Nationals face challenges, changes as they enter their fifth season
With Opening Day just three days away, the Nationals are making final preparations for their fifth season of Major League Baseball since the sport returned to the District.
It will be one fraught with challenges. The Nats must improve their on-field product and develop younger players who can be part of a contending team in the future. However, the organization has to accomplish this in the midst of a sputtering economy that makes marketing a professional sports franchise difficult at best.
GET THEREIt’s been a long time since last season when the Nationals ran ads begging fans to take Metro. This season, there are plenty of other options to get to Nationals Park. Water taxi » Claire Schaefer, deputy executive director of the Capitol Riverfront business district, said a pier was expected to be finished by late spring. That would allow fans to take water taxis to the ballpark from National Harbor, Georgetown and Alexandria. The pier will be at Diamond Teague Park, near the intersection of Potomac Avenue and First Street SE.Circulator buses » This is the biggest change from last season. Metro’s N22 bus route has been eliminated. Now, Circulator buses will run from Union Station to the Navy Yard Metro. The bus makes stops along the way at Eastern Market and the many bars and restaurants along Pennsylvania Avenue and Eighth Street SE. Buses run every 10 minutes until midnight during the week and for any games that start after 2 p.m. Saturdays. Fare is $1 for a three-hour ride, 50 cents with a Metrorail transfer and free for the disabled and elderly. Nats Express Shuttle » Park your car for free at RFK. The shuttle again will run from Lot 8 to the Navy Yard Metro station, which is just five blocks from Nationals Park. A round-trip ride takes about 10 minutes.– Brian McNally
All of that after a spring training in which general manager Jim Bowden, embroiled in an FBI investigation about skimming money from bonus payments to prospects from the Dominican Republic, resigned his position. Bowden maintains his innocence, but his departure — on the heels of a miserable 59-102 season — further cemented the Nats’ reputation as an organization in turmoil.
Optimism always runs high in Florida at this time of year, however. The addition of free agent slugger Adam Dunn and the return of several injured players, including first baseman Nick Johnson, gives fans hope that a leap in the standings is possible.
The Nats return home from spring training Saturday night for a final exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles at Nationals Park. They then head back to Florida for Opening Day against the Marlins on Monday, the start of a six-game, seven-day road trip. The home opener is April 13 against the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies.
“This [spring training] was something different,” said Nationals team President Stan Kasten, who oversaw a similar rebuilding project 20 years ago as an Atlanta Braves executive. “It required concentration of the mind. It required a staff coming together. I think all of those things happened. We got behind this very quickly.”
But Kasten also understands how hard it is to build a fan base during a recession and after a 102-loss season. The Nationals, embraced during their first year at RFK Stadium in 2005, have seen attendance plummet as losses have mounted.
Despite playing in new Nationals Park, Washington posted the lowest total attendance for a team playing in a new stadium since that boom began with Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992. It drew just 2.32 million fans in 80 games in 2008.
That left the Nats 19th in attendance among 30 teams. In the first year at RFK, the team drew 2.7 million fans, which was 11th overall. That number dropped to 2.1 million in 2006 and 1.9 million in 2007. Television ratings last season were by far the lowest in baseball, and the home opener April 13 still is not sold out, according to team officials.
“There’s no question that our fans are experiencing some very, very tough times. We’re aware of it. We’re doing many things to try to deal with that,” Kasten said. “That’s why we’ve lowered ticket prices. We’ve made smaller ticket packages. We’ve got family-value ticket packages, family-value food packages. … We’re doing our best to respond.”
