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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Written by Maury Brown
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Monday, 17 June 2013 00:00 |
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It takes some real doing to have attendance drop as far as the Miami Marlins have, but they’re setting records this season, albeit all the kinds you don’t want to own.
On Friday, the club slipped from 29th to last in MLB attendance, a staggering achievement as they are not even a season and a half into a brand new ballpark. With 15,403 in attendance on Friday against the Cardinals, and the Indians pulling in 30,824 against the Nationals in an interleague tilt on the same night as a $1 hot dog and fireworks promotion was held, the Marlins dropped from an average of 17,399 to 17,341 while the Indians climbed to 17,521.
It isn’t likely to stop dropping. In fact, it's well on pace to being a historic attendance plunge.
Between the fire sale to the Blue Jays and the abysmal performance on the field that will likely have them, not the Astros, end with the worst record in baseball, attendance will continue to slide. In the meantime, all those clubs that have suffered through the cold, wet spring with open-air ballparks will begin to see increases as people flock to enjoy the sun during the summer.
Below shows the tale of the tape along with the supporting data through Sunday, June 16. Oh, and for those Indians fans and those looking at both Florida clubs’ attendance, as of Sunday, the Indians had also passed the Rays, meaning that Florida now has the dubious distinction of having the two worst attended clubs in all of MLB.
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Day
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Date
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Game
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Attend
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Avg
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Monday
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April 8, 2013
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Atlanta 2, at Miami 0
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34,439
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34,439
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Tuesday
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April 9, 2013
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Atlanta 3, at Miami 2
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14,222
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24,331
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Wednesday
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April 10, 2013
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Atlanta 8, at Miami 0
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13,810
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20,824
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Friday
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April 12, 2013
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Philadelphia 3, at Miami 1
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17,923
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20,099
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Saturday
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April 13, 2013
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at Miami 2, Philadelphia 1
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20,037
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20,086
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Sunday
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April 14, 2013
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Philadelphia 2, at Miami 1
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21,412
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20,307
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Monday
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April 15, 2013
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Washington 10, at Miami 3
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15,933
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19,682
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Tuesday
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April 16, 2013
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at Miami 8, Washington 2
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16,200
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19,247
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Wednesday
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April 17, 2013
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Washington 6, at Miami 1
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22,302
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19,586
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Thursday
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April 25, 2013
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Chicago Cubs 4, at Miami 3
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15,394
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19,167
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Friday
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April 26, 2013
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Chicago Cubs 4, at Miami 2
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16,017
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18,881
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Saturday
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April 27, 2013
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Chicago Cubs 3, at Miami 2
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27,519
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19,601
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Sunday
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April 28, 2013
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at Miami 6, Chicago Cubs 4
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19,817
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19,617
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Monday
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April 29, 2013
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at Miami 4, NY Mets 3
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15,605
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19,331
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Tuesday
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April 30, 2013
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at Miami 2, NY Mets 1
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15,018
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19,043
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Wednesday
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May 1, 2013
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NY Mets 7, at Miami 6
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16,188
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18,865
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Tuesday
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May 14, 2013
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Cincinnati 6, at Miami 2
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14,694
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18,619
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Wednesday
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May 15, 2013
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Cincinnati 4, at Miami 0
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14,866
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18,411
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Thursday
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May 16, 2013
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Cincinnati 5, at Miami 3
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16,680
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18,320
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Friday
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May 17, 2013
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Arizona 9, at Miami 2
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13,444
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18,076
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Saturday
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May 18, 2013
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Arizona 1, at Miami 0
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18,786
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18,110
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Sunday
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May 19, 2013
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at Miami 2, Arizona 1
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20,206
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18,205
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Monday
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May 20, 2013
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at Miami 5, Philadelphia 1
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13,231
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17,989
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Tuesday
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May 21, 2013
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Philadelphia 7, at Miami 3
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13,996
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17,822
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Wednesday
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May 22, 2013
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Philadelphia 3, at Miami 0
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15,520
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17,730
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Wednesday
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May 29, 2013
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Tampa Bay 3, at Miami 1
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16,671
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17,690
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Thursday
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May 30, 2013
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Tampa Bay 5, at Miami 2
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23,199
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17,894
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Friday
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May 31, 2013
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at Miami 5, NY Mets 1
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16,493
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17,844
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Saturday
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June 1, 2013
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at Miami 8, NY Mets 1
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16,283
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17,790
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Sunday
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June 2, 2013
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at Miami 11, NY Mets 6
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18,434
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17,811
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Monday
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June 10, 2013
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Milwaukee 6, at Miami 1
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13,259
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17,664
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Tuesday
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June 11, 2013
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at Miami 5, Milwaukee 4
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13,110
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17,522
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Wednesday
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June 12, 2013
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Milwaukee 10, at Miami 1
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13,468
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17,399
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Friday
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June 14, 2013
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at Miami 5, St. Louis 4
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15,403
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17,341
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Saturday
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June 15, 2013
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St. Louis 13, at Miami 7
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16,098
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17,305
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Sunday
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June 16, 2013
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at Miami 7, St. Louis 2
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18,468
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17,337
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 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. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. 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 here.
