As the Twins move toward the close of another disappointing season on the field, club officials are concerned about more than losing 90 games again. They wonder about next year’s Target Field attendance.
General manager Terry Ryan was on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” last Sunday saying the Twins need to put a better “product” on the field. He expressed concern about losing the attention of fans like in the 1990s when home attendance slipped to averages of under 18,000 per game from 1995 thru 2000 with a low of 13,093.
After winning Central Division titles in 2009 and 2010, the Twins lost 99 games in 2011, then 96 each of the last two seasons. The 2014 club has a 48-59 record compared with 45-59 a year ago.
The Twins ended an embarrassing 3-7 homestand last Sunday when their problematic play included falling behind early in games. That was a characteristic of last year’s Twins and something club officials like team president Dave St. Peter wanted to see left in the past.
St. Peter was also a guest on WCCO’s “Sports Huddle” on Sunday and was asked if attendance could be a problem next season. “Any time you go through four straight challenging seasons it’s going to impact your business…it’s going to impact your ticket sales,” St. Peter answered. “We understand that. We’re going to need to re-establish, and frankly regain, that trust with our fan base and credibility.
“Ultimately at the end of the day that comes down to putting a team on the field that’s exciting and that fans want to come watch. We’ve had that going at times this year but never consistently enough, and then this homestand has been a struggle.
“It’s going to get better. There’s no doubt in my mind that the minor league system that we have today is going to produce a number of high quality players that are going to be a big part of turning this thing around. The question is when is that going to happen? I know our fans want and deserve it to happen sooner versus later.”
The Twins are averaging 28,267 fans per home game, according to Espn.com. That is fewer fans per game than the club averaged during its last season in the much disparaged Metrdome. In that final 2009 season at the dome the Twins averaged 29,466 fans per game. Then came the move to outdoor baseball and beautiful Target Field where attendance jumped to 39,798 in 2010 but has declined every year since with averages of 39,112, 34,512 and 30,588.
Going into this year the Twins had the luxury of renewing season ticket holders by offering the perk of priority for MLB All-Star Game seats. That won’t be on the table in 2015 and a season ticket base believed to total 18,000 at the most will likely decline. “From a season ticket perspective, I think it’s only reasonable to expect that they’ll probably suffer some level of decline,” a former sports executive with knowledge of the Twins operation told Sports Headliners.
The source, who has marketing expertise and didn’t want to be identified, predicts there is a bottom to how far attendance will fall. “I would be surprised if they went below 2 million fans (any time). What is great about Target Field (the environment and many amenities) will keep people coming out simply because of the experience of it all. Do they (fans) want to see a winner? Absolutely. Does winning make it easier to draw people to the ballpark? Of course it does.”
The Twins drew a Target Field low of 2,477,644 last year. The club’s last five seasons in the dome attendance was always 2 million or more, although from 1994 thru 2004 the Twins never hit the 2 million mark in home attendance.
This year’s attendance could total 200,000 or so less than last year, although the team does have attractive games remaining at Target Field against the Tigers and Angels with superstars Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout, and the Athletics who have the best record in baseball.
It doesn’t seem likely the Twins, lacking talent almost everywhere, will suddenly become such a gate attraction that fans can’t ignore them between now and when the season ends in late September. And the Twins know that declining attendance can impact other parts of the club’s business including corporate sponsorships, merchandise sales and concession revenues.
The source referred to earlier describes attendance as the “lifeblood of pro sports.” He added, “Everything else is built on the foundation of attendance.”
Whether the Twins can significantly improve their on-field product between now and next season will have everything to do with how many season ticket holder accounts are renewed, the total number of fans that are in the stands and whether fans tune in games on radio and TV. The source is a supporter of Jim Pohlad and said the Twins owner is frustrated with losing, and willing to spend money on players.
