Warszawski: First place hasn’t helped Grizzlies keep pace at ticket booth

Thank you, Fresno-area sports fans, for answering a question that has puzzled me for years.

If the Grizzlies were actually a good team, one capable of winning the Pacific Coast League championship, would more of you actually care?

The answer is a definitive, “No.” And based on current attendance, the lowest in Chukchansi Park history, it could be argued fewer care than ever.

With about a month to go in the regular season, the Grizzlies are in first place by the largest margin of any division leader. Not since 1998, the franchise’s inaugural season at Beiden Field, have they enjoyed such a winning pace.

Yet what does it take to get folks talking and buying tickets? Tacos.

Nothing against tacos, or Tacos in this case. Thursday night’s Taco Truck Throwdown 5 (co-founded by friend and ex-Bee colleague Mike Osegueda) is a stellar promotion, the kind for which the Grizzlies have become nationally known.

Based on advance ticket sales (more than 11,500 as of Tuesday night) and expected walk-ups, attendance for the Taco Truck Throwdown will even surpass the season-high Fourth of July crowd of 12,589.

Still, it’s a safe bet many of the people waiting in those long lines have never heard of Carlos Correa. Or even realize the Grizzlies switched major league affiliations.

In other words, they’re not real baseball fans.

Real baseball fans would know the Grizzlies, under manager Tony DeFrancesco, haven’t had a losing month. They would know the Grizzlies play a smart brand of baseball. That they’ve continued to win despite having numerous players (including Correa, the odds-on favorite for American League Rookie of the Year) promoted to the majors.

Roaming the main concourse this week I saw baseball fans of all ages and persuasions. I saw many wearing Giants World Series T-shirts, several in Dodgers caps and one guy in an Athletics jersey with “FINGERS” across the back. I saw more Astros logos than you might expect. I saw lots and lots of Grizzlies apparel.

But more than anything, I saw rows of empty seats. More empty seats than ever, according to the raw numbers.

This is the 14th season of minor league baseball in downtown Fresno. It may end up with the dual distinction of being the most successful and lowest attended.

Through Tuesday night, the Grizzlies had an average attendance of 6,260 fans. That’s 521 per game fewer than the full-season average last year (6,781) and 291 below 2012 (6,551), which is the lowest number since Chukchansi Park opened in 2002.

The Grizzlies also are losing ground in relation to their peers. Never before have they ranked lower than seventh in the PCL in average attendance. This year, they’re ninth.

So there’s the answer to my question. A first-place ballclub has not spurred more Fresno-area baseball fans to attend Grizzlies games. In fact, fewer of them do.

There can be no underestimating the strength of the Giants brand in Northern and Central California. Up in Sacramento, the city that swiped the Giants affiliation from Fresno after a 17-year run, average attendance is up 541 per game (8,561 to 9,102) even with the River Cats on pace for their worst record in team history.

The recent spate of affiliation switches around the PCL impacts Fresno in tangential ways, too.

Used to be the Grizzlies could always count on good crowds for the Albuquerque series. It was the Triple-A version of Giants vs. Dodgers, and passions (and interest) ran high.

Just look at last season. The Grizzlies had seven home dates against Albuquerque in 2014, including a rainout-imposed doubleheader. Attendance for those games averaged 8,768.

Now that Grizzlies-Isotopes has become Astros vs. Rockies (with the Dodgers moving their Triple-A team to Oklahoma City), it’s just another series. Albuquerque was in town from Saturday through Tuesday, and attendance averaged 5,009.

The PCL’s unbalanced schedule makes things tougher, since the Grizzlies host fellow Pacific Conference member Albuquerque eight games every season and only get Oklahoma City of the American Conference for four games every other year.

This year wasn’t one of them, meaning local Dodgers fans don’t get to see their team’s prospects and the Grizzlies don’t get the bump at the turnstile.

Other aspects of the schedule haven’t been in Fresno’s favor, either. The Grizzlies played 11 home games in June and eight in July, few enough for even interested fans to lose track, before finishing the season with 25 home games from Aug. 1 through Labor Day weekend.

Meaning there’s still time for attendance to catch up to previous years, or at least make up ground. Thursday night will certainly help, as should the current five-game series against the River Cats.

I’ve always wondered how Fresno-area sports fans spent their summer evenings, besides waiting for football season. It’s not like there’s a ton to do around here, and The Chuk is a great setting.

Except the Grizzlies were almost always lousy. Now that they aren’t, and backed by a front office that promotes Fresno and the Valley more aggressively than ever, the lack of response is pretty revealing.

Guess I finally have my answer. See you in the taco line.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Warszawski: First place hasn’t helped Grizzlies keep pace at ticket booth."