MLB Attendance: Bud Selig's Little Secret

Major League Baseball attendance has fallen sharply in 2009, dropping by 2.5 million fans.

Bud Selig has admitted that MLB attendance has dropped over six percent from 2008 but is trying to sugarcoat the situation with statements like this:

Selig said attendance should be viewed against the standards set in recent seasons. Baseball had a record average of 32,785 two years ago, breaking a mark that had stood since 1993, and the average declined slightly last year to 32,539.

Instead of telling the true story about the drop in attendance from 2008 he is talking about how great attendance was in past years.

Baseball-reference.com has a list of attendance updated through July 26 that shows the depth of the attendance drop. The list shows the attendance from the same number of games from both seasons.

Selig doesn’t mention that MLB attendance has dropped from $46.9 million in 2008 to $44.4 million in 2009.

Only 10 teams out of 30 have had an increase in attendance. The Red Sox have had an increase of only 226 fans per game and the Reds have increased by 101 fans a game, but because of the small size of the increase, it almost can’t be counted.

With the Reds falling in the NL Central standings they may be the 21st team with less attendance by the end of the season.

The last place Royals of the AL Central have the largest increase of any team with 183,190 more fans than in 2008. They are averaging 3,331 more fans per game. I attribute the early season success of Zack Greinke to their increased attendance.

Another surprise team in the top 10 list is the Pirates who have increased their attendance by 48,305 for the year and 1,073 per game despite being last in the NL Central and 13 games under .500.

Five of the top 10 teams have a winning percentage of .500 or below. The Phillies, with an increase of 118,777 for the year and 2,284 per game, are the only team in the top 10 that is in first place.

Leading all teams with the largest drop in attendance is the Mets with a decline of 445,393 fans this season and a drop of 9,682 per game per game.

The Yankees have been hit by falling attendance numbers, with 52,610 fans per game in 2008 but only 45,441 per game this season. Despite the sluggish economy, the Yankees charged exorbitant prices for their tickets, so their decline in attendance is not surprising.

With the higher ticket prices, they may actually still be posting a profit this season, but only the Steinbrenners would know.

The Yankees, even with the drop in attendance, still lead the majors with 2.3 million fans attending in 2009.

Even being in first place in the AL Central has not helped the Tigers increase their attendance, which has dropped 8,055 per game. However, with the massive layoffs in the automobile industry, combined with a 24.9 percent unemployment rate in Detroit for the month of May, it is no surprise the attendance is dropping.

The Padres, Astros, Nationals, Yankees, Tigers, and Mets have drawn 5,000 fans or less than last year per game in 2009.

With 20 teams having declining attendance, Selig is not telling the true story behind the drop. What happened a few years ago has nothing to do with 2009.

The A’s are last in attendance this season, with 832,711 and are the one of three teams, along with the Pirates and Marlins, who have yet to cross the 1 million mark in attendance in 2009.

They also have the lowest attendance per game with 17,717 which is barely less than the Pirates, who have five more fans per game with 17,722.

At this point in 2008, the Yankees, Mets and Dodgers were the only teams drawing 45,000 or more fans per game. This year, only the Yankees are drawing 45,000 or more fans, but have seen a drop of over 7,000 less fans per game.

Attendance per game in the majors has dropped from 31,974 to 30,271 since last season. That is a drop of 1,703 per game. That is a huge drop when taking into consideration that each of the thirty teams plays 162 games a season with a total of 2,430 games being played a season.

No matter how much of a positive spin Selig tries to use when mentioning attendance numbers, it is best to go to the chart at baseball-reference.com. That chart tells the true story, where you can see for yourself that baseball is not in a good place right now when it comes to attendance.

ESPN.com has a chart that shows the percentage of fans in relation to capacity.

This chart shows that only sixteen teams are filling 60 percent of their seats at games this season. The Marlins, Pirates, Blue Jays and A’s are not even filling half of their seats with the A’s filling only 40 percent of their seats.

The radical difference between the '08 and '09 seasons is best illustrated through the fact that in 2008, there were 21 teams filling 60 percent of their seats.

 

In conclusion, if Selig says it is raining it is best to look out the window before believing him, because he has showed his word means nothing.