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter 
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Written by Maury Brown
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Monday, 03 June 2013 10:51 |
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Since it became a regular facet of Major League Baseball in 1997, the question has been, does interleague play in Major League Baseball have a higher level of popularity than traditional intraleague play? The question has always been difficult to answer as the league had pegged a short series of interleague games in May followed by a longer stretch in June. Prior to 2005, all interleague play occurred in June prior to the All-Star Game, so factors such as weather, weekend play, school being out, and key match-ups were difficult to match-up with attendance across the rest of the season.
This season that all changed. With the Houston Astros moving into the AL West, and the league looking for a balanced schedule, “daily” interleague play was added to the schedule. There would still be “rival” play—those stretches of games in May and June that feature predominantly local and regional match-ups, but as soon as the season started, at least one interleague series would take place alongside intraleague play.
Beginning on April 1 of 2013, the Los Angeles Angels played the Reds in Cincinnati on Opening Day, and paid attendance numbers started racking up.
Leading up to the first set of rival interleague games that started on Memorial Day (May 27), a total of 57 interleague games were sprinkled amongst intraleague play. Those games saw an average paid attendance of 29,479 compared to an average of 28,896 for intraleague play. The data shows that interleague at the beginning of the season leading up to Memorial Day was averaging 583 more in paid attendance per game than intraleague, an increase of 2 percent. So, there is slightly more interest in interleague than intraleague play in the first year of having interleague play on a daily basis.
What has skewed the numbers in prior years still holds true in 2013: the time set aside for “rival interleague” play is more popular than traditional intraleague, and also more popular than daily interleague.
A total of 58 interleague games were played from Monday, May 27 (Memorial Day) to Thursday, May 30 (the schedule had 60 games slated, but there were two rainouts). Those games that saw local and regional rivalries such as the Orioles against the Nationals, Mets vs Yankees, and Angels vs. the Dodgers drew an average of 30,876 or an increase of 1,980 per game more than intraleague and more than 1,397 more than daily interleague.
The numbers skew further toward rival interleague when just looking at May when rival interleague occurs. Daily interleague in May saw an average 27,591 or an average of 3,286 less than interleague during rival week. The numbers need to be tempered with knowing that there were some series that didn’t scream box office seller. The Indians were in Philadelphia, the Rays in Colorado, the Mariners in Pittsburgh, and the Padres were in Tampa Bay. Still, rival week continues to see the Mariners and Padres match-up, even though few see the pairing as “rivalry” based on history or locations of the markets.
All this is looking at paid attendance data till the end of May. We’re not into summer yet, the real pennant races don’t even begin to become clear until after the All-Star break, and differing daily interleague and intraleague data will provide more context by the end of the 2013 regular season. But, if the early numbers hold throughout, MLB will have a compelling case to make that interleague—at least in 2013—is more popular than intraleage play. We’ll look at this again at the All-Star break.
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. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. 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 here.
