Pecos League commissioner Andrew Dunn isn’t happy with his decision to play a series of games in Carlsbad (NM), as evidenced by a few majorly blunt quotes in the local paper. The hope was that a strong turnout could put the community on the map for 2012 expansion, but poor attendance (a mere 23 for Game 1 on Sunday) puts that idea in serious jeopardy. Read more here.
Andrew Dunn on Carlsbad Series: ‘Worst Decision I’ve Made…’
Filed under Market & Location, Rankings & Attendance
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I want baseball in Carlsbad
It takes a little more than a 3 game series to write a city off. A year or more of planning, publicity, an organization up and running and selling group tickets and (almost) nightly promotions is what gets fans in the stand. A good team helps, too, but the fans need to know the Pecos League is a heck of a lot better than the Continental League. They’ve got some players starting last year, sitting on the bench this time around. The quality of fielding/defense and pitching is very good for short-season, entry level independent ball.
I do hope the fans in its present cities and those where expansion is targeted take a look. Nobody is unrealistic about differences between the last time pro ball was in Carlsbad or Alpine. Netflix, satellite TV and the Internet weren’t around. But get out, bring the kids and make this a fun family affair. It’s a hoot and I can vouch for the fun at the fringes of the league’s present limits in Alpine, TX.
Oh…one more thing. You need some covered grandstands and lights to get fans out of the Southestern sun and seatbacks. Nothing worse than those ancient planks called ‘bleachers”.
Given that this league claims to be able to survive on per-game attendances of 200, I kinda doubt they’d have the means for large publicity or group ticket sales efforts even if they wanted to…
holy…. i once heard that any publicity is good publicity but am starting to wonder how much weight that holds.. Looks like Andrew Dunn is going to be haunted by the “Chair Incident” for some time.
IT WAS 105 DEGREES AND WINDY. NOT GOOD! GIVE CARLSBAD A CHANCE!