Not To Be A Pest, But the (G)nats Aint Drawing Flies!

I noticed this morning that Grandy and Andy have gotten around to discussing what I've been reporting for the past week (here and here)... that the Nationals are having real problems drawing fans. For the record, the team has played seven games now at its new 43,000 seat ballpark, including a weekend set against the Braves... On Friday night, a beautiful night for baseball, 28,051 tickets were sold... 32,532 on Saturday... and on Sunday, the teams drew 29,151. Seven games... one sellout.

Now, I'm sure there are still plenty of fans out there who will eventually make their way down there to catch a game, and that some folks may be waiting for the initial traffic problems to shake out before they venture forth. But here's the real truth, folks. 1/ There is not enough, and there will never BE enough affordable parking... and 2/ They've already expanded the Navy Yard Metro station to handle subway traffic, but even with the expansion, the station can only handle 15,000 people an hour. That means it could take 2 hours to get every fan on a train on a busy night.

Now let me ask you... If you had to wait 2 hours just to get ON a train after a game, how many games would YOU go to? I thought so. I'm telling you - We've got trouble my friends... right here in (Anacostia) River City...