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Written by Maury Brown
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Monday, 06 May 2013 13:31 |
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Today on Baseball Prospectus, I delve into the Miami Marlins self-inflicted attendance woes (see Bizball: The Marlins Sinking Attendance). The early decline could rate as historic by the end of the season as they could challenge the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays as the worst attendance decline in the second year of a new ballpark. As I write for BP:
In poll after poll, column after column, Jeffrey Loria is ranked as the worst owner in all of North American professional sports.
Loria is bad for fans, but he treats himself and the partners in the club well. He and club president David Samson were able to bamboozle politicians and taxpayers in Miami-Dade County to the tune of $500 million for a brand-spanking-new ballpark on the former site of the Orange Bowl. They opened up last season in that freshly minted stadium after being the darlings of the 2011 Baseball Winter Meetings, at which they signed SS Jose Reyes to a six-year, $106 million deal, starter Mark Buehrle to a four-year, $58 million contract; and closer Heath Bell to a three-year, $27 million deal with an option for 2015. All told, the Marlins splurged $191 million at the meetings, and it could have been more, as it looked for bit like they were going after Albert Pujols. Imagine that.
In mid-November of last year, the club promptly moved Reyes (2013: $10M, 2014: $16M, 2015: $22M, 2016: $22M, 2017: $22M, 2018: $22M club option with $4M buyout), Josh Johnson (2013: $13.75M), Buehrle (2013: $11M, 2014: $18M, 2015: $19M plus a $4M deferred signing bonus), John Buck (2013: $6M), and Emilio Bonifacio (who is arbitration eligible this year), and $4 million (or potentially more) in cash to the Blue Jays for Yunel Escobar, Henderson Alvarez, Adeiny Hechavarria, Jeff Mathis, minor-league pitchers Justin Nicolino and Anthony Desclafani, and minor-league outfielderJake Marisnick. All told, the Marlins stripped $163.75 million off the books, and the baseball world screamed “fire sale” at a club that at one point was featured on Showtime’s “The Franchise” and had Ozzie Guillen as its manager. Loria had done what Loria had always done before: make rash decisions, all of which soil any chance of creating goodwill in the community. And the Marlins, in their best Stuart Smalley, looked at themselves in the mirror and said, “Doggone it, people like me.”
With that as the backdrop, I made some predictions before the season started on Twitter that weren’t that much of a leap to make. I said the Marlins wouldn’t sell out a single game this season (since Opening Day wasn’t a sellout, chances are good they won’t get one going forward), and added that they would see largest drop in attendance for a second-year ballpark among all MLB stadiums built in the last 25 years.
As of today, the decline would be 31 percent below what the club ended with last season. But, they are currently averaging 18,864. As of May 5 of last season, they were averaging 30,681, down 11,817 from the previous year, or a decline of 39 percent.
So, it’s very possible the Marlins could end worse than the Rays. It’s early, and anything could happen, but odds are good the Marlins aren’t going to get any better in the standings and Loria certainly didn’t make any extra friends in the offseason.
Below shows every new ballpark built under the Selig tenure. It shows the average attendance prior to the new ballpark opening in the old ballpark; average attendance in the first year of the new ballpark; the winning percentage in the first year of the ballpark; average attendance in the second year of the new ballpark, and finally; the percentage of increase or decrease from the opening year in the new ballpark. As of now, the Marlins are averaging just 92 more per game than their last year in Sun Life Stadium that they shared with the Miami Dolphins, was never designed for baseball, and had no roof.
