Come back soon
South Florida baseball fans filled loanDepot park for several games in the Caribbean Series. But history tells us they won't be back when the hometown team takes the field next month.
If the success of last week’s Caribbean Series and last year’s World Baseball Classic at loanDepot park has proven anything, it’s that South Florida is flush with devoted baseball fans who will flock to the ballpark to root for a team about which they care.
But what it’s also reminded us is, after 31 National League seasons, very few of those people who are passionate about baseball have any interest in the hometown major league club.
Venezuelans packed the park to watch Team Venezuela. Dominicans flooded into Little Havana to see Team Dominican. Puerto Ricans were eager to root on their beloved Boricuas.
And many fans decked out in red, white and blue happily bought tickets to watch a Team USA squad comprised of household-name big league superstars perform on a global stage at the WBC.
But no matter how much social media real estate the Marlins take up promoting the great atmosphere in the ballpark for these international showdowns—and no matter how much they attempt to tie securing highly desirable WBC and Caribbean Series tickets to committing to purchase Marlins tickets—they continue to run into one brick wall after another in trying to convert local baseball fans into Marlins fans.
That’s not to suggest they’re wasting their time by hosting these events. The fact is, the WBC and the Caribbean Series were huge money makers—some might suggest lifelines—for an organization that has spent the last several years cutting corners and pinching pennies whenever possible.
That’s why I wrote in April that the Marlins need to make hosting events outside of the local 9’s annual 81 games not just a priority but their primary business.
If done properly, there could be a lot more money in it for Bruce Sherman when the Marlins aren’t playing.
Daniel Alvarez-Montes, a terrific Venezuelan baseball writer who covers the Marlins and Major League Baseball, tweeted last Wednesday that team sources told him the Marlins would make between $15 million and $16 million from hosting the 9-day Caribbean Series. The tweet was later deleted, and I can’t confirm whether or not the information he shared from his sources is accurate.
But whatever that final figure may be, the fact is the Marlins made a huge amount of money in the last week and a half. Still, they remain the only one of the 30 major league clubs that has not signed a single major league free agent during an offseason in which the other 29 teams have combined to pay out more than $2.1 billion, even with several prominent free agents still on the market.1
The low-revenue Kansas City Royals, coming off a 106-loss season, last week committed at least $288.7 million to young shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. Meanwhile, the Marlins haggled over $275,000 with arbitration-eligible center fielder Jazz Chisholm, who they have spent the last 2 years promoting as a face of the franchise.
Sherman, who last spring pledged that any money made from increased attendance in 2023 would be put directly into the team, saw attendance increase last year and just made a windfall by opening the doors of his ballpark to the Caribbean Series.
While I’m not a fan of an owner telling fans to buy tickets and then to trust him to do the right thing with their money, particularly with the Marlins’ complicated ownership history, people did, in fact, show up in slightly larger numbers last year as the Marlins made an unexpected run to an NL Wild Card.
And yet Sherman has not spent $1 on a major league free agent this winter.
The Marlins owner was in the ballpark Friday night when Tiburones de La Guaira, representing Venezuela, beat Tigres del Licey of the Dominican Republic to capture the Caribbean Series crown.
Also on hand were 36,677 rabid fans, more than have attended any of the 431 Marlins home games since Sherman purchased the team.
When might that many fans squeeze into loanDepot park again?
Well, the Marlins have applied to MLB to host games during the next World Baseball Classic in 2026. And while the Caribbean Series has already been awarded to Mexicali, Mexico in 2025, to San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2026 and to Hermosillo, Mexico in 2027, the Marlins could make a bid to bring the event back to Miami when it’s next available in 2028.
But other than that, history tells us the upper deck at loanDepot park will be closed, beer lines will be short and plenty of good seats will be available any time the Marlins take the field.
That is unless Sherman wants to put some of his Caribbean Series largesse into building a Marlins team South Florida baseball fans will finally want to support.
I maintain the Marlins will, in fact, sign a major league free agent to a modest deal at some point between now and Opening Day, largely so people can no longer point to them as the only team in MLB to not spend a dollar to sign a free agent this offseason.
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That’s hard to answer definitively, Bob, because of the way the prices fluctuate by day of the week, start time and match-up for the WBC, the CS and the Marlins.
For the CS, they promoted that tickets started at $10. But $10 tickets were not available for all games.
That price variance is particularly evident with Marlins games. The cheapest Opening Day ticket available is $26 (home run porch, since they’re not selling Vista Level or down the lines on the Legends Level…if they’re still using those names). That exact same seat that’s $26 on Opening Day is $18 the next night then $23, $21 and $10 for the 3 games after that depending on the day of week, the start time and the opponent. So they have 5 different prices for the exact same seat for the first 5 games of the season. That same seat is $17 when the Phillies are in on a Saturday in May and $23 the next Saturday with the Mets in town.
Are Marlins tickets priced too high? Probably. I have a family of 5. I know all too well what it costs to take my family to a sporting event—tickets, parking, concessions.
They’ve tried various deals on different days of the week, but discounting tickets too often could tick off season ticket holders, who paid full price months earlier.
Here’s what I think they should try: Spending what it would take to put a really good team on the field.
The point of what I wrote is that South Florida baseball fans have proven they will go to loanDepot park to watch teams they care about. The Marlins need to make people care. Announcing new assistant general managers isn’t what makes fans care.
Glenn, is there a major difference in the cost of a regular season ticket vs the Caribbean and WBC? I know that being in
the hunt for the playoffs is the major factor
regarding fan support but was curious about ticket costs.