Baseball had its worst attendance in 16 years

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Eric Fisher of Sportsbusiness.com reported this morning that Major League Baseball had its worst attendance in sixteen years in 2019. Total attendance was 68.49 million, which is down 1.7% from 2018 and represents the sixth decline in attendance in the last seven seasons. Attendance is down a whopping 14% from its height in 2007.

An increasing number of teams simply not trying to win. There were four 100-loss teams in 2019 and six more teams lost at least 90 games. Most of that losing was due to rebuilds which have not prioritized spending money or winning at the major league level. All of that bad play led to extreme competitive imbalance and almost non-existent pennant races. Given that baseball ticket prices apparently only go up from year to year, never down, it’s not surprising at all that the demand for the increasingly expensive product that is a major league baseball game has sunk

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/baseball-had-its-worst-attendance-in-16-years/ar-AAI4bCj?ocid=spartanntp

[Aristus]

1. If they would stop with the ceaseless trades,

The constant team-shuffling that makes our favored squad all but unrecognizable from season to season, and the placing of a huge salary on one single player (pitcher, usually), and instead work on team building, I might start going to games again.

[icymist]

12. I agree 100%

With all these new players who are playing at a minor league level, why am I going to pay major league prices? I could just go see a minor league game! I swear that some of these teams wanted a losing season.

[First Speaker]

24. Maybe. But team-shuffling was also common in the 90s...

...and the game exploded in popularity then. I'm more inclined to blame the long, dull games with too much dead time, and the sheer madness of 13-man pitching staffs...

[Bradshaw3]

2. All the HRs and Ks ain't doing it for me

I'm sure attendance has more to do with the volume of losing but the "swinging for the fences" and "strkeouts don't matter" in vogue turns me off. I will watch my team in the playoffs but really don't appreciate the turn MLB has taken.

[lpbk2713]

3. I haven't watched five minutes of a baseball game in thirty years or more.

Same with most other pro sports. I will watch a little bit of the Super Bowl or the NFL playoffs now and then. Players getting multi-year multi-million dollar contracts turned me off. It's alright to be compensated for being good at what you do but things have gotten obscene.

[rurallib]

9. The strike of 1993(?) did me in

I was a huge fan before then. Since I have seen maybe a couple hours of baseball on TV.
Games are ridiculously long and uncompetitive any more.

I a down to college sports for my sports fix.

[Dagstead Bumwood]

46. That turned me off the sport as well.

I stopped watching altogether. And, I missed it a bit of first, but I just kept ignoring it, and eventually enough time passed and I didn't miss it anymore. Now seasons come and go without me even noticing. Plenty more interesting things in the world to occupy my time.

[cbdo2007]

4. I can't afford to take my family...tickets, parking, food. I should be able to take a family of 4

to a KC Royals game for about $60 INCLUDING tickets, parking, and food.

Sure, a few years ago when they were good they could charge that much but only a handful of teams actually compete each year and the rest of the league struggles to fill seats.

[rurallib]

10. Add in that salaries for America's workers have been stagnant

and a lot of people are just priced out of the market these days.

[Volaris]

39. Ya we need them to drop ticket prices and build cheap-price seating

Instead of million dollar boxes.

If it were the case that I ever got to buy a team n build them a stadium (haha dreams) I'd dig that ballfield 50 feet down, and make the seats in the outfield a terraced lawn ampitheatre type deal.
bring a cooler, a blanket and the kids n charge 50 bucks a blanket (up to five humans) and 15 bucks a head after that.

They want asses in seats, gotta charge less for the seats, unless the economy picks up.

(On edit) Full disclosure: I live in st louis. Wainwright and the entire pitching staff should have written up the other day.

[Thekaspervote]

5. Surprised??? NOT who can afford it?? The very rich I suppose

[bdamomma]

37. The Rich

are the only ones in the country, the Middle class is no more and muzzled, why do they find us so threatening??? We are not taking their money they are taking ours.

