Some interesting attendance stats ....
While League Flat, Plenty of Winners and Losers in MLB Attendance Game
Written by Maury Brown
Thursday, 25 August 2011 13:13
With Major League Baseball heading into the final 7 weeks of the season, league attendance remains flat compared to last season (up 0.1%), but across the league, there are plenty of winners and losers in the paid attendance game.
While gate numbers are not available, tickets sold is announced each game. Based upon research by the SportsBusiness Daily, and confirmed against data collected by BizofBaseball.com, over 1,916 games played through Tuesday, the league has a paid attendance total of 58,042,992, or an average of 30,294.
Leading the league in both total attendance, average attendance, and percentage of capacity filled are the Phillies. The NL East team is currently the only club to have drawn over 3 million in paid attendance (3,004,451), while averaging 45,522 or 104.30% of capacity. Ballparks are considered 100% of capacity when all seats are sold, but standing-room tickets can allow capacity to exceed 100%. In all, thirteen clubs are drawing over 2 million in attendance (In the AL, the Yankees, Twins, Angels, Red Sox, Rangers, Tigers. In the NL, Phillies, Giants, Cardinals, Cubs, Brewers, Dodgers, Rockies). The Twins, Red Sox, and Phillies have averaged over 100% capacity for the season with the Giants at 99.9% of capacity.
At the low end of the spectrum is the Florida Marlins who, while ostensibly flat compared to last season (up 0.5%), have drawn an average of 18,242 per game, or 46.80% of Sun Life Stadium’s capacity. And that’s just paid attendance. One fan conducted a headcount at game 1 of a double-header yesterday at Florida in which he counted 347 fans in their seats at first pitch.
But, in terms of total attendance, the lowest number currently goes to the A’s who have drawn 1,215,000 over 64 as of Tuesday. They’re followed by the Rays (1,217,058), and Marlins (1,222,210)
In terms of increased attendance, the biggest gainers (double-digit increases) are the Indians (up 24.5%), Pirates (up 24.3%), and Rangers (up 21.9%).
Decliners in double-digits are the beleaguered Dodgers (down 17.7 percent), and the Rays who continue to struggle at the gate (down 16.5%)
Other Notes
- The Mets, who are in the midst of a legal battle with the trustee for the Bernie Madoff victims is seeing attendance down 8.4% compared to last year, which was a down year for the club, as well.
- The Brewers, in baseball’s smallest market, are seeing a 6.5% increase over last year. Next year could be interesting, depending on whether the club can retain Prince Fielder
- The Giants are seeing the benefits of winning the World Series in 2010 and see a 12.1% increase from last year.
- The Twins rank 4th in overall league attendance this year, incredible considering they are having a disappointing season. The effect of Target Field is still hanging on as attendance is down less than one percent for the club, thus far (down 0.6%)
- Even though the Diamondbacks are fighting for first place in the NL West, and hosted this year’s All-Star Game as a season ticket selling point, attendance is down 2.6% compare to last season.
- Losing Adrian Gonzalez really wasn’t that bad from a marketing perspective. The Padres, who overachieved and were in hot contention to win the NL West at this point last year, lost the star slugger in the off-season. Still, attendance at Petco Park is nearly flat compared to 2010 (up 0.9%)
- Call it the “Joey Bats factor”. The Blue Jays are seeing a double-digit increase in paid attendance of 11.5% even though the team is out of contention in the AL East.
- It’s depressing in the Pacific Northwest. The Mariners, who haven’t been able to get it turned around in the standings in years is seeing an attendance decline of 9.5%.
- What will it be next year? The Cardinals, who are 10 games out of first behind the Brewers and are running out of time to stay in contention, see attendance down 7.3%. With Albert Pujols still a massive question mark for the club, watching the Red Birds attendance numbers next season will be interesting. Losing Pujols could take a massive dent out of the attendance numbers, while retaining him might simply keep paid numbers static depending upon the Cardinals performance in the standings.
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