This underwhelming offseason

[Donn Beach]

The nature of sports today makes it very hard to NOT sell out hockey and basketball games, and to a lesser degree football and baseball. I remember going to Mariner games as a kid where less than 5K were in the stands. That's unimaginable now.

if you get your lights out venue

I'm going to the Mariners game tonight in Anaheim. The Angel franchise has totally sucked for several years now, yet they'll probably still draw 25-30K tonight. By comparison, the 1975 Angels drew barely a million fans, an average of about 12K per game.

Wow, I just went back 50 years at random and that Angel team had a starting rotation of Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana, Ed Figueroa and Bill Singer yet won only 72 games. Hitting only 55 home runs was probably a major cause of that, that might have been the weakest offense in modern baseball history.

Okay, but the movement has been to new destination style venues isn't it? That's the story to TMobile, the sonics leaving, the Kraken in amazon arena or whatever it is. On the other hand, there's the Mammoth? That's a search for a venue isn't it? That's what I was thinking, how sports generally have become so venue oriented, like an amusement park mentality these days.

[DavidGee24]

Okay, but the movement has been to new destination style venues isn't it? That's the story to TMobile, the sonics leaving, the Kraken in amazon arena or whatever it is. On the other hand, there's the Mammoth? That's a search for a venue isn't it? That's what I was thinking, how sports generally have become so venue oriented, like an amusement park mentality these days.

Without a doubt. Back then "bells and whistles" were hot dogs and peanuts. Now we have all kinds of food, concessions, interactive features, etc. I wonder who was the first guy to look at the fans all wearing suits and think hey, you know what would make us a fortune? Hats and jerseys!

[Bil522]

Okay, but the movement has been to new destination style venues isn't it? That's the story to TMobile, the sonics leaving, the Kraken in amazon arena or whatever it is. On the other hand, there's the Mammoth? That's a search for a venue isn't it? That's what I was thinking, how sports generally have become so venue oriented, like an amusement park mentality these days.

Without a doubt. Back then "bells and whistles" were hot dogs and peanuts. Now we have all kinds of food, concessions, interactive features, etc. I wonder who was the first guy to look at the fans all wearing suits and think hey, you know what would make us a fortune? Hats and jerseys!

I used to work concessions down at the Kingdome from 86-90. I ran the old BBQ pit, right in front of the M's clubhouse and the little sports museum they had. I would get an advance count before each game so I knew the amount to cook before the gates opened. Those midweek games in 86-87, we'd get a crowd of10k on a good night but usually in the 7-9k range. I'd be lucky to make over $750 on those nights. By comparison, at a Seahawks game, we would open when the gates opened 2hrs before kickoff and close 15-30mins after kickoff. In that time we would make between $25-30k. It was a crazy job but I had so much fun at it.

[DavidGee24]

I used to work concessions down at the Kingdome from 86-90. I ran the old BBQ pit, right in front of the M's clubhouse and the little sports museum they had. I would get an advance count before each game so I knew the amount to cook before the gates opened. Those midweek games in 86-87, we'd get a crowd of10k on a good night but usually in the 7-9k range. I'd be lucky to make over $750 on those nights. By comparison, at a Seahawks game, we would open when the gates opened 2hrs before kickoff and close 15-30mins after kickoff. In that time we would make between $25-30k. It was a crazy job but I had so much fun at it.

Rough times at those '70s and '80s Mariner home games, I can see why Rick The Peanut Man sold real estate on the side.

[Bil522]

I used to work concessions down at the Kingdome from 86-90. I ran the old BBQ pit, right in front of the M's clubhouse and the little sports museum they had. I would get an advance count before each game so I knew the amount to cook before the gates opened. Those midweek games in 86-87, we'd get a crowd of10k on a good night but usually in the 7-9k range. I'd be lucky to make over $750 on those nights. By comparison, at a Seahawks game, we would open when the gates opened 2hrs before kickoff and close 15-30mins after kickoff. In that time we would make between $25-30k. It was a crazy job but I had so much fun at it.

Rough times at those '70s and '80s Mariner home games, I can see why Rick The Peanut Man sold real estate on the side.

There was this one closet that was where they counted money, and it doubled as a secondary First Aid room on the 100 level. You'd go there with your money and inventory sheet and there would be games(Monday night football) where there would be $250k in cash just sitting in piles on the bed. There was one old security guard and nothing else. Was always stunned that no one figured out how to rob that room... would have been an easy cash grab