including at least two more ticket takers and one more person selling beer in the stands.
“We know where we are and we know that we will never be the Yankees or the Red Sox, that just isn’t going to happen and we aren’t going to pretend otherwise but that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own success. 347 people is a really big deal, on par with the 2003 championship season, and that is a great sign,” continued the spokesperson. “The biggest thing for us is that we had no gimmicks that day, nothing special to draw people in. That crowd was organic and that reflect the enthusiasm people have for baseball in south Florida. We are thrilled and hope to continue to be thrilled going forward.”
The stadium has a maximum capacity of 38,560 for baseball games, a number the team hopes will eventually be in sight.
“Obviously we have dreams and hope for the future, Some of them may be a little fantastic but that’s how you make big dreams happen, by dreaming the fantastic. You may not accomplish that level of success but anywhere near that is pretty good and that’s what we are aiming for,” continued the spokesperson. “We really do believe that baseball is on the rise here and when we open the new stadium, well everything is looking up. I can’t tell you what we predict for opening day at the new field, but I can tell you that we are hoping for four figures. Yes, four figures. You wait and see.”
Fellow Floridian team Tampa Bay drew 520 visitors for a game the same day, a high for them as well.
Alexi Orton, Sports Correspondent
NEWS > SPORTS > FLORIDA MARLINS DRAW SEASON HIGH CROWD OF 347 PEOPLE
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