Apparently, the Red Sox brand took a hit, at least in one corner of the country.

The Tampa Bay Rays scale ticket prices based on anticipated demand. They assign four pricing categories to games — from highest to lowest, Diamond, Platinum, Gold and Silver. According to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times ^[3], eight of the nine Red Sox games at the Tropicana Dome next year have been reclassified from the two most expensive classifications of ticket prices (Diamond and Platinum) to a less expensive category.

In 2012, Red Sox games in Tampa Bay averaged 19,123 fans per game — just below the Rays’ average of 19,255 fans per home game. In 2011, Sox games at the Tropicana Dome featured an average attendance of 23,538, a considerable bump above the season-long average of 18,879 fans per game in Tampa Bay.