“The truth of the matter is Jim desperately wants to win,” the source said. “He does care very much about the team and its success. He’s a fan. He’s at virtually every game. I think the Pohlads truly do get a bum wrap sometimes that they’re cheap. The reality is that Jim trusts people inside the organization—always has—to do their jobs. If they (Twins executives) come to him and say, ‘We should sign this guy, he can help us,’ I have every belief that Jim would say, ‘Go for it.’ “
Worth Noting
It’s been a rough few months for Dick Jonckowski, the Shakopee-based sports emcee and Gophers public address announcer. In April he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and in June the basement in his home was heavily damaged by water. In early July he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and is receiving chemotherapy.
Jonckowski’s niece, Michelle Beisner, is married to Joe Buck, the Fox baseball play-by-play announcer, who invited Jonckowski to join him in the broadcast booth for the MLB All-Star Game in Minneapolis last month. Jonckowski couldn’t accept the invitation because he was in the hospital but Buck extended best wishes during the telecast.
Jonckowski told Sports Headliners his cancer is curable, and he appreciates the support he’s received from friends. “I’ve heard from people from all over the country,” Jonckowski said. “I should be fine.”
The basement at his house is being remodeled after the water damage and Jonckowski is planning to sell about 60 percent of his extensive sports memorabilia collection that for years has been kept at his home. He has about 80 boxes of memorabilia and likely will have a sale in late August.
No one has ever won the 3M Championship in consecutive years but 2013 champ Tom Pernice Jr. is optimistic he can change that. “My game is in a good place,” he told Sports Headliners yesterday. “My putting is in good shape and you need to putt well this week because you need to shoot low.”
Pernice said he is playing as well or better now than last year at this time. He finished tied for third in the recent Senior British Open, a tournament won by Bernhard Langer who will also be here for the 3M Championship that starts today and concludes on Sunday at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. Langer has twice won the 3M.
Why hasn’t anyone won consecutively in the senior tour event here? “You know I have no idea,” Pernice said with a laugh. “Golf is really a funny game. Several players have won more than one time (but) it’s just the way it goes.”
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer after being asked yesterday to evaluate the coverage work of rookie linebacker Anthony Barr: “Coverage is great. He moves well. He’s got a good idea. Somebody was telling me that he takes copious notes in the meetings. He’s got pages and pages of them…so he’s very, very into trying to learn what we’re trying to do and teach.
“He’s got a lot of raw, athletic ability that helps in the coverage aspect of things. There’s times when he may pull off of somebody a little bit too soon…he’s got to do better at (that).”
The Jefferson Football Golf Classic is today at Dwan Golf Club in Bloomington. In 13 years the event has raised about $45,000 to assist 39 former Bloomington Jefferson High School football players with college expenses. Event organizers are Rich Bird, Dennis Kane, Stan Skjei and Larry Swartout.
Nate Hanson, the 27-year-old Chanhassen native and former Gopher, is a first baseman with the Twins AAA Red Wings farm club. He is hitting .247 with two home runs and 11 RBI in 77 at bats.
Josmil Pinto, who could well be the successor to Kurt Suzuki as the Twins starting catcher, needs work behind the plate and is only hitting .250 with five home runs and 18 RBI in 96 at bats with the Red Wings. Unlike Hanson, the 25-year old Pinto is on the Twins’ 40-man roster.
Writing for the July 30 Gopherillustrated.com, Ryan James reported that highly recruited DeLaSalle guard Jarvis Johnson lists Minnesota, Baylor, Michigan State, Maryland, UNLV, Wichita State, and Wisconsin as schools he has heard from the most this summer.
The Minnesota Senior Games begin today at the University of St. Thomas with about 1,500 athletes ages 50 and over participating. The games go through August 9 and events include 5k and 10k races, archery, badminton, basketball, billiards, bowling, cycling, disc golf, golf, horseshoes, pickleball, racquetball, shuffleboard, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track and field and volleyball. Events will be held at sites in Bloomington, Eagan, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Athletes can qualify for the 2015 National Senior Games that will be held in Minnesota July 3-16.