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Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange
That's like a lot of clubs—there are plenty of econometric studies which have looked at the connection between on-the-field performance and attendance, and the correlation is strong.
Recall also that in 2001 MLB began to openly talk about contraction—with the Expos named as one of the two clubs targetted for elimination. That's not exactly going to draw fans to the ballpark.
Will it be any worse than the Marlins or Rays?
Attendance increases often lag a year. That is, while performance in the current season will often result in an attendance boost, it is also the performance the season prior which also affects attendance. (Again, see the various studies that have been done on the subject. There are plenty of MLB examples of a club winning during a season, but the attendance not really going up substantially until the next season.)
Please provide citations that your view of those parks as "dumps" was widely shared by others.
New stadiums were about revenue generation. As in the newer parks were much better at generating revenue than the parks they replaced.
The Pirates, incidentally, have seen their attendance go from 1.6 million in 2010 (when the club was 57-105) to a hair under 2.5 million in 2015. That's an average of 30.845 per game—an entirely healthy figure (the MLB average was 30,517). The Twins drew over 3 million in 2010 and 2011; it dipped to 2.2 million last year, the fifth consecutive season the club has not been competitive.
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Thats because the Pirates have finally started winning, though they are however still considered to be a small market team, but you can bet as soon as the start losing again, they will have a massive drop in attendance, say the Phillies for example where winning like the Pirates, they would end up with some of the best attendance in the league.
And yes there are alot of fair weather teams everywhere but whats the point of giving a brand new team, destined to suck for a few years at least in a city that you know will not support a poor team, when there are already teams trying to get out of the same situation.
And as far as being worse then Tampa and Miami, history says its very possible, and even if they where on equal ground with these two teams, why would you put a team in a place to set them up to have the same struggles?
As far as the stadiums being dumps. Go look at them, take a tour through them, they are nostalgic stadiums but if you look at them strictly as buildings and say trying to put said expansion teams in those building, there's no way in hell they would get approved. They are all falling apart and take enormous amount of renovations on a yearly basis to keep operational. Just proves that real fans will support a team they love regardless of the stadium they play in, and love that stadium because thats where THERE TEAM plays, not because its new and shinny.