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Club
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Ballpark
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Year Opened
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Yr Prior Attendance
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Yr. 1 Avg
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Winning % (Yr 1)
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Yr. 2 Attendance
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% (+/-) Yr 1 to Yr 2
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Notes
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White Sox
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U.S. Cellular Field
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1991
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25,029
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36,224
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.537
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32,697
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-10%
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Orioles
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Oriole Park
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1992
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31,515
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44,047
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.549
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45,000
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2%
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Indians
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Jacobs Field
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1994
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26,888
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39,121
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.584
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39,483
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1%
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Rangers
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Ballpark in Arlington
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1994
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27,711
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39,733
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.456
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27,582
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-31%
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First place in AL West before work stoppage
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Rockies
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Coors Field
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1995
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N/A
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47,084
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.535
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48,037
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2%
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NL WC
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Braves
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Turner Field
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1996
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35,818
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42,771
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.593
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41,492
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-3%
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Won NL East
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Rays
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Tropicana Field
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1998
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N/A
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30,942
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.389
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19,294
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-38%
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Dbacks
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Bank One Ballpark
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1998
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N/A
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44,571
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.401
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37,280
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-16%
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|
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Mariners *
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Safeco Field
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1999
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32,735
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36,004
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.488
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43,300
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20%
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Giants
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Pacbell
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2000
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25,659
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40,973
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.599
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40,888
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0%
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Won NL West
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Tigers
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Comerica Park
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2000
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25,018
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30,106
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.488
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23,720
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-21%
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Astros
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Enron Field
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2000
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33,000
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37,730
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.444
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35,855
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-5%
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|
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Brewers
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Miller Park
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2001
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19,427
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34,704
|
.420
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24,311
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-30%
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|
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Pirates
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PNC Park
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2001
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21,591
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30,430
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.383
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22,312
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-27%
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Reds
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Great American Ballpark
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2003
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22,911
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29,077
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.426
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37,244
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28%
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Phillies
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Citizens Bank Park
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2004
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27,901
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40,125
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.531
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32,905
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-18%
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Padres
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PETCO Park
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2004
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25,063
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37,244
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.537
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35,429
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-5%
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Cardinals
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Busch III
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2006
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43,691
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42,589
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.516
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43,854
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3%
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Won WS
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Nationals
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Nationals Park
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2008
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23,998
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29,005
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.366
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22,435
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-23%
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Yankees
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Yankee Stadium
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2009
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53,070
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45,918
|
.636
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46,491
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1%
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Won WS
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Mets
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CitiField
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2009
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49,902
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39,118
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.432
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31,602
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-19%
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Twins
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Target Field
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2010
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29,466
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39,798
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.580
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39,113
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-2%
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Won AL Central
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Marlins **
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Marlins Park
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2012
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18,772
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27,400
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.426
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18,864
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-31%
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2013 thru 16 games
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* Not full season
** Current (5/6/13)
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. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. 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 here.
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Written by Maury Brown
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Monday, 14 January 2013 14:57 |
Click to see in larger view |
Snow may still blanket parts of the country today, but believe it or not, we’re 4 weeks from catchers and pitchers reporting for Spring Training, and Opening Day isn’t far behind that.
Many MLB players are already working out, at the same time, in the front offices around the league, sales teams are feverishly working to sell season ticket packages. The majority of clubs have yet to release individual game tickets for sale.
Still, it’s not too early to see what trends in the ticket resale space as we approach the season. Based on data provided by ticket resell aggregator Razorgator, some interesting trends have surfaced.
Razorgator’s data is based off of asking price across their registered sellers. With that, the data provided gives a window into how those looking to resell tickets early on are setting their price points.
The average home price on the resale market comes in at $70.42 with 11 clubs above the average and 19 clubs below. Three clubs (Cubs, Red Sox, and Giants) see the average home price above $100, with the Cubs leading the way at $120.44 followed closely by the Red Sox ($119.53), and then Giants ($111.55).
It would make sense that the top 3 priced tickets by home average have either small-historic ballparks (Cubs and Red Sox), while just behind them you see the 2012 World Series Champion Giants. But, in a sign that fans feel that only two years into a new ballpark they can unload tickets for roughly what they got into them for, the fourth-highest priced resale home ticket price by average goes to the Miami Marlins at $89.85. We’ll see how that number changes (if at all) as we approach the season. It’s possible with the fire sale that’s happened with the club that the resale market could be flooded, thus driving the price down.
The best bang for your buck for the average price on the resale market goes to the Cincinnati Reds ($44.10) and Washington Nationals ($41.27), both of whom won their Divisions.
When it comes to the average resale asking price for away games, the average is $75.55 with just eight teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Orioles, and Mariners) toping the list above the average. Expectedly just two clubs (the Yankees at $148.53 and Red Sox at $109.13) have an average away price above $100. Both clubs are iconic brands with storied histories, so the ability to ask such a high price across the country makes sense.
At the bottom the list, the Miami Marlins in their post-fire sale mode, are garnering the lowest asking price for an away team at just $57.34. The Twins, at #29 come in at $63.21.
Once again, the best bang for your buck for away games is the Washington Nationals. While not the cheapest resell average out there, at $67.13 they rank #23 out of the 30 clubs by average resale asking price.
For interleague, it seems that in the New York area, the Yankees and Mets still garner extreme interest. Based on Razorgator data, the average ticket price for the May 27-28 series between the two pulls at $214.10 is almost exactly 3 times the interleague average of $71.38. A great deal looks to the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium on June 18-19 at $75.49.
Click to see in larger view |
Other points of interest….
- The current resale cost of purchasing a Yankees or Mariners home game ticket are nearly identical ($66.44 for the Yankees compared to $64.78 for the Mariners)
- The Astros, who lost more than 100 games this past season and could potentially have it happen again in 2013 have an average asking resale price for home games at $51.71 or more than $10 what the Nationals are coming in at ($41.27)
- For some strange reason, the Mariners rank #8 for away games with an average asking price of $77.56. Maybe this is the King Felix factor, but one would be hard pressed to make a good case for that.
- If I’m a fan, and the Giants are scheduled to visit, I’d get in on it now. At an average of $70.68, the current World Series champs rank #19 for away price. That’s lower than the Astros, Brewers, Rays, and Mariners.
SELECT READ MORE TO SEE THE INFOGRAPHIC DATA FOR EACH OF THE 30 CLUBS
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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Written by Maury Brown
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Thursday, 04 October 2012 12:59 |
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UPDATED: Miller Park was accidentally omitted from the table below. We apologize for an inconvience.
It was a “good news/bad news” season for the Miami Marlins. They began the 2011-12 off-season as sparkling darlings at the Baseball Winter Meetings, seemingly involved in nearly every free agent derby, and eventually landing Jose Reyes (6 years/$106 million (2012-17), plus 2018 option), Heath Bell (3 years/$27 million (2012-14), plus 2015 option, and Mark Buehle (4 years/$58 million (2012-15)) to deals. Along the way, they picked up Carlos Zambrano and Carlos Lee, not the best signings, but still, an improvement over what the club had done in years past.
Of course, it was all fueled by the fact that the club was moving into a new market and a new stadium. In doing so, as is always the case, there would be an attendance bounce. Given a retractable-roof, a baseball-only facility, and better demographics in Miami, a sizeable attendance boost was expected.
With the 2012 season in the books, it can be said that the Marlins saw a sizeable bump from their last season in Sun Life Stadium, averaging 27,400 compared to 19,007 in 2011. It ranks as MLB’s largest average increase for the season at 44.16 percent.
As attendance for a new ballpark opening, it’s historic… as in a bad way.
There have been 14 new ballparks opened in MLB since 2000 and the Marlins will have the dubious distinction of having the worst average attendance for a new opening out of the lot. You have to go to the Washington Nationals at 29,005, or 1,605 per game more to get to the 12th worst. Yes, Washington, D.C. is a top-five market, so it isn’t exactly like this is something the Nationals should be proud of back in 2008. Nationals Park is also larger, so the Marlins are saved by one metric (the Nats total attendance rank for their opening year was worst (20th) with the Marlins (18th) coming is second to last). Nationals Park is also open-air, meaning less walk-ups due to rainouts, rain delays, or the threat of bad weather. You can make excuses for either market, but the point is, it’s a matter of comparing “bad” to “worse.”
The following is a listing of new ballpark openings ranked by worst to first by average attendance in that season, and the rank by total attendance.