[murielm99]

6. It isn't affordable any more.

At one time, I could take my kids and afford the tickets, parking, food. They are adults now. I don't know how any working family can afford a day at the ball park.

[uponit7771]

14. +1

[sakabatou]

7. Baseball season's extremely long too

[Green Line]

8. They're making baseball unwatchable

With all the mound visits, pitching changes, pitchers taking forever to throw the ball and now replay, it’s just becoming too slow.

[exboyfil]

26. It is the same for football

The sports are killing themselves.

[unitedwethrive]

11. Bottom line is that baseball is boring. Unless your kid is playing, it is the most dull of games.

Back 100 years ago, there was not much else to compete with a local baseball game. It was a social activity as well as a source of civic pride. Now days there are plenty of activities which provide much more fulfillment.

[unitedwethrive]

18. The difference is that in chess you eventually see the strategy.

In baseball, it only seems like strategy if teamwork happens...and even then, good outcomes are often not because of strategy.

[obamanut2012]

21. 100% agree

[beachbumbob]

13. Terrible weather can explain drop easily enough

[BlueTsunami2018]

15. With the analytics, endless drawn out games and all or nothing at bats, the game is unwatchable.

The shift, lack of fundamentals like sacrificing, hit and run and base stealing....so many things have made a game that was slow to begin with like frozen molssses. It’s just not fun to watch. It’s a bad product. And yeah, the high prices for an inferior game also hurts.

They need to figure something out.

[Doc_Technical]

17. Too many commercials.

[First Speaker]

25. The game has *always* been a "business" for the players, and they *never* had any "team loyalty"...

...any more than the owners had any "loyalty" for them. The idea that baseball before free agency was every bit as mercenary as it is now, and a lot more unfair...

[exboyfil]

30. I was a Reds fan in Southern California in the 1970s

My family was from Huntington, WV. That was kind of rough given the rivalry with the Dodgers. The one Dodgers game I went to as a 9th grader had an adult Dodgers fan accost me for cheering for the Reds. I was with a church group and essentially by myself (I didn't know anybody else in the group). Very scary.

[Kingofalldems]

22. I like baseball just the way it is.

[GusBob]

23. You and me both

Go Brewers! *

*hey a successful small market team that drew nearly 2million fans

Living in the remote country baseball on the radio is my savior

[kwolf68]

27. I do too, but...

I still love to see quality fundamental baseball, moving runners, being aggressive on the base paths instead of waiting around for the homer.

And while everyone is in love with 100MPH velo and 15 strike outs, I tell you who I enjoyed watching pitch this year? Guys like John Means, Alex Young, Zach Grienke, none of which with overpowering stuff, but all 3 are artists on the mound. I find myself enjoying guys throw 80 pitchers over 7 innings while giving up 4 hits and a run. Efficiency these pitchers give you move the game faster and puts the ball in play more, in short, it's just a better product.

Compare that to watching a guy like Robbie Ray pitch. He's dynamic as a talent, but it may take him 2 hours to get to the 5th inning and while he likely will have 10+ strikeouts, he'll also have his share of deep counts, walks and wild pitchers, slowing the game down to a boring pace.

[Dave in VA]

42. Me Too!!

Go NATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[saidsimplesimon]

28. Families and young fans are being "priced"

out of the market at ballparks. TV doesn't capture the "spirit" of the game. The article spells out the causes and likely blow backs in earnings and fans. imo

[First Speaker]

29. The game has become a farce...

...front-office "analytics" gurus running the show--a classic example of the tail wagging the dog. 13-man pitching staffs, with endless pitching changes and virtually nobody on the bench--ie, a whole host of left-handed relief specialists at the expense of real baseball players. All for the most shadowy advantages imaginable. This has taken the action out of the game, leading to long and dull games with constant dead time. Nothing but home runs or strikeouts. This is a little like baseball in the 60s--but there are a lot more home runs today and a lot more strikeouts. And in the 60s, