I read an article a week or so ago about how attendance at MLB games is down significantly this year from the same point in the season last year. Here are last night's draws: Pitt -- 15,967 Chicago Cubs - 35,673 Philly - 16,947 Montreal - 5,964 Florida - 9,069 Cincy - 24,333 Atlanta - 24,184 Texas - 21,063 Baltimore - 23,731 Tampa - 8,618 KC - 11,981 Oakland - 11,843 New York Mets - 31,656 So in these 13 markets: Only 2 drew in excess of 30K Only 5 drew in excess of 20K Only 7 drew in excess of 15K 3 didn't draw even 10K The average attendance of these games was: 18,540 Probably most disturbing for MLB has to be disappointments in certain cities: 1. Texas, Baltimore -- these have been great draws for a while now. the fact they're not indicates these markets are past the days where people will show up just to be part of the atmosphere of the great new ballparks. I know that Balt. and Colorado have both had their record lowest attendance this year already. 2. Cincy -- holy crap... great tradition...great franchise..new stadium...i think they sold out their opener. that's it. this franchise, with a brand new stadium and nothing else in the city to compete with it right now,won't draw 2 million fans this year. 3. Oakland, Atlanta -- two playoff teams from last year...neither drawing very well 4. KC -- geez, guys..if you can't draw fans right now with a 16-3 start, when can you??
As a cincy fan I think I know why this is happening. the two reasons I can think of are 1. the record, the pitching has been poor and the O really has not come around 2. the tight asses upstairs. I mean Cincy will make more than enough $$$ this year but refuse to spend on players they need, ie starting pitching. Instead they bring in like 36 guys in the spring hoping to find one that can be the #5 starter, please. Fork out some cash, and lets get a quality SP. Still If i lived in Cincy I would be at as many reds games as possible, but I am not.
Or maybe D/Fw residents are finally tired of paying to see a horrible team (especially now that the newness of the A-Rod signing has worn off) and are spending their money on tickets to Stars playoff games and Mavs playoff games. Plus, the attendance for the April 24th, 2003 Rangers game was 21,063. For the April 24, 2002 game was 21,072. EDITed to correct the date mess-up.
Remember, it's still cold in alot of the northern cities like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Balto, etc. Maybe when the summer comes around more people will make it out to the ballpark.
All of you make great points...but remember...the article in the Chronicle the other day said attendance was down from over the same period last year around the league. So the weather shouldn't be much of a factor. Besides..it has warmed up in many of those places...and still no one's showing up. Cleveland comes to mind, in particular. mrpaige -- i agree with your assessment...i think dallas fans are sick of seeing that team play like that, particularly given the money the franchise has spent. but i'm not picking on any one team or city...attendance seems to be down virtually everywhere IVFL -- i understand your points...but generally when a baseball team gets a new stadium they get some kind of honeymoon period where fans pack in simply to be a part of the new stadium. that isn't happening in cincy at all.
Maybe the fact that the cost of going to a baseball game is so high that people are spending their entertainment dollar in other ways. A decent seat, parking, a hot dog, and the requisite 4 beers will easily cost you fifty bucks.
But there was a conclusion drawn regarding the stadium that may or may not be accurate. For all we know, attendance would be 10,000 if they were still playing at Arlington Stadium (actually, remembeing some of those weekday Arlington Stadium crowds, 10,000 would be a high attendance night... unless Nolan Ryan was pitching). But I do think baseball has a problem that is affecting attendance. I don't think the average fan sees the new collective bargaining agreement as that big of a stick to cause a change in the balance of power in MLB. No matter how well the Royals play right now, I doubt there are very many Royals fans who give the team any chance to go to the World Series, let alone win it. And when teams are bad for a number of years, attendance can't help but be affected. The Rangers have been awful for a few years now. The Orioles haven't put anything decent together for a period, either. And management at both teams doesn't seem to know what they're doing and changes made in the off-season weren't anything that set the fanbase on fire. I know Rangers fans went into the season knowing we were destined for the bottom of the heap. It's hard to get pumped for that. And when you've got the current odds-on Stanley Cup favorite playing across town and on television, and the Mavericks cruising along in the playoffs, and Bill Parcells generating some excitment in the Cowboys fanbase - and the draft is this weekend - the Rangers are going to necessarily suffer. Oh yeah, and the economy doesn't help, either. I do think baseball has a lot of problems, and I don't think those problems are going to be solved anytime soon, either.
i didn't say that wasn't a possibility...i am saying that in colorado, baltimore and texas (just to name a few), fans would show up whether the team was good or not due to the novelty of the new stadiums...that period has worn off...and since each probably has about 25 years or so left on their lease, that's a bad sign for MLB. they can't count on that alone to put 30K in the seats anymore.
Well, then I read to much into what you said. For what it's worth, I think the Rangers lease only runs 17 more years after this season. Not that that's much better than 25 years, though it sure didn't take the full length of the lease to get Reunion replaced. I'm sure we're only about ten years away from hearing about how the Rangers need another new park.
The Devil Rays Franchise needs to be put of it's misery. Horrible team, terrible stadium, and apathetic fans...worst sports expansion idea ever...
I'll take my little girl who is almost 3 to about a dozen games this year... but I haven't gone yet. No real reason, but I just haven't gotten excited about baseball with the Hockey and Basketball playoff underway. Baseball does have it's problems, and the economy doesn't help, but it won't stop me from teaching my kids the finer points of supporting the home team.
And you better add 8 more beers onto that price tag if you're attending a Chicago game. Seriously, taking the family to the game is very expensive. Add to that the most players don't give the little fans the time of day makes the big fans with the money find something better to do with the family.
That was mainly for MadMax. The Wiggles are an Aussie singing group for children. They are coming to Houston in August and they sold out both shows in about 30 minutes(they even had campers).
