MLB attendance drops for second straight season..lowest level since 2003.

wilheim · Oct 2, 2009

NEW YORK (AP)—Rich Aurilia noticed all the empty seats as he made his way around the major leagues during the second half of this season.

“You have to,” the San Francisco Giants infielder said. “I think you do in the places where the teams are totally out of it.”

Attendance has dropped 6.9 percent across the majors to its lowest level since 2003, an average of 30,276. That follows a 0.8 percent slide last year from the record average of 32,785 set in 2007.

Given the recession and the decrease in capacity in two new ballparks that opened in New York this year, baseball officials are pleased.

Remainder of article from Yahoo Sports

HacheMan · Oct 2, 2009

Our Tampa Bay Rays fans sure had their part in contributing to this......

wilheim · Oct 2, 2009

The Red Sox, hate em or not, do sellout. They hit 500 straight sellouts earlier this season and the streak is still going at around 550. The streak is a MLB record for consecutive sellouts breaking the Indians mark of 455 sellouts in a row, set in the late 90s.

wil.

JohnnyMac · Oct 2, 2009

Stop charging 8.75 for a beer, owners.

viking611 · Oct 2, 2009

st louis predicted 2.8M fans....after this weekend, over 3.4M will have gone through the gates. Best fans in Baseball:toast:

bucsfan67 · Oct 2, 2009

many teams being out of it earlier than usual didnt help...

Iona · Oct 3, 2009

Tickets are just to expensive. Not to mention parking, a beer or a program. Hell ,it's a days wages to take in game. For me, a 55 inch LCD with suround sound and waitress service (wife) is the best seat in the house.

kid44 · Oct 3, 2009

Brewers over 3 mil. this year. Very good for a small market team.

C.P. · Oct 3, 2009

LY, I took the wife and kids....

for the whole day...everything included..i.e tiks.. food ..beer.. etc..

It was over $600...albeit we had fun and I'm not bitchin.but

I can see why some might not be able to go to these games...

Redagger029 · Oct 3, 2009

The fans pay the price for no salary cap. In some cities baseball is not even broadcasted on free tv.

:money8:

gtc08 · Oct 3, 2009

nba, nhl down as well. hell, nhl isnt even in the big 3 anymore.

only sport recession proof is nfl.

bucsfan67 · Oct 3, 2009

it will eventually get bad enough, that something will have to give....owners simply wont be able to pay these salaries any longer, they will HAVE TO HAVE the fans in the seats....so salaries will have to take a small cut and ticket prices will as well...

Redagger029 · Oct 3, 2009

gtc08 said:
nba, nhl down as well. hell, nhl isnt even in the big 3 anymore.

only sport recession proof is nfl.

And the NFL has the tighest control of their salaries amoung the big three.
Totally opposite from baseball. Basketball will be also trying to reel in the salaries after the current contract expires. Meanwhile baseball runs wild.

wilheim · Oct 3, 2009

The NHL draws excellent crowds to their games. Their problem is TV in the US (not Canada).

Home team attendance for 2008 - even the lowly Islanders drew over 80% capacity for their home games. A slew of teams sold out for the season. No team drew less than 80% of capacity for the season.

Playoff games were almost all sellouts.

2008 Attendance for Regular Season
RNK TEAM GMS TOTAL AVG PCT
1 Montreal 41 872,193 21,273 100.0
2 Buffalo 41 817,956 19,950 109.4
3 Ottawa 41 812,665 19,821 107.1
4 Philadelphia 41 801,797 19,556 100.3
5 Toronto 41 796,803 19,434 100.0
6 Calgary 41 790,849 19,289 112.4
7 Detroit 41 773,696 18,870 94.0
8 Tampa Bay 41 766,412 18,692 94.6
9 Vancouver 41 763,830 18,630 101.1
10 Minnesota 41 761,288 18,568 102.8
11 NY Rangers 41 746,200 18,200 100.0
12 Dallas 41 739,585 18,038 97.3
13 St. Louis 41 722,021 17,610 83.9
14 San Jose 41 713,863 17,411 99.5
15 Anaheim 41 704,932 17,193 102.6
16 Pittsburgh 41 700,137 17,076 100.7
17 Colorado 41 690,552 16,842 93.5
18 Edmonton 41 690,399 16,839 98.5
19 Chicago 41 689,377 16,814 82.0
20 Carolina 41 681,962 16,633 88.8
21 Los Angeles 41 680,877 16,606 92.0
22 Atlanta 41 649,081 15,831 85.4
23 New Jersey 41 638,144 15,564 81.7
24 Washington 41 634,381 15,472 82.9
25 Florida 41 632,881 15,436 80.2
26 Boston 41 630,750 15,384 80.0
27 Nashville 41 611,328 14,910 87.1
28 Columbus 41 607,757 14,823 81.7
29 Phoenix 41 607,638 14,820 84.7
30 NY Islanders 41 559,247 13,640 83.7

ESPN.com

Doug · Oct 3, 2009

Iona said:
Tickets are just to expensive. Not to mention parking, a beer or a program. Hell ,it's a days wages to take in game. For me, a 55 inch LCD with suround sound and waitress service (wife) is the best seat in the house.

if you have a good job.... :laugh:

gtc08 · Oct 3, 2009

i dont buy those numbers from espn, not at all.

phoenix 84.7 attendance,comical.

PublicsMoney · Oct 3, 2009

This is only going to get worse......the avg family cant afford a day at the old ballyard anymore. Sad, but true.

charliepeete · Oct 3, 2009

it is the economy .............stupid :laugh:

REDEYE · Oct 4, 2009

Not sure how much longer people are going to spend serious money to watch games and have some of these knuckleheads decide what kind of 5th or 6th car they want to drive. Just not worth it after awhile.

bigtendominator · Oct 4, 2009

viking611 said:
st louis predicted 2.8M fans....after this weekend, over 3.4M will have gone through the gates. Best fans in Baseball:toast:

What else is there to do in St. Louis, consider suicide?

MLB attendance drops for second straight season..lowest level since 2003.

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