Firing Line
Winning Isn't Everything
By Ellis G. Cannon
Publisher, Pittsburgh Sports Report

It was predictable. Win a few games. Attendance goes up. People connect the dots.

Predictable, but wrong.

When Rob Mackowiak woke up on that fateful day in late May, he had no idea what he was about to set off. The most important development, the birth of his son, came first. To everyone else, the most dramatic was still to come.

The globe knows the drama provided by Mackowiak's walk-off grand slam in the matinee, and subsequent game tying, bottom-of-the-ninth two-run homer in the nightcap of a doubleheader with the Cubs. The table for the storyline had been set hours before. The made-for-Hollywood script even led off ESPN's "SportsCenter" that evening.

When was the last time the Pirates led off "SportsCenter?"

The excitement that followed, combined with a conveniently scheduled Pyro Night, led to big crowds. Joining the rest of the division above .500 also helped. That led to the notion that winning is all the Pirates need to draw crowds.

That's no marketing strategy. It's dangerous for anyone to believe the answer to attendance attrition, not to mention general apathy, rests with winning games.

Don't believe me. Believe the Pirates. They've spent years telling fans and media the system within which they operate prevents them from fielding a winner - in effect undermining their own product. Even if you accept that as the truth, it is nonetheless a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you sell the idea "we can't win" long enough, it kills fan support.

Baseball has problems. But the better approach is to first consider an organization's own flaws before conveniently blaming everyone else. Otherwise you turn off your own fans.

Considering baseball's economic system, an organization simply cannot have a hand in undermining its own fan support. To do so is beyond flawed. It's criminal.

Beyond the Pirates' well-chronicled attendance issues, consider the Fox television ratings for the Red Sox-Yankees Friday night national broadcast in mid-April. It was the most hyped regular season baseball event in years. It came off the best postseason in years.

Despite that, Pittsburgh's ratings were not in the top 50 television markets for the game. There may be nothing to do in Tulsa, OK or Ashville, NC, but when they are in the top 50 and a market that broadcasts the sport nearly every night from April to September isn't, something is desperately wrong.

It's an indictment. Pirates' fans can't turn around without hearing the evils of big-spending organizations, yet they would accept one here in a heartbeat. The fans also have a responsibility to ignore the doomsday stuff, difficult as that may be, and not play the sheep role so conveniently. However you cut it, there's a serious disconnect here between fans and baseball.

That problem is not solved with one weekend of Hollywood magic. It's not even solved by winning. The first step in the solution rests with breaking the self-fulfilling prophecy. It rests with creatively marketing the game, ballpark and experience to groups throughout the region, regardless of whether or not the Pirates are winning. It rests with creating a more positive mindset among its fans.

If you believe it only takes winning, you've forgotten the last decade. You've forgotten the numbers, on and off the field. You've forgotten what you've heard. You've forgotten what you've come to believe.

"Ellis Cannon's Sportsline Pittsburgh" airs weeknights, 6-8 p.m. on FM NewsTalk 104.7. Ellis is also a regular contributor on the "#1 Cochran Sports Showdown", aired Sundays at 11:35 on KDKA-TV.