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Is baseball in Florida dead?

Baseball in Florida has been struggling for a while. 

 By now, it has become some weird chicken-and-egg game of (1) not having the revenue to hold onto expensive talent and (2) not having talent to bring in the attendance numbers they need.  

 And what we don't know is how long this game will play out.  The Marlins attendance numbers are barely above what the Montreal Expos were bringing in and hey, we all know how well that worked out.

 The problem hasn't always been talent.  Just recently, the Marlins had a core lineup of Dee Gordon, Christian Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton, and Marcell Ozuna.  In fact, over the years -- going way back to their two championship runs -- the Marlins have somehow found a way to accumulate talent.  But the attendance numbers just weren't there and we're left wondering why.

 Some of it could be pricing.  The seats just may not be cheap enough to convince the fans to come to the ballpark.  But Miami is really no different than many other franchises, socioeconomically speaking.  The fans exist.
Some of it is systemic, as baseball attendance is down across the board.  There is not a lot that can be done about this trend, although we're going to find out if 2019 -- the year of the superstar -- can buck the disappointing attendance trend.  

 Some of it may be culture.  

 In fact, most of it may be culture.

 We're planning on doing a deeper dive across franchises and sports, but our goal is to do a statistical analysis examining the relationship between a team's culture (which could include such objective measures as payroll) and its attendance.  

 The theory I will posit here, and leave until we have the time to perform the full statistical analysis is this: the Marlins do not have a winning culture and doing so creates years.  There is genuine mistrust between fans and ownership (yes, despite the change in ownership).  Having spent some of my formative years in Florida, I am painfully aware of what it was like to watch the Marlins.  They'd build an incredible team, win the whole stinking thing, and watch the team be demolished immediately following their victory parade.  

 A fan base can tolerate many things.  Losing seasons.  Tough injuries.  And mediocre coaching.  But a fan base is smart enough to figure out when it's being sold, on purpose, an inferior product.  The Marlins, for years, have attempted to cut costs in hopes of a profit, only to find out that it may never be able to regain its form enough to build a successful team.

 Alas, there is no reason to think baseball in Florida is altogether dead.  Spring training is wildly successful and Florida's local economy benefits significantly from the games.  But baseball in Miami may very well be on life support.

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