MLB Per Capita Attendance Shows Which Cities Truly Support Their Teams - Business Insider

If this chart is "true" then I owe the Rays fans an apology. But is it "true" as in which fans "truly" support their teams?

If you look at the issue as Business Insider does, on a relative basis, then yes the plucky small-market cities of Milwaukee, Cincinnati and St. Louis are the best fans in MLB. Even then however, the Rays only slightly lead the A's -- who are looking to relocate to San Jose -- but at least they do have the honor of leading the Marlins who have their own unique issues ( but they also have two rings ).

from the Business Insider:
CHART: MLB Per Capita Attendance Shows Which Cities Truly Support Their Teams - Business Insider:

When it comes to attendance in Major League Baseball, a sport that often has six home games in a single week, teams in the largest cities have a distinct advantage.

The attendance figures for big market clubs can also paint a misleading picture that suggests smaller market teams have poor attendance. In reality, many of the smaller market teams are actually doing pretty well considering the size of their metropolitan area.

Below is a look at the per capita attendance for each MLB team based on 2012 census estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Government of Canada. The Brewers show the strongest attendance with their average attendance (31,542) representing 2.01% of Milwaukee's population (1.8 million). That is nearly four times higher than the average MLB team (0.51%).

'via Blog this'

So this chart on the surface says that attendance relative to market size is more important than attendance measured on an absolute basis. That's fine, except that virtually everything else of importance is measured on an absolute basis rather than a relative basis. Maybe if you could handicap payroll on a relative size basis or better yet wins and losses, it would be a better world. But it's not the world we live in.

Unfortunately boys and girls, size does matter.

On a relative basis, is what Business Insider trying to show true? Absolutely true, but on an absolute basis, definitely not true. In my opinion, a better measure of which fans "truly" best support their teams would not be a relative / absolute attendance comparison but would rather focus on the level of team's attendance and how it ebbs and flows in relation to wins and losses. Are fans the "fair weather" variety -- as some have accused Miami among others of being historically --  or does attendance fluctuate dramatically relative to wins and losses?

Maybe I'll work on that project as well.

TO DO LIST:
Study Giants limp bat speed issue
Study Rays limp attendance issue

I'm going to have to free up some more time in my schedule to solve these two important issues.