Sports
Column: The Padres continue to consistently draw fans to Petco Park. It's about more than winning
The Dodgers lead the major leagues in attendance. They always do. No surprise there.
The team that ranks second in attendance is the one that has a rally towel hanging next to the home dugout, urging the players to “COMPETE FOR PETE.”
Peter Seidler lived the final decade of his life transforming the Padres into a team that would compete for San Diego. This is a small market in every way — by population, by geography, by television viewers — and Seidler simply disregarded the facts.
San Diego was not a small market because Seidler said it was not. The Padres spent big because Seidler said they should win.
And, six months after Seidler passed away, his legacy shines every night at Petco Park. The Padres — the small-market Padres — have attracted more fans this season than any team but the Dodgers.
Last year, the Padres attracted more fans than any team but the Dodgers and New York Yankees. In the four post-pandemic seasons, the Padres have ranked among the top five in attendance every season, an era in which their rosters have featured Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Xander Bogaerts, Juan Soto, Blake Snell and Josh Hader, all of them all-stars.
The warning lights flashed in the minds of fans last winter, in the wake of Seidler’s passing, when the Padres slashed payroll by one-third, traded Soto and let Snell and Hader go in free agency.
“It starts to look like, ‘Here we go again,’ ” said Tony Gwynn Jr., the former Padres outfielder and current Padres broadcaster.
Padres owner Peter Seidler, who died last November, set a tone with his ballclub that has translated into success at the gate.
(Alex Gallardo / Associated Press)
“I think it was a little bit more tempered than it was a couple years ago,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who makes his offseason home in the San Diego area, “but I think they have built something here.”
On the field, the Padres don’t have much to show for all the excitement and all the investment beyond three postseason victories over the Dodgers two years ago. They raised ticket prices by an average of 9% for the 2024 season — after raising prices by an average of 18% for the 2023 season and 20% for the 2022 season, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“If you were able to take a step back, you were able to see that this roster still had names and guys that make it nothing like it was pre-2019,” Gwynn Jr. said, referring to the heydays of the likes of Carlos Asuaje and Freddy Galvis.
“I think people can put their trust in this. I think they have shown that by showing up here. That’s with ticket prices going up, and I think that has a lot to do with the Padres keeping their word to this point.”
Indeed, after the turbulent winter, the Padres acquired pitcher Dylan Cease in March and two-time batting champion Luis Arraez two weeks ago.
The Padres capped season-ticket sales at a record 25,000. You can get on a waiting list, if you pay $100 per year for as many seats as you would like to buy.
The Padres project a new franchise attendance record this year — beyond the 3.27 million tickets they sold last year — and they set a Petco Park single-game attendance record of 46,701 against the Dodgers last Saturday.
Before that game, Jorge Casillas told me one reason why he renewed his Padres season seats.
“No matter what,” he said, “I’m watching a major league team.”
The Chargers’ move to Los Angeles in 2017 left the Padres as the city’s lone major league team. San Diego State put up a beautiful $310-million stadium to bolster its bid to join the Pac-12 Conference, only to see the Pac-12 implode.
Casillas said he believes the Padres can secure a wild-card playoff spot this season, after missing the postseason in 2021 and 2023, and every year from 2007 through 2019.
“We’re not like the Dodgers, obviously,” Casillas said. “We’ve had more bad years than good.
“But this stadium has everything — food, character, the right spot downtown. It’s really an event. It’s not just baseball. If we win, it’s even better.”
The Padres invested $20 million in expanding and reimagining the space behind center field, with grass and turf seating for close to 5,000 fans — akin to sitting on the outfield lawn in spring training — and a stage that enables the team to host bands before games and cozy concerts when the team does not play. The requisite social spaces are there, meaning bars for adults and play space for kids — in San Diego, that now includes wiffle ball, cornhole, a slide and “the tallest climbable bat in the world.” (How tall? 35 feet, 2-¼ inches.)
The area behind center field at Petco Park absorbed $20 million in upgrades that were completed in time for this season.
(Brandon Sloter / Getty Images)
“I think we have established a great ballpark experience, but that in and of itself isn’t going to be enough to sustain this level of attendance,” said Padres chief executive officer Erik Greupner, “nor is it our goal to sustain attendance on the basis of a ballpark experience.”
