Top 12 MLB Teams with Decreasing Attendance
By Brian Capozzi | July 1 2009
When the baseball season started in April, it started in one of the worst economic times in the last 75 years. While some businesses have filed for bankruptcy, and others have either laid people off, enforced company-wide furloughs (unpaid time off), or reduced employee salaries, this economic recession has reached Major League Baseball as well. With advertising dollars going down, and fans losing jobs and/or money, Major League Baseball has seen a substantial drop in fan attendance throughout the 2009 baseball season. Zack O’Malley Greenburg of Forbes.com recently wrote an article focusing on twelve teams with the largest drop-off in attendance.
As a die-hard Yankee fan, I have seen this first hand. With the Yankees opening up a brand new 1.2 billion dollar stadium in April, it was inevitable that ticket prices would rise. No one expected prices to rise at the rate that they did. As the season has progressed, and the field level seats remained empty due to a reduction in corporate purchased boxes, the Yankees had no choice but to reduce the price of those seats so that either: a) the corporation will purchase box seats, or b) the Average Joe fan can afford to sit in those seats. Field level seats from 3rd base, all the way around to 1st base cost $375 per person. Now, I have been a Yankee fan my entire life, and will NEVER pay that much money for a 3-hour game. If a family of 4 wanted to go to the game, and sit in those seats, it would cost the family $1,500. Why spend that kind of money, when you can by a 42 inch LCD TV with money left over? It’s ludicrous! The only sold-out game this year has been Opening Day. This is truly an embarrassment and a horrible way to open a brand new stadium.
The Yankees were not included in this list of ball clubs with a drop-off of in attendance. Number 12 in the list is PNC Park in Pittsburgh. I was fortunate enough to visit PNC Park last September, and I must say, it was close to being one of the greatest experiences I have had at a Major League game. I bought 2 tickets on StubHub for $35 each, and sat literally 7 rows behind the 1st base dugout. That price would get you the last row of the upper deck at Yankee Stadium. After the game, fans were given a very good show from Lynard Skynard. The average attendance at PNC Park in 2008 was 20,100. In 2009, average attendance is 17,500. A drop-off of -12.8%. My feelings however, are that the Pirates are losing attendance, not because of the recession, but because of their dreadful 16-season losing streak. Personally, that wouldn’t stop me as the stadium is amazing, I saw a great baseball game, and I had incredible seats for such a low price.
The remaining 11 teams from the list can be found below (% drop in attendance from 2008):
#11: Arizona Diamondbacks (-14.7% change)
#10: Colorado Rockies (-14.8% change)
#9: Houston Astros (-16.4% change)
#8: Oakland A’s (-16.7% change)
#7: San Diego Padres (-17.1% change)
#6: Chicago White Sox (-17.6% change)
#5: Cleveland Indians (-17.7% change)
#4: Atlanta Braves (-20.6% change)
#3: Toronto Blue Jays (-23.3% change)
#2: Washington Nationals (-26.9% change)
#1: Detroit Tigers (-28.1% change)
