Miami/South Florida has a reputation as a "front runner" town. Attendence improves for playoffs or for "event" games - playing teams with big stars or teams that have large fan bases in South Florida. Heat play to SRO, but that didn't happen until Shaq came to town. Look at the Marlins - they won two championships in less than ten years, have fiielded very respectable teams in others, and they have lousy attendence. The beloved Dolphins - this is a football town - are enjoying their first uptick in season ticket sales in years - as i recall, the last time they were inthe post-season (that was a while back!), they didn't sell out the stadium.
As for sports radio, WQAM is the top dog, but their numbers are a fraction of what they were a couple of years ago. Some poor programming and personnel decisions, combined with the addition of another sports talker have really chopped numbers away. They used to kill in the key male demos, now they are okay, but nothing like they once were. I think it's telling that the reason they have any numbers at all is because of their 900 pound gorilla mid-day show - Neil Rogers - and that isn't even a sports show!
Their so-called "competitor", WAXY is LMA'd ...some would argue they have better local morning and afternoon shows than WQAM (I said it could be ARGUED, not that it s a fact), but they are the second sports station in a market that's not all that good even for one. Although WAXY "stole" the Dolphins from QAM, it really hasn't had a big effect on their numbers. They are beaten by the liberal talk station for crying out loud. WAXY has a big local host payroll, pays huge rights fees to the Dolphins. Plus a big LMA fee. Don't know how they will survive.
On the other hand, I am told that the sports station in West Palm Beach, despite rarely even showing up in the "book", actually does quite well. Which shows that the sports format can be profitable - even without ratings - but you have to have a smart business plan.
