Comments on: The Nationals are trying to keep Phillies fans from filling up their ballpark

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:41:07 +0000

BOOOO! The Heat came up big in the 4th and put a smack down on the Sixers.

By: schmedley69

schmedley69 — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:56:48 +0000

Have you ever been to a non-Phillies Nats game or seen one on TV? If you’re like most people in D.C., you haven’t, so let me fill you in: the place is pretty much empty. So, if their plan works and Phillies fans are unable to snatch-up all of the tickets, it’s not likely that Nats fans will fill the void and pack the stadium on their own, which means there should be plenty of tickets available on game day for walk-up sales. This is strictly a PR move.

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:14:16 +0000

I’ve had Phillies fans tell me they come to Nats Park from the Philly area because they can’t get tickets at CBP. My hope is, as the Nats improve, that will someday be reversed.

The front-runners came out in 2005 when the Nats arrived, and they came out in 2008, to see the new ballpark. Those who complain about the Phillies infestation, understandable as their complaints may be, are accomplishing nothing. It’s about winning.

The howling about the Sunday Night schedule is misplaced. ESPN announced fewer than half of its games. The Phillies have a much greater chance of getting additional games than the Nats.

More on the subject from Dan Steinburg of The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/post/nationals-launch-take-back-the-park-campaign/2012/02/03/gIQAsyehmQ_blog.html?tid=pm_sports_pop

By: kinggw

kinggw — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:03:18 +0000

Its ok, they wont be there very much longer. Phillies fans do turnout for Nats games, but most of those so called fans are bandwagon fans. Half of them couldnt tell you who Von Hayes, Mickey Morandini, or Darren Daulton is or when they played for the Phillies. They werent there before the Phillies’ latest run and as they decline and teams like the Nats and Marlins take control of the division, they will disappear again.

By: drunkenhooliganism

drunkenhooliganism — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:46:02 +0000

I don’t think you’ll find that information on this site that is owned by comcast. Try a websearch. Also fios has comcast sportsnet.

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:33:58 +0000

The difference between Nats-Phillies and Nats-Cubs is, the Phillies’ infestation is more obnoxious, but also more real. The Cubs infestation is a bit pathetic. Look at us, we root for a crappy team in a crumbling ballpark, we’re so cool. Last season, I actually was stuck near a discussion in which a Cubs fan claimed that the Wrigley Field scoreboard was better because it was old and manual. Torture.

Despite having to endure the Phillies infestation many times, I didn’t have a problem with the old Stan Kasten policy. More cash for the Lerners to spend on talent. And this may come as a shock, but some members of the infestation weren’t obnoxious at all. Looking forward to the Yankees infestiation in June. They visited RFK in 2006 and nothing from any NL team’s fans compared to the electricy in the park. I wasn’t able to attend any of the games when the Red Sox visited in 2009, but I imagine it was similar.

The solution isn’t trying to keep visiting fans out of the ballpark. As others have pointed out, fans will find tickets. I’ve experienced this at Capitals games, as a fan of another hockey team, when they tried to freeze out (pun intended) visiting fans. The solution is to win, and get more of your own front-runners into the ballpark.

By: El Bravo

El Bravo — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:29:49 +0000

No way. You can’t even compare the Bulls to your B-squad. The Bulls are comparable to the Heat/Mavs/OKC/…you know, good teams…. . The Bucks beat Miami the other night, so don’t consider it any sort of true litmus test if they beat the heat. Make the playoffs and then we can really talk some smack. Otherwise, no contest, Bulls are the team to beat in the east!!!

By: mox19380

mox19380 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:16:34 +0000

What makes this especially strange is, last year a Nationals PR guy went on Philadelphia sports radio and essentially begged phillies fans to come down to CBP South. I’m getting mix signals here. Should I stay or should I go?

By: mojosmagic

mojosmagic — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:13:35 +0000

Burgundy you can get software to change IP addresses as well as third party’s who charge a nominal fee. Start with a Google search.

By: sisqsage

sisqsage — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:06:21 +0000

A Natty solution: try winning more games. That will get your fans back. Were they ever there to begin with?

By: mox19380

mox19380 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:04:30 +0000

Sorry Washington, we didn’t mean to assist your economy by staying in your hotels, eating in your restaurants, paying for metro tickets. Sorry Nationals we didn’t realize you didn’t appreciate how once a year you had 3x’s your normal crowd, sold at least twice as much beer and for 9 games a year resembled a real MLB city.

If they don’t want phillies fans showing up in droves go back to Montreal.

By: xmatt0926x

xmatt0926x — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:56:24 +0000

No sh*t. Me too. I’d love to cancel my cable, which I only keep because Comcast Sportsnet does almost all of the Phillies games. If I could beat that blackout deal on MLB.Com than I’d be very happy. I’m just not tech savvy enough. Damn me!!!

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:54:12 +0000

Soon it will be the other way around, as the high flying Nats fans invade the aging flailing Pheelies home games.

By: bravojawja

bravojawja — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:52:33 +0000

I just like how the Nats use the word “invade” to describe what the Phillie fans are doing, like they’re Mongols or zebra mussels or body snatchers or something. The barbarians are at the gates! Sell them $10 beer!

