There are certain cities with MLB teams that just seem like baseball towns. Sometimes that is because baseball is the only major sport, sometimes not. So what makes a baseball town? What are the odds that Raleigh is the kind of city that could be a baseball town? I think there are a few ingredients-some concrete and some ephemeral. Most baseball towns are those with a long history or legacy of having baseball. Obviously, that’s not helping us much here. Well, I take that back- there is plenty of baseball in NC history, just not at the major league level. There are no generational MLB fans of a Raleigh team.
An interesting thing about baseball, though, is that you don’t have to be a fan of the sport itself as much as, say, the NFL. I’ll explain myself- that is what I do here afterall. Think about how much an NFL fan watches other teams play. A good amount- for the sport itself. If you’re watching football on a Thursday night, chances are it is not your team. If you are watching Sundays, there are three timeslots- two of three will be games that feature not-your-team. Monday night, same thing. Make no mistake, the NFL will eventually find a way to have games on every night of the week and six out of seven nights it won’t be your-team.
In contrast, I love baseball, and even I rarely watch games that involve teams other than my team because my team is playing just about everyday. To follow baseball is to follow your-team. It’s there for you every day, but you don’t have to watch every day. When can you watch, tomorrow? That’s fine, your team plays tomorrow. The point is, you don’t need a current population of baseball fans to end up with a town full of home-team fans.
But we do have plenty of baseball fans in Raleigh, they are just fans of other teams. Many are Braves fans who grew up with TBS or simply inherited the closest proximity team. Much of Raleigh is now non-locals, transplants. Where do they come from? A ton come from baseball-rich cultural areas: New England, New York, New Jersey, etc. These are baseball-town places. And maybe you don’t get first generation fans swapping teams to the Raleigh Rickshaws (not a serious idea), but a good chance those baseball-culture fans pass the game down to their kids- who are far more likely to become fans of the local team. My kids have grown up going to Durham Bulls games. That organization has a cultural impact on the fans of this region. It is a well-run, fun, historic team and is well-supported.
Speaking of support, one indicator of a baseball town is how many fans show up when the team is not winning. I think this may be a flawed metric, though. Some teams have iconic ballparks that draw fans to the building year-round. Pause here to think of how important a ballpark’s design and theme might be. Some teams have ballparks in a section of town that draws visitors to the area- beyond just the ballpark. Camden Yards is just part of the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore… and if you want to hang out in that (best) part of town, you might as well take in a game. If you’re in Chicago, you should probably check out Wrigleyville, and if you’re going to Wrigleyville, you’re going to Wrigley for a game. Here I’ll note that a ballpark in Raleigh in its own area (rather than the obvious complex area alongside the Hurricanes) increases the chances for Raleigh to be a baseball town.
What does the Hurricanes’ attendance tell us about Raleigh fans? The data is mixed- amazing in the last few years (multiple years of 100% sell-out seasons!), but during the years of less competitive teams it was down to 60-70% attendance. That’s pretty typical for an NHL team. 70% of a ballpark is a huge crowd actually, so maybe the cross-sport comparison isn’t useful.
Would Raleigh sports radio heavily feature baseball coverage? This is another indicator of a baseball town. During spring training the NCAA college basketball tournament would likely dominate. In early summer, hockey playoffs would likely dominate (if the Hurricanes are in the playoffs). Other than that, there isn’t much to compete with until fall with the mix of NCAA football and Panthers coverage. It is reasonable to expect baseball would become the default for sport media coverage in Raleigh. The same logic applies to corporate support. Premium seating and a corporate base are part of the equation for a healthy franchise. The RTP tech and pharma corporate sector should be a strong base and it is likely that baseball becomes the background noise of corporate sport support.
More than all of the above, there is a certain je ne sais quoi about Raleigh that makes it feel like a baseball town. That is some French to disguise the fact that I just can’t quite articulate exactly why. I don’t think the numbers back up, for instance, that Raleigh is a more family-centric city than any others… but that feels true. Is Raleigh bold or brash? No, it’s more subtle. It’s more nuanced. That feels baseball town. When people come to visit, where do you take them? To the obvious tourist thing that doesn’t exist? I was downtown a couple weeks ago and met someone looking to profile Raleigh. They wanted advice. The best I could do was to suggest trying to cover the city as a big town- as a place that has city aspects, but mostly is liveable. It’s a great place to live, but to tour? There is no ocean, no big river… there’s not even a dang main fountain! Charlotte, for example, has bigger skyscrapers and act-big energy. The NFL and NBA fit there. Raleigh is just more of a … baseball town.
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