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Texas Rangers fans are the most loyal in baseball?
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Texas Rangers fans were voted the most loyal by Forbes magazine
Observable evidence and statistical studies don't always agree.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote a story today about a Forbes magazine study that said Texas Rangers fans were the most loyal in baseball.
This obviously doesn't coincide with the final bit of my last post, where I basically said that Rangers fans were outdone by the traveling New York spectators when the Yankees were in town.
The anti-Alex boos were the loudest noises in The Ballpark, followed closely by the anti-Derek Jeter boos and the "Lets go Yankees" cheers from the New York fans.
I will say the Rangers fans were wrong on that one.
How can this be? I'm going to pull a Bill Clinton and point with my thumb at the definition of "loyal."
Here's what Forbes said about the issue, according to the Star-Telegram:
The Forbes formula doesn’t so much stress how many fans attend the games, but the consistency with which they show up regardless of their team’s winning percentage and the ticket prices they pay to do so.
After paying nearly forty bucks for two upper-deck seats on a Wednesday, Forbes is starting to make more sense. The S-T dug a little deeper.
The Rangers’ attendance has been the steadiest during the time frame (starting in 1991) the study covered. Catcher Gerald Laird said he’d rather have a devoted core of fans than the fair-weather variety who might show up in droves but only during the good years.
To me, the explanation for this is simple - we're in DFW, where people know their sports, love to watch those sports and have enough cash with which to screw off that it doesn't really matter how mediocre the team is.
The Rangers fan base would obviously be better off if the team were a winner. But congratulations on your new label, Rangers fans.
But, I will stick by my observation while at Wednesday's game. And I'll also point out that, while people may consistently overpay to see the Rangers, no study can determine how into the game a fan base is.
That is where Forbes and I continue to disagree.
