With a sell-out in this evening’s game against the Texas Rangers, the Boston Red Sox reached their 700 consecutive regular season game sell-outs at Fenway Park, extending their record of most consecutive sell-outs in baseball history.

The previous Major League Baseball record of 455, set by the Cleveland Indians between 1995-2001, was surpassed by Red Sox fans on September 8, 2008. Fenway Park seats 37,373 while Progressive Field, or as it was called before during the sellout streak in Cleveland, Jacobs Field, seats 43,545. The record streak by the Red Sox began on May 15, 2003, in the second year of the current ownership group.

"Reaching 700 consecutive sell-outs is a lesson for us all to never underestimate what the passion of Red Sox Nation can achieve," said John Henry, Principal Owner. "Our fans have demonstrated unwavering loyalty and support from the stands at Fenway Park every day of the regular season for more than eight years, and everyone in the organization is grateful for their steadfast dedication."

"It is a number that at one time might have been considered unattainable, but our fans proved that 700 sell-outs was a possible milestone to reach.  It is a testament to the dedication they have for the game, for the team, and for the ballpark," said Tom Werner, Chairman. "As stewards of this franchise, we will continue to work hard to earn the support of our fan base, which is something we will never take for granted." 

"Red Sox Nation gives our players and coaches a distinct competitive advantage in home games by creating a sell-out atmosphere unmatched in any other ballpark,” said Larry Lucchino, President/CEO. “We are grateful for their knowledge, their passion, and their love of the Red Sox and for the game of baseball."

The Red Sox players and coaches recognized the fans of Red Sox Nation for their significant accomplishment during the 5th inning by coming out of the dugout and tipping their caps to the crowd. A video fan tribute produced by Red Sox Video Productions was also played on the videoboard between the 5th and 6th innings.  Each fan will receive a special 700th game commemorative baseball as they exit the ballpark after the game. The team also gave fans commemorative baseballs when they reached the 500th consecutive sell-out mark on June 17, 2009, and the 600th consecutive sell-out mark on July 18, 2010.

LONGEST RECORDED REGULAR SEASON SELL-OUT STREAKS IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

No.      Team                                                  Years

700*    Boston Red Sox                                  2003-2011

455      Cleveland Indians                               1995-2001

203      Colorado Rockies                               1995-1997

LONGEST RECORDED REGULAR SEASON SELL-OUT STREAKS IN AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS HISTORY

No.      Team                                                  Years

744      Portland Trailblazers (NBA)              1977-1995

700*    Boston Red Sox (MLB)                      2003-2011

407      Colorado Avalanche (NHL)               1995-2006

* Active Sell-out Streak

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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“Do you still love me?”

That may be something rattling around Stephen Strasburg’s head. The pitching phenom of the Washington Nationals took the league by storm last year when he debuted with electric stuff and velocity that stayed within 3 digits for several innings.

But that all came crashing down when on Aug 20 of last year, it was announced that Strasburgh had a significant tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, needed Tommy John surgery, and would miss most, if not all, of the 2011 season.

But, Strasburg has been on track to return to the Bigs, allowing 1 hit over 6 IP Thursday night for Double-A Harrisburg in what was expected to be his final minor league rehab start before he returns to the Washington Nationals.

His expected start will be at National Park on Tuesday when the Dodgers come to visit where he is scheduled to face Ted Lily.

How have ticket sales been for Strasburg’s return?

According to SeatGeek.com, there has been a jump in Nationals prices from $30 to $57 for the second game of the Dodgers series on 9/7. The entire series is averaging $39 but SeatGeek says they are expecting to see even more movement and demand over the next few days. Nationals tickets are averaging $40 this season, a $2 drop from last season, placing them in #20 across the entire MLB this year. You can also see Nationals price data here.

So, love appears to be returning to a club that is in dire need of it. If Strasburg avoids the injury bug, and Bryce Harper can stay on track, 2012 should be what Nationals fans had hoped 2011 was supposed to be.

Source: SeatGeek

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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Go through a short stretch of winning while being in a position where you haven’t raised ticket prices in nearly a decade, and it adds up to time to take advantage.

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced details of their 2012 ticket pricing yesterday in which they will be raising prices for the first time since 2002. That is the current longest stretch of any club in Major League Baseball.

For one, premium seating behind home plate will see a sizeable jump. The “Lexus Club” seats ran $160-$210 in 2011. Next season, those same seats will cost between $180-$225 for single game, in advance. The “Pittsburgh Baseball Club” seats jump from $47-$52 to $50-$55 for single game, in advance

All in all, ticket prices at PNC Park went up across the board.

"We compete in a much different economic landscape than the one that existed nine years ago and we are committed to making the investments required to continue to build a winning team," said Pirates President Frank Coonelly. "The great support from our fans this season has allowed us to increase our investments in the Club. We will continue to reinvest our resources in our team, as we did with the recent acquisitions made at the trade deadline, our recent draft signings and the extension of Jose Tabata."

"We particularly appreciate the loyal support of our season ticket holders. They have been with us through the hard times. As a result, we have held season ticket prices to the smallest increases, thus resulting in even larger savings off the individual prices than in previous seasons," said Coonelly. Full season plan holders will receive a savings between 14-percent and 50-percent off of the individual ticket price, and an average savings of 27-percent.

"We also ensured that Pirates baseball remains a tremendous value for families by keeping more than a third of the ballpark priced at $20 or less for individual ticket buyers, including some seats as low as $10," said Coonelly.

In 2012, a family of four can sit in the upper grandstand between the bases for a total of only $32 ($10 for each adult ticket and $6 for each kid priced ticket), which is $20 less than those same seats cost in 2011 ($16 for adults and $10 for kids ticket).

"For full season ticket buyers, more than 50-percent of our tickets are priced at less than $20 per ticket, while more than 30-percent of our seats can be purchased for less than $10 per ticket," Coonelly added.

SELECT READ MORE TO SEE THE 2012 TICKET PRICES COMPARED TO THIS SEASON FOR THE PIRATES

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.

SELECT READ MORE TO SEE ATTENANCE DETAILS FOR THE AL AND NL THROUGH TUES. AUG 23

Sellouts, and lots of them. Normally, this isn’t what you expect of a team 15 games out of first place, and sitting with a .430 record.  But, that’s what’s happening in Minnesota.

Consider this: as of last night, the Twins recorded their 55th sellout of the 2011 season. They have sold out 38 games in a row and 45 of their last 46 games since May 25 of this year. And, since opening Target Field in 2010, the Twins have sold out 134 of 144 regular season home games. Through 63 home dates in 2011, the Twins have drawn a total of 2,489,231 for an average of 39,512 (100% of Capacity).

This coming from a club that just a decade ago had owner Carl Pohlad offering of them up for contraction.

Yes, the Twins are riding several factors that have them ranked 4th overall in league attendance this year.

The team went to the playoffs last year, which slingshot ticket sales in the off-season, but it’s the ballpark, which opened last season, that is key. For one, it’s considered a gem of a design. For another, there is the honeymoon effect. It’s likely that the 2011 season could be a highwater mark for the Twins as the newness wears off. Getting back to winning ways could keep the paid attendance mark buzzing.

They say winning cures all ills in sports. For the Twins, their new ballpark certainly hasn’t hurt as winning has alluded the team this year.

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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