A video caught my attention on the YouTube sports trending page. Forgotten Places had a commentary wondering why is MLB attendance down nearly 15 percent since its 2007 peak. The following video is from June 26, 2022.
Why Is MLB Attendance Down?
Forgotten Places Lists His Main Reasons
There are 22 teams whose MLB attendance is down from the 2019 season. That’s 73.3 percent or almost three out of four teams. Forgotten Places cites a few issues such as streaming failures, age gap, wealth gap, longer games in an increasingly impatient society, politics, teams openly admitting that they’re putting a bad product on the field, younger generations having more entertainment choices than ever before, and the season is too long.
I talked about how the overabundance of choices affects my interest to watch games in a previous blog post. From that article:
Some people think that online streaming games is inconvenient. I don’t need it nor do I want it other than for some condensed games. The online world has given me so many better things to do than watch an online stream in the middle of a regular season with 162 games. I could go online and see the best plays of the entire night for free. Why would I pay for so many streaming networks when there are other things to do that are free and much more fun?
Online streaming is an Oreo in a world full of thousands of unlike Oreos, tens of thousands of cookies, hundreds of thousands of snacks, and millions of foods. In a country that overflows with milk and honey, it becomes harder to get my money.
CountryStrongYooperCrazy (me), Online Streaming Era: How To Make A Casual Fan, 2
Other Reasons
Everyone seems to hate MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. Even Pat McAfee who almost never talks down about anyone has put him on blast:
This Rob Manfred guy is an utter buffoon #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/kerv9euT04
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) February 19, 2020
McAfee brings up another good point about how boring it gets to watch baseball games that aren’t during the postseason. MLB has become tailored to social media. The game is so much about homers and strikeouts while losing much of the small ball aspect that made it feel like an actual game. Why spend more than three hours watching a game when all you need to do is watch a few of the best highlights on social media? It’s more efficient to use the rest of that saved time doing something that’s more productive.
Some people don’t want to go out in public because of their ongoing fears for the pandemic and security threats. There was a shooting outside of Nationals Park in 2021. The media reports on events that involve gun violence almost every day. There’s a growing distrust that people have with one another that has created a culture that largely rejects socialization outside of phones and computers.
And while Forgotten Places brought up politics, I just have to mention that NBA legend Michael Jordan used to say, Republics Buy Sneakers, Too.” Why would Commissioner Manfred insult half his fan base or maybe more if one believes in the stereotype that baseball is a conservative sport.
There’s a greed and resentment toward the players and owners because of their huge salaries when compared to the average citizen. Fans are insulted when they see players who turn down $300 million contracts threaten to ruin the season with work stoppages.
The overall MLB attendance is down. That said…
Winning Cures Everything…Still.
Let’s use the 2019 season as the base for the last meaningful attendance totals because the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked everything from the previous two seasons. I want to compare the 2019 and 2022 attendance numbers of teams who’ve gone through major turnarounds whether for better (Toronto Blue Jays) or worse (Oakland Athletics). Attendance figures are from ESPN.
From Bad To Good (Or Good To Defending World Series Champion)
2019 Toronto Blue Jays (67-95): 21,606 (22nd)
2022 Toronto Blue Jays (44-35): 30,491 (13th)
2019 Atlanta Braves (97-65): 32,776 (12th)
2022 Atlanta Braves (46-33): 38,002 (3rd), Defending Champions
2019 San Francisco Giants (77-85): 33,429 (11th)
2022 San Francisco Giants (40-36): 30,889 (12th)
2019 San Diego Padres (70-92): 29,585 (14th)
2022 San Diego Padres (46-34): 36,658 (5th)
From Good To Bad
2019 Oakland Athletics (97-65): 20,521 (24th)
2022 Oakland Athletics (26-54): 8,358 (30th dead last)
2019 Washington Nationals (93-69): 27,898 (16th), Champions
2022 Washington Nationals (29-51): 21,827 (19th)
2019 Chicago Cubs (84-78): 38,208 (4th)
2022 Chicago Cubs (32-46): 32,468 (8th)
2019 Arizona Diamondbacks (85-77): 26,364 (17th)
2022 Arizona Diamondbacks (35-43): 19,840 (22nd)
Conclusion
There’s an interesting analysis at the median data point ((15th place plus 16th place) divided by two). The 2019 median was 28,110 while the 2022 median is 26,912. What caught my attention was the huge drop off from the 2022 15th place (Milwaukee Brewers, 29,060) to 16th place (Texas Rangers, 24,765). Compare that to 2019 15th place (Minnesota Twins, 28,332) and 16th place (Washington Nationals, 27,898).
I’d estimate that 12 of the 15 teams in the top half of the 2022 attendance rankings have a real chance at postseason play. The other three teams (Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels, Colorado Rockies) have had huge declines in fans.
The Biggest Threat To Keep MLB Attendance Down
MLB has many reasons as to why some fans are turning away from the product. Only one of those reasons is enough to maybe stop a fan base as a whole from wanting to engage with a team that gives its fans a true hope for a champion. Even then the hardcore fans will (not literally) sell a kidney to get the money to support their gods.
Economy
I went to a game on Saturday of Father’s Day weekend in Houston. We sat on a mid level seat down by the foul post in the outfield. Tickets were $175 each for 3 of us. Parking was $90. A Diet Coke was $9.85. And you wonder why folks aren’t going to games?
Ray Goldenberg, MLB’s Attendance Problem…
Back in the 70s and 80s ticket prices for an MLB game generally tracked the ticket price to a first run movie. The price for a mezzanine (middle level) seat was approximately the same as a ticket to the movies. Field level seats were approximately 50% more expensive, while upper level seats cost less than a movie ticket. The increase in MLB ticket prices over the last 30 years has greatly outpaced the increase in movie ticket prices. MLB used to be the cheapest form of live professional sports entertainment (not including horse racing). That’s no longer the case.
Placid333, MLB’s Attendance Problem…
$25.00 just to park your car, 100 bucks for a pair of tickets in the outfield, $8 hot dogs, $6 sodas, $12 for a cup of beer. Gee, I wonder why people don’t go to the games.
JSivco3 Sivco, MLB’s Attendance Problem…
Crazy how the attendance keeps going down and ticket prices stay the same
Gabe, MLB’s Attendance Problem…
OutKick 360 did a video on why winning is so important when casuals don’t have enough money to support a product that’s below average. The Athletics are a great example of that as more than half their fans quit going to games after ownership sabotaged the roster before Opening Day.
Win Or Go Home
Winning buys fan loyalty. What will losing teams do to make the live experience worth the price of admission for blue-collar workers? Will they shift more of their focus on creating premium experiences for wealthier white-collar workers? Why should lower and middle class workers spend money on overpriced tickets, concessions and parking for a professional loser? Does it make more sense to support a local high school or college team? Is it worth dealing with traffic and the inebriated morons who act like this:
on Twitter: Rangers fan sucker punches Lightning fan pic.twitter.com/l2DIoDLKx5
— Main Team (@MainTeamSports2) June 10, 2022