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Who
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Opened
|
Avg
|
Rank
|
|
Miami
|
4/4/2012
|
27,400
|
18
|
|
Washington
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3/22/2008
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29,005
|
20
|
|
Cinncinati
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3/31/2003
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29,077
|
13
|
|
Pittsburgh
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3/31/2001
|
30,839
|
17
|
|
Detroit
|
4/11/2000
|
31,280
|
17
|
| Milwaukee |
4/6/2001 |
34,704 |
12 |
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San Diego
|
4/8/2004
|
37,243
|
9
|
|
Houston
|
4/7/2000
|
37,730
|
9
|
|
New York Mets
|
3/29/2009
|
38,941
|
7
|
|
Minnesota
|
4/12/2010
|
39,798
|
6
|
|
Philadelphia
|
4/3/2004
|
40,626
|
5
|
|
San Francisco
|
3/31/2000
|
40,930
|
3
|
|
St. Louis
|
4/10/2006
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42,588
|
3
|
|
New York Yankees
|
4/4/2012
|
45,918
|
2
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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. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. 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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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Written by David Simmons
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Tuesday, 28 August 2012 12:26 |
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With roughly a quarter of the season left to go, it’s a good time to check to see how teams are doing in the ticket selling department (see details posted below). The Phillies, Giants, and Red Sox continue to pace the league by selling just about every ticket. Two teams that appear on highest attendance, percentage of capacity, and sales increase are the Rangers and Tigers who continue to have sales gains even though their attendance is already very strong. Wild card contenders Pittsburgh (6%) and Tampa Bay (5%) do not even rank in the top increases which just goes to show how great of a year the league is having at the box office. Nineteen clubs are flat or experiencing increases in attendance as we enter the final month. Overall, league attendance is up 2.2 million with a strong shot to end the season at 76 million fans. With better weather, increased value deals from teams, and the use of dynamic pricing the league is having a banner year at the box office. Other highlights for the league include the Padres being up 3% even though they have had a dismal year on the field and the Athletics up 9% thanks to Wild Card chase.
A few things that are worth keeping an eye on as we enter September.
One will certainly be whether the Red Sox can continue their sellout streak. With 11 home games remaining the only challenges for the Sox would be a Tuesday and Wednesday set of games against the Rays as the rest are weekend tilts with the Yankees. The Red Sox streak will survive 3 years of no postseason for Boston and have 792 sellouts entering 2013. Another race to watch at the box office is overall attendance between Philadelphia, the Yankees, and Texas.
The Phillies recently announced the end of their own sellout streak -- a fallout of the disappointing season -- with two teams seem to be catching up at the box office. The Yankees seemed destined to be #1 at the end of the season as they continue their pennant chase. Mathematically it would be very tough for Texas to catch up given the number of weekday games remaining on their schedule.
Another storyline to keep an eye on is the attendance battle between the Dodgers and Giants as they go head to head for the NL West. The Dodgers seemed destined to overtake the Giants in attendance with their new additions as Los Angeles us a mere 300 fans behind with 18 home games to go. The Giants just can’t compete with the 56,000 seating capacity that Dodger Stadium can hold. It’s worth noting that the Dodgers are still about 5,000 fans a game from their peak in 2009 when they averaged 46,440 and lead baseball in attendance and given the new player additions it appears they are headed back in the right direction. With school back in session it’s always fascinating to see just how low non-competing teams without high season ticket bases can go. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in Colorado, Cleveland, Seattle, and Houston over the next month as well. For further detail on attendance leaders see the leader boards below:
Top 10 in AVG Ballpark Capacity
Philadelphia Phillies (102%)
Boston Red Sox (101%)
San Francisco Giants (100%)
St. Louis Cardinals (93%)
Detroit Tigers (92%)
Minnesota Twins (89%)
Chicago Cubs (89%)
Texas Rangers (88%)
New York Yankees (87%)
Milwaukee Brewers (84%)
Top in 10 AVG. Attendance