By: stinkfist5

stinkfist5 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:28:36 +0000

…and your spelling is “aweful.”

By: nolanwiffle

nolanwiffle — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:28:19 +0000

The building you’re referring to was actually the Capital Centre……much classier when the “r” precedes the “e”.

By: nolanwiffle

nolanwiffle — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:26:49 +0000

The building you refer to was actually the Capital Centre……..much classier when the “r” precedes the “e”.

By: tk1966

tk1966 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:51:01 +0000

Reminds me of a few years back when Penguins fans would fill the Cap Center outside Washington and outnumber the Capitals fans, so Leonsis had ticket order calls from the 412 area code blocked.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:33:42 +0000

Come for the ballgame, stick around for the chili!

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:31:12 +0000

I heard Davey Johnson wants Bryce Harper to start the season with the big club. Not sure how realistic that is, but it’s interesting.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:28:09 +0000

Bravo, The Sixers are really missing their big man as well 7’1″ Hawes. They are scoring around 20 pts less per game since he’s been out. So the whipping the Sixers gave the Bulls could have been much worse actually. 12-3 and 13-4 in the east actually. The Sixers play Miami tonight. This will be the true test of their strength.

By: dw3dw

dw3dw — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:14:37 +0000

This is a pretty interesting move from the Nationals for a couple of reasons. Most cities/teams have a core of fans who will come no matter the record; MLB estimates the core to average between 10,000 & 15,000 fans. But after that attendance is (usually) driven by how good the team is–for example, the Phillies have led the league in attendance the past two years, and were second the year before that, but in the past when they’ve been bad, attendance was in the bottom half of the NL–look at the late 90s, for example. Even after the new ballpark opened, as recently as 2006 and 2007, the Phillies were 7th and 9th in attendance. Only as a powerhouse contender does the park sellout. So: there is a lot of buzz in DC about the Nationals–is the front office worried that despite their best finish last year (3rd place, 80-81) and team improvements, plus Bryce Harper on the way, DC fans STILL aren’t going to buy tickets? I wonder. Also: as others have said, Nationals Park is usually full of fans from other teams–Mets fans are rowdy regulars, and there is always a HUGE group of Braves fans, as well as Cubs, Cardinals, etc. Why the special appeal to prevent Phillies fans from coming to the game? What is is about Phillies fans that makes them unwelcome, as opposed to fans from other teams? And the Nationals had winning record against the Phillies last year–very satisfying for Nationals fans when there is not much else going on. And what is it with these two franchises anyway? When ESPN announced their Sunday Night baseball schedule, Phillies fans howled (perhaps rightfully so) because the Nationals have two games to the Phillies one (against the Nationals, no less). Maybe Stan Kasten knew what he was doing when he went on Philly talk a radio before the 2008 season and invited Phillies fans down to DC for the games.

By: El Bravo

El Bravo — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:25:14 +0000

Dude, you don’t want to go there do you? The Bulls are playing with four arms tied behind their backs and still owning the East, despite many injuries. They’ll stumble into that top seed and deal with those chumps in the playoffs. Thibs has got the coaching game on lock! GO BULLS!!!!!

By: kellyb9

kellyb9 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:19 +0000

Put out a good product and people will stop selling their seats to Phillies fans…. problem solved. I’m not sure why you’d intentionally keep fans of any team out of the stadium. The Phillies might wear red, but their fans money is still green last I checked.

By: mikedi33

mikedi33 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:57:26 +0000

When the Nats still have 25000 tickets to sell may 1, because their fans did not buy them they will be available to phila. area fans.I traveled there from Phila atleast once each series the last 3 years. Yes I would be embarrassed as an organization when fully 80% of the park are Phillies fans. I also was there last year for a Nats-Cubs game and there were more Cub fans there than Nat fans. There just is not a large enough fanbase yet. I have also traveled to Pittsburgh the last 3 years to see the one series there. The Bucs took a different approach. Actually got an email from the Phillies tix office since I have season tickets with an offer for discounted tixs in Pittsburgh. I guess the Bucs will fill the seats any way they can.We play in Baltimore this year so we have 2 Citzen Bank Souths this year anyway.

By: db105

db105 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:55:30 +0000

All they have to do is package the Philly game with a low demand game. That would force Philly fan to sell the low demand game on stubhub and increase sales for a low demand game.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:45:12 +0000

Wow…I’m not sure what to say here…I’m just…huh…wow….

And sorry Da Bulls had their a$$es handed to them by their former coach and the Sixers.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:42:13 +0000

I might just have to try to get my Phightins Phan family and friends in DC and Virginia to snag some tickets…maybe set up some sort of reunion or something…

By: philly56

philly56 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:35:48 +0000

I have family in the Baltimore area (Phillies Phans to boot) so even without StubHub that wouldn’t stop me. I’ll still go but be even more obnoxious now, seeing as they tried to discriminate against me with their unethical ethnocentrism.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:35:45 +0000

Maybe halflight was being sarcastic and added the extra e there to show the awe that he is full of.