On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins drew 12,653 fans to the ballpark to watch a baseball game. That wasn’t each, that was combined at two different stadiums.
Just this season alone, the Kansas City Royals have already set its smallest home crowd since 2011 and Toronto and San Francisco since 2010. The Marlins attendance is so bad that they average less a game than the Triple-A Las Vegas team.
The Associated Press reported on Thursday that the average attendance for MLB games this season is 26,854, which marks a 1.4 percent drop from last year’s tally of 27,242 at the same point of the season.
That is historically bad, because 2018 was the first season since 2003 that average attendance for MLB games dropped below 30,000.
Images of empty stadiums have flooded social media all season long.
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The Tampa Bay Rays just can’t seem to get any support, despite being one of the best teams in Major League Baseball.
According to AP, 19 of the 30 MLB teams have seen attendance dwindle this season, with the biggest average drops coming from the Toronto Blue Jays (6,963), San Francisco Giants (6,463), Baltimore Orioles (3,839) and Detroit Tigers (3,686).
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred had this to say:
“Given the explosion of entertainment alternatives and the growth of the secondary market, it is not surprising that season ticket sales can be challenging,” he said. “The clubs are responding to this challenge with creative and effective approaches. For example, sales of subscription tickets are double what they were a year ago. And the Twins recently had a $5 flash sale that produced crowds of over 30,000 in three of four games, and the largest single-game attendance since 2016.”
MLB’s average attendance peaked at 32,785 in 2007, with 2015’s being at 30,517 before sliding for three straight years.
