By John Byczkowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds fan Karl Bolinger of Florence (left) and Cincinnati Reds ticket seller Nick Brown discuss seat location as Bolinger buys tickets earlier this month. (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

The Cincinnati Reds believe their first year in the new Great American Ball Park will produce one of their best-ever attendance figures. But it appears that many fans are waiting to buy tickets.

Based on tickets available on the Reds' Web site, the team appears to have sold upward of 1.7 million tickets for this season and have sold out five of 81 games this year, according to Enquirer research.

That's a fair start. But the Reds are opening a new ballpark during a war, in an economy that threatens to drop back into a recession, with a team that lost 84 games last year. The Reds have much work to do if they hope to break their all-time attendance record of 2,629,708 set in 1976.

Among the fans holding back: Brad Shell of Mount Carmel. The high school teacher said he plans to attend 15 to 20 games this year, but he has bought only two tickets for one game so far.

Shell said he prefers to buy tickets once he reaches the stadium. But he said he also knows good seats may be hard to come by on game days because the new ballpark has just 42,263 seats; about 13,000 fewer than Cinergy Field.

"We are so used to having ticket availability," he said. "I don't think it's hit everybody there's a lot less tickets available. If the Reds get off to a good start, (ticket sales) will pick up."

Before single-game tickets went on sale March 1, Reds chief operating officer John Allen said he thought he believed this season would be one of the Reds' five best of all time. That would mean at least 2.5 million tickets sold for 81 home games, or an average of about 31,000 per game.

The Enquirer's review, however, shows fewer than 20 games are approaching 30,000 or more tickets sold. A similar review by the Enquirer in 2001 estimated the Reds had sold about 1.7 million tickets by Opening Day. The team finished that year with attendance of less than 1.9 million, after winning just 66 games, the team's worst record since 1981.

Other teams that have opened new ballparks in recent years have put up ticket sales comparable to or better than the Reds. The Milwaukee Brewers had sold 2 million tickets by opening day for their new ballpark in 2001, on their way to drawing 2.8 million for the year. The Pittsburgh Pirates had sold out 10 games by the first game in their new ballpark in 2001, and eventually drew more than 2.4 million fans.

Asked last week if he still believes the Reds will draw at least 2.5 million, Allen said, "I think so. I still believe things are going well."

The five sellouts are today's opening game against the Pirates, the "Marty and Joe Dual Bobblehead" giveaway game May 24 against the Florida Marlins, and the three games against the New York Yankees June 3-5 (standing room tickets at $10 each are available).

The two exhibition games this weekend sold out only after Reds' CEO Carl Lindner bought 12,000 tickets.

Series selling well

Selling well, Allen said, are weekend series throughout the year, and games against the Chicago Cubs, who usually draw well in Cincinnati.

According to the Enquirer's review:

• The Reds have 12 games for which $11 upper deck seats are the best available. All but one are weekend games, and include some historically weak-drawing teams, such as San Diego, Milwaukee, Florida and Philadelphia.

• There are another 11 games where the best seats available are $15 dollar seats low in the outfield. Again, all but one are weekend games. These games include the weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays June 6-8.

• Bobbleheads are still popular. The Marty-and-Joe bobblehead night, to honor the Reds broadcasters, is sold out. Tickets are getting scarce for the Austin Kearns bobblehead night July 19 against Houston, and the Gapper mascot bobblehead night Aug. 1 against San Francisco.

Allen added that group sales - blocks of 25 or more seats - are double what they were a year ago.

"Certainly if groups are going to pick a year to come see the Reds, this is a great candidate," he said.

But there are signs Reds fans' old habits die hard. While Opening Day sells out, other games during the first week of the season are typically poorly attended. The Reds Web site shows tickets available in most of the ballpark, including $50 club seats, for games during the first week against the Pirates and the Cubs.

"There's interest, but not a sense of urgency," said Jeff McDonald of Riverfront Choice, a Cincinnati ticket broker. "If someone's made the decision to go, they're buying tickets. But we still have some good April tickets at incredibly cheap prices. We've got games at face value."

Fans interviewed at Saturday's exhibition game agreed that there's little urgency to buy tickets now for later in the season, and they had many reasons.

Patrick McCabe, a paramedic who lives in Silverton, said he loves the new ballpark and figures he'll come down for a half-dozen games this year, but hasn't bought tickets yet.

"When people see how nice it is, how fan friendly it is, it'll pick up," he said.

Skipping the service charge

Dave Whitacre of Columbus said he buys tickets only at the ballpark, because he hates to pay service charges when buying by telephone or over the Internet. Tickets.com, which handles Reds ticket sales, levies a service charge of $3.32 per ticket, plus a $2.25 handling charge per order.

"That'll buy you a hot dog," Whitacre said.

Chris Smedley comes to Reds games five or six times a year from Muncie, Ind. Regardless of the new park, he predicts that Cincinnati fans won't come unless the team is winning.

"This is a baseball town, but people are conservative with their money," he said.

"If they (the Reds) win, they'll sell more tickets."

Jim Daniel, a retiree who lives in Covington, said he comes to as many as 30 games a year, but usually waits until game day to buy tickets.

The Reds losing ways, he said, might be keeping fans away.

"The Reds just aren't playing that great a ballgame to attract people," Daniel said. "When the season starts, I'm hoping they'll have bigger crowds."

Winning is half of it, said Mike Dowd, a truck driver from Colerain Township.

"I think people are scared of coming down here" after the unrest of April 2001. But Dowd said the new ballpark is good enough to pull people back downtown.

"Once they come down here and see it, they'll come back," he said.

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E-mail johnb@enquirer.com

Hot games

The toughest Cincinnati Reds tickets this year, according to an Enquirer review of the Reds' Web site (www.cincinnatireds.com) :

• Sold out are today's Opening Day and the May 24 "Marty and Joe Dual Bobblehead" giveaway night against the Florida Marlins.

• All seats sold out for the June 3-5 series against the New York Yankees - that team's first visit to Cincinnati since the 1976 World Series. Some $10 standing-room tickets available.

• A July 5 game against the New York Mets features a ballpark replica giveaway. Just $10 bleacher seats and $9 upper deck seats are available. Tickets are also selling well for the July 4 Mets game.

• The hottest summer weekend series might be Aug. 1-3 against the San Francisco Giants. The best tickets available are $11 upper-deck seats, and the Aug. 1 game includes a bobblehead giveaway.