Philadelphia Phillies 44,353
New York Yankees 43,745
Texas Rangers 43,076
San Francisco Giants 41,744
LA Dodgers 41,475
St. Louis Cardinals 40,705
Detroit Tigers 38,070
LA Angels 37,634
Boston Red Sox 37,598
Chicago Cubs 36,752
Top 10 Percent Increase over LY YTD
Miami Marlins (55%)
Washington Nationals (28%)
Toronto Blue Jays (21%)
Detroit Tigers (21%)
Texas Rangers (20%)
Baltimore Orioles (18%)
Kansas City Royals (14%)
Los Angeles Dodgers (12%)
Arizona Diamondbacks (12%)
Oakland Athletics (9%)
**All data as of 8/26 via ESPN and Baseball-Reference
 David Simmons is a graduate of the University of Central Florida who worked in the front office of the Los Angeles Dodgers over 4 seasons and has a decade of ticketing experience.. He serves as CFO for Players For The Planet and currently resides in Baltimore. You can follow David on Twitter @davidesimmons
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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Written by Maury Brown
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Tuesday, 03 July 2012 00:42 |
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Major League Baseball surpassed the 37 million mark for attendance Monday ahead of MLB's All-Star Game, and a sign that the 2012 season will be strong at the gate for the league. Over 1,191 games where paid attendance is announced, the league has now drawn 37,186,755 or an average of 31,223 compared to 29,315 at the same time last season. According to the league, with adjustments, attendance is now pacing between 7 and 8 percent over last season at this time. Compared to 2011, the league has pulled in nearly a million more fans than at the same time last year.
Also, based on information from the league’s PR twitter feed…
- The league pulled 1,663,234 in paid attendance for 46 games this past weekend, the best weekend this year and the best since July 24-26, 2009 (1.684 million /46).
- MLB has topped 1.6 million in attendance four straight weekends and five overall in 2012, already passing season totals for ‘09 (4), ‘10 (3) & ‘11 (4).
- Saturday 6/30 was the best-attended day this season with 603,343 in paid attendance (37,709 average for 16 games) and best day (16 games or less) since 9/28/08.
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. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. 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).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter
Follow the Business of Sports Network on Facebook |
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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Written by Maury Brown
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Monday, 21 May 2012 14:40 |
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 With realignment coming next season to Major League Baseball, how interleague is seen will be changing (interleague will be a daily occurrence). So, this past weekend is really the beginning of the end in how to track blocks of interleague play. So, how did the 3-game interleague series of play fare? According to MLB, they recorded the highest-attended pre-Memorial Day weekend in history by drawing 1,652,935 fans for weekend’s 45 games. The total this past weekend, which featured the first 42 Interleague games of the season, eclipsed the previous mark of 1,640,976 (May 19th-21st, 2006).
The slate from Friday through Sunday also ranks as the best-attended 45-game weekend since the final weekend of the 2008 regular season, when 1,683,763 fans attended from September 26th-28th. Overall, it was the largest weekend for total attendance since July 24-26, 2009, when 1,684,095 fans attended 46 games.
Saturday’s total of 576,209 fans is the highest pre-Memorial Day single-day attendance total of no more than 15 games since 2007 Opening Day (April 2nd), which drew 582,456. Nine Clubs drew more than 40,000 fans in their Interleague games on Saturday, leading to an average of 38,414 per game for the day. Saturday’s total marked the best-attended day of 15 games since Saturday, August 14, 2010, when 577,583 fans attended 15 games.
Attendance highlights among the Clubs included:
- Six Clubs (DET, LAD, NYY, PHI, SF, WSH) averaged more than 40,000 fans per game and 12 Clubs (previous six plus CHI, COL, HOU, MIL, SD, TOR) drew at least 34,000 per game this weekend.
- Two of the four largest attendance days in Nationals Park history were tallied this weekend for the Washington Nationals’ series against the Baltimore Orioles. The Nationals drew 42,331 on Saturday, marking the second-largest single attendance in Nationals Park history. On Sunday, the game drew 41,918, the fourth-best attendance in the ballpark’s history. Overall, the Orioles-Nationals series attracted 120,929 fans, the largest crowd in the rivalry’s seven-year history (previous: 114,929 in 2008).