The Colorado Rockies boast a spacious bar atop right field, with majestic mountain views, and the San Francisco Giants offer a spectacular waterfront ballpark and garlic fries. But the Rockies have been so relentlessly miserable and the Giants so anonymous and uninspiring that fans have stayed home.
The Rockies, given the product, might have the best fans in baseball. This year, for the first time in 17 years, the Rockies do not rank in the league’s top half in attendance. (Local angle: The last-place Angels do not rank in the league’s top 10, after selling 3 million tickets every year from 2003-19.)
Greupner said the Padres want a roster headlined by established and sometimes costly stars and fortified with annual replenishment from their minor league system.
“I think the Dodgers have done that particularly well for a lot of years,” he said. “I think that’s the holy grail for any team in Major League Baseball.”
Padres CEO Erik Greupner says his team has “established a great ballpark experience, but that in and of itself isn’t going to be enough to sustain this level of attendance.”
(Derrick Tuskan / Associated Press)
It is. But what the Dodgers and Padres get — and the owners of so many other teams do not — is that sustainability and financial flexibility are boardroom buzzwords. The tell: “Let’s hire a guy from the Tampa Bay Rays.”
Flags fly for championships, not for financial efficiency. Fans want to win, and they also want to invest their hearts and wallets in players they can call their own for years.
Since 2010, the Rays have made the playoffs seven times — five more than the Padres. But the Rays’ roster churn is so unrelenting that the team has ranked in the bottom four in attendance every year since 2010.
It is not, as it turns out, just about winning. It is not just about the fan experience. It is both.
“Everybody has to raise their game to try to keep up with the Dodgers,” Greupner said.
The Padres try. Can’t say that for everybody.
Sports
Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History
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The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.
It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.
So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.
We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).
10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)
After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.
9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)
How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.
8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)
This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.
Sports
UCLA softball pummels South Carolina to advance to NCAA super regional
No. 8 UCLA stuck with right-hander Taylor Tinsley throughout the Los Angeles Regional and that faith in the senior paid off.
During the Bruins’ NCAA tournament opener at Easton Stadium, Tinsley gave up 10 runs before her teammates rallied for a walk-off win. She returned less than 24 hours to pitch against South Carolina, giving up two earned runs in a victory. Tinsley was back in the circle Sunday afternoon, yielding one run in UCLA’s 15-1 victory over the Gamecocks to advance to the super regionals.
“I am proud of Taylor’s resiliency, the ability to do whatever she can to help this team,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “She got stronger through the weekend. I am proud of that.”
Tinsley and her teammates will host Central Florida in a super regional that begins Friday.
“I feel good,” Tinsley said after pitching three key games in three days. “I could have gone more innings if needed.”
South Carolina right-hander Jori Heard gave up only one hit through two innings, keeping UCLA’s potent bats relatively quiet. The Gamecocks had runners on first and second with two outs in the second, but Tinsley escaped the inning with a pop-up to left field.
The Bruins got on the board first with a two-run home run from left fielder Rylee Slimp in the third inning. The Bruins followed it up by loading the bases with no outs in the fifth for right fielder Megan Grant.
Grant cooked up a grand slam to make it 6-0. She has 40 home runs, extending her hold on the NCAA single-season home run record. Oklahoma freshman Kendall Wells trails Grant with 37 homers.
“Its just incredible because I am blessed to be able to say the number 40,” Grant said.
South Carolina broke through on an RBI single from left fielder Quincee Lilio to cut UCLA’s lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning after being held to just one hit since the first inning. The Gamecocks couldn’t cash in the rest of the way.
The Bruins resumed scoring in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded and Grant at bat again. Fans at Easton Stadium anticipated another grand slam, holding up their cellphones hoping to catch some magic. Grant served up a two-run RBI single to expand the lead 8-1.
Jordan Woolery added to the scoring with a two-run RBI double down the left-field line, and Kaniya Bragg hit a home run to left-center field. Soo-jin Berry put a bow on the win with one more home run.
Sports
Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America
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Cristiano Argento has been tearing up opponents in the ring for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as he worked his way up the ladder to get a few shots at some gold.
