2009 Attendance down 6%

Maury has everything you ever wanted to know about 2009 attendance. Upshot: it was down 6%. While a steep drop, it (a) reflects smaller capacity stadiums in New York; (b) is basically what the owners predicted before the season started and; (c) overall, is still the fifth highest attendance of all time. Given where unemployment sits, that doesn’t sound too bad. Hell, I think last March Paul Krugman was predicting that fans — having starved to death in Depression 2.0 — were going to turn into zombies and consume actual ballplayers at a higher rate than they’d pay for tickets, so things obviously could have been way worse.

Attendance is not really the most important thing, however. Revenue is. I have no hope of handicapping how that will break out. Sure, the Yankees and Mets may have sucked in more money per butt this year, but it’s quite reasonable to assume that people bought fewer beers, pennants, brats and foam fingers.


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Jack Marshall
14 years ago

Krugman was WRONG???

puck
14 years ago

The revenue question would be interesting to know the answer to, or at least an educated guess.  There were rumors in Denver that revenue is down because of more discount tickets being sold, and fewer corporate buys of the expensive seats/suites, etc.

APBA Guy
14 years ago

Great article, particularly noteworthy for the Oakland discussion. As the team with the worst attendance in the league, now having eclipsed the Marlins, the current owners can blame everyone and everything, but they are kidding themselves if they do. The blame rests squarely with them, for putting a thoroughly mediocre product on the field for 3 years running, for denigrating the stadium and the city to the degree that they have, and for continually raising prices year after year in defiance of the economy and the quality of the team.

It’s too bad Arte Moreno can’t own two teams.

Chris H.
14 years ago

It never ceases to amaze me the way owners or management shoot themselves in the collective foot.  Yes, if you keep telling people your stadium stinks, they’ll believe you.

And if you suspend a misanthropic underachiever 10 days before the season ends, you’ll make it that much tougher to trade him.  Hooray for you, Jim Hendry.

(Yes, I know, I keep bringing things back to the Cubs.  It’s what I do.)