- The Houston Astros drew 113,261 for their three-game set with the Texas Rangers, the highest against Texas at Minute Maid Park since 2007 (119,562).
- The Pittsburgh Pirates-Detroit Tigers series at Comerica Park drew 124,585 fans, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim-San Diego Padres series at PETCO Park attracted 108,791 fans.
- All but three Clubs (KC, CLE, TB) drew at least 100,000 over the three days. The Royals pulled in 85,397, the Indians saw 82,845, and the Rays came in with 71,885.
- Six Clubs saw attendance above an average of 30,000 (CHI, HOU, SD, MIL, TOR, COL)
- The three Clubs that drew below 30,000 were KC (28,466), CLE (27,615), and TB (23,962)
Overall, Major League Baseball has drawn 18,637,924 fans this season through 617 dates (30,207 per game), representing a 6.7 percent increase over the same point in the 2011 season.
“With historic performances by our players and strong competitive balance evident in the standings, Major League Baseball has enjoyed an outstanding start to the 2012 season,” said Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. “I thank baseball fans for their remarkable support and I join them in looking forward to a great summer for our game.”
See the tables below for totals and average attendance for the first weekend of interleague play for 2012:
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Club
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Avg
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Phillies
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45,482
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Yankees
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44,313
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Tigers
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41,528
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Dodgers
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41,431
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Giants
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41,422
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Nationals
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40,310
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Cubs
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37,846
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Astros
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37,754
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Padres
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36,264
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Brewers
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35,961
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Blue Jays
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34,514
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Rockies
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34,111
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Royals
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28,466
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Indians
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27,615
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Rays
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23,962
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Club
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Total
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Phillies
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136,447
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Yankees
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132,939
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Tigers
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124,585
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Dodgers
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124,294
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Giants
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124,266
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Nationals
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120,929
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Cubs
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113,539
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Astros
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113,261
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Padres
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108,791
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Brewers
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107,883
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Blue Jays
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103,541
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Rockies
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102,333
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Royals
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85,397
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Indians
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82,845
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Rays
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71,885
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Source: Major League Baseball, Biz of Baseball research
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. He writes for Baseball Prospectus 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).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter
Follow the Business of Sports Network on Facebook |
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Ticket & Attendance Watch
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Written by Maury Brown
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Wednesday, 18 April 2012 21:58 |
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Let’s start with the glass half-full: attendance in Major League Baseball is much better than at this point last season. As of April 17, the league is averaging 31,965 per game compared to 29,151 in 2011, a difference of 2,814 per game. Early in the season, there has been just one weather related postponement compared to 10 last season. And, while there have been two games that have seen paid attendance under 10,000 (both hosted by the Indians), that pales to last season where there 6 below 10,000, two of which were below 9,000.
So, attendance is up. But, that isn’t to say that there aren’t lagers early on in the season. There have been 13 games with attendance below 15,000.
Here’s who hosted those games along with the number of them below 15,000:
- Indians – 3
- Orioles – 1
- Astros – 1
- Athletics – 3
- White Sox – 2
- Royals – 2
- Mariners – 1
As mentioned, there haven’t been many rainouts, and that holds true for rain delays for these low attended games. Of those below the 15,000 threshold, only Tues, 4/10 game between Royals and A’s in Oakland sees a delay (51 min). Three of the games saw sunny or clear skies while two games were played with the roof closed (Mariners and Astros). The rest were cloudy, chilly, or rain threatened. Such is baseball in spring.
But, the biggest reason was matchups and the day of the week.
Unsurprisingly, the low attended games were on Sunday through Weds. Also, the teams that drew poorly haven’t done well in the standings as of late.
The tough one here is the Royals hosting the Tigers on Monday, 4/16. While cloudy, Verlander was the starting pitcher. That normally counts for something.
For details on those with attendance below 15,000, select the image below
Click to see in larger view |
Source: Biz of Baseball research
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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. He writes for Baseball Prospectus 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).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter
Follow the Business of Sports Network on Facebook |
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