But the path to get to one of the most prestigious pro wrestling companies in the U.S. was long and a path that not many wrestlers have taken.
Argento was born and raised in Osimo, Italy – a town of about 35,000 people located on the east side of the country closer to the Adriatic Sea. He told Fox News Digital he started training in a ring at a boxing gym before he got started on the independent scene in Italy. He wrestled in Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark before he came to the realization that, to become a professional wrestler, he needed to make his way to the United States.
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Cristiano Argento performs in the National Wrestling Alliance (Instagram)
He first worked his way to Canada to get trained by pro wrestling legend Lance Storm. He moved to Canada, leaving most of his friends and family behind and without a firm grasp on the English language.
“At the time, my English was horrible. I didn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I was with my friend, Stefano, he came with me and he translated everything for me. I probably missed 50% of the knowledge that Lance Storm was giving to us because I was unable to understand. I was only given a recap and everything I was able to see. I’m sure if I was doing it now with a proper knowledge of English, it would have been a different scenario.
“Eventually, I moved back to Italy after the training and I said, OK, now, I want to go to the U.S. So, I studied English more properly, and eventually I got my first work visa that was in Texas. I was in Houston for a short period of time. I trained with Booker T at Reality of Wrestling. I got on his show, which was my debut in the U.S. That was awesome. I eventually got a new work visa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I currently live since 2017. Since then, my wrestling career, thankfully, kept growing, growing, growing and growing until now wrestling for the NWA. One of the bigger promotions in the U.S.”
Argento said that his family thought he was “nuts” for chasing his pro wrestling dream.
He said they were more concerned about his well-being given that he was half-way around the world without anyone he knew by his side in case something went sideways.
“My family, friends, everybody was like why do you want to move to the opposite side of the world not knowing the language, not knowing anybody, by yourself, to try to become a professional wrestler? And I was like, well, we have one life, I love, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he told Fox News Digital. “Eventually, my family was really supportive. But when I first said, ‘Hey, mom and dad, I want to do that.’ They looked at me like, ‘Are you nuts? Are you drunk or something? What are you talking about?’ And I said, no that’s what I want to do. And they knew I loved this sport because in Italy I was traveling around Europe, spending time in Canada training, so they started to understand slowly that’s what I want to do with my life. They were proud of me.
Cristiano Argento works out in the gym. (Instagram)
“They’re still proud of me. I think more like the fact that you’re gonna try that, that it’s hard than more like you’re gonna leave us. The fact like, oh, my son is gonna go on the opposite side of the world for a six-hour time difference and we’re gonna see him maybe, when, like, I don’t know. Not often. I think it was more that. And for me too, it was really hard. It was heartbreaking not being able to see my family every day or every month. Like once a year if I’m lucky. I think that was the biggest part for them because of concern or that I was here by myself and if I have any issue or any problem, I didn’t have nobody. So they were scared. Like, you get sick, if you have a problem, anything, and they’re not being able to be here next to me. But they were really supportive since day one.”
Argento is living out his dream in the U.S. He suggested that the moniker of the U.S. being the “land of opportunity” wasn’t far from what is preached in movies and literature – it was the real thing.
“I was inspired by people who came to the U.S. and made it big,” Argento told Fox News Digital. “The U.S. was always like the land of opportunity. That’s how they sell it to us and this is what it is. I feel like, in myself, that was true because anything I tried to do so far I was able to reach a lot more than if I wasn’t here. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I see like there’s so many opportunities in this country. Not just in wrestling but like in any business to reach the goal. I’m really happy of the choices I did here.
National Wrestling Alliance star Cristiano Argento poses in Times Square in New York. (Instagram)
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“But my big inspirations were big-time actors who moved to the country, who didn’t know English, with no money, no support system. I had one dream, I have to go right there to make it happen and I’m gonna go and do it and I’m gonna make it happen. So those people were always the biggest inspiration even if it wasn’t in wrestling, just how they handled their passion, how they pursued their dream without being scared of anything, how far you are, how alone by yourself … You don’t know the language, you’re like, let’s go, let’s do it.”
Outside of the NWA, Argento has performed for the International Wrestling Cartel, Enjoy Wrestling and Exodus Pro Wrestling this year.
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