MLB Attendance Down 5% per ESPN

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

Major League Attendance down 5% through this past weekend per ESPN telecast. A couple thoughts:

 

1) Can we top last year? I believe we're ahead of last year (at this same point), however that sellout streak in August/Sept will be tough to match unless we stay in the thick of things.

 

2) If we do increase again, in this economy, what a great statement for Milwaukee when a majority of MLB is seeing their attendance drop.

[bucks2281]

A) The Cubs did not play at Miller Park until July 28 last year. They've already played 6 times this year. IMO, this year's figure will fall behind last year's around late July.

 

B) The fewer 10k seats at both Citi Field and Yankee Stadium is a big reason for the 5% drop.

[trwi7]

But the Cubs also only played at Miller Park six times last year and will play there nine this year.

 

Also, every weekend game from now until the end of the season is sold out. Now that school's out, we're going to be getting more than we would normally get for weekday games as well. Plus the Twins games are going to be three sellouts as well and the Cubs series at the end of the year at Miller Park is a Monday-Wednesday series so that's three more sellouts.

 

So that's 22 more guaranteed sellouts. Let's assume those 22 sellouts average 42,000, that brings it up to 2,088,981 with 28 games remaining. Average 35,000 with the remaining 28 games and attendance on the year is 3,068,981 compared to 3,068,458 last year.

[Invader3K]

I think it will end up being at least similar to last year's numbers, just based on the figures they've already released.

[TabbertBB]

Maybe other teams don't know how to do marketing as good-- not enough bobblehead dates for those teams. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

[Bluechip]

The Yankees and Mets are only selling at about 90% of capacity, so don't think the smaller stadiums are really effecting MLB attendance numbers.

[Invader3K]

Maybe the fact that the Yankees especially really jacked up their ticket prices is also having an affect?

[pretendastronaut]

Current Attendance - 2008 vs 2009

 

The Tigers, Mets, and Nationals are taking the biggest beating on attendance this year over last.

[Invader3K]

Tigers and Nats aren't very surprising (economy, and a terrible team in general, respectively). I'm not sure why the Mets are having such problems...maybe people got tired of them missing the playoffs the last couple years?

[RightFieldCoder]

Last year, the Yankee's drew an average of 53,069 fans per game. That's 92% of capacity of the old Yankee Stadium. They're still on the percentage pace, but the stadium holds fewer fans. The Mets drew to 89% capacity last year.

 

If the Yankees had sold out every game this year, they still would have averaged 1000 less fans per game because the stadium just doesn't hold that many. Last year the Mets averaged 51165 per game, while Citifield only holds 41,800. I think that's the difference right there.

[pebadger]

No matter what the numbers, it's still really impressive the only metro areas outdrawing the Crew on a per game basis are NY, LA, Boston, Chicago (Cubs only), Philly and St Louis.

[owbc]

Nice to see attendance in the state of Florida up by over 8,000 fans per game (combined Marlins/Rays). I wonder if the Marlins increase is due to the new stadium getting approved.

[jeffy]

If the Yankees had sold out every game this year...

 

With the NY metro area having about 20 million people, I'm surprised that they are not able to sell out every game. Fenway and Wrigley manage to come much closer to doing this...total attendance is at about 95% in Boston and 97% for the Cubs.

[kramnoj]

With the NY metro area having about 20 million people, I'm surprised that they are not able to sell out every game.

 

The sad thing is that the Yankees aren't interested in selling out the stadium. They are interested in getting the maximum ticket revenue they can, and if that means that prices are higher and fewer people attend, the Yankees are ok with that. I thought it was pathetic that they built a stadium with fewer seats.

 

Personally, I would say that if the Yankees are interested in building a stadium that allows fewer people to go to a game, they shouldn't be able to get in the way of a 3rd team in NY (and this applies to the Mets as well).

[Invader3K]

Yep, I'd love to see a third team in NY/NJ, though I'm sure Steinbrenner and company would never allow it.

[bani1717]

I thought it was pathetic that they built a stadium with fewer seats.

The Brewers did the exact same thing. Yes, it's a completely different situation and it's not like they were filling County Stadium as the Yankees were filling the last Yankee Stadium, but I'm just sayin'.

If the Yankees' smaller ballpark leads to higher ticket revenue that they can use to overpay players and not win a World Series, more power to them.

[kramnoj]

The Brewers did the exact same thing. Yes, it's a completely different situation and it's not like they were filling County Stadium as the Yankees were filling the last Yankee Stadium, but I'm just sayin'.

 

This isn't even apples and oranges. The Brewers highest attendance in County Stadium was just under 2.4 mil, and that was the only season it broke 2 mil. The Yankees attendance for the first game at their new stadium is listed at 48,271. They averaged over 50k the previous 4 seasons (over 52k the last 3). They had the demand to have a larger stadium and decreased supply to drive up prices.

 

If the Yankees' smaller ballpark leads to higher ticket revenue that they can use to overpay players and not win a World Series, more power to them.

 

I think baseball is the most family friendly of the major sports. It disappoints me that because of Yankee greed they have made it more difficult for families to have the opportunity to go to games. I also think it's short sighted of them to do this. Fewer families will be going to games, or they will be going to fewer games than they used to. That doesn't seem like a smart way to build fandom in the next generations.

[bani1717]

Haha, I guess I shoulda put a smiley after my first statement, I was just joking around with that.

 

As for my second statement, I completely agree with you that it isn't necessarily a smart way to build fandom. However, I doubt that the Steinbrenners put building fandom at the top of their priority list. They are all about revenue and trying to buy a championship. So when it doesn't work and they have a potentially smaller fanbase, I will feel less sympathy for them than I do now.

 

And, while the decrease in capacity, increase in ticket prices, and plumeting of the economy make things harder for families who want to see games, it's not like a family trip to the ballpark in New York was cheap before the Yankees built a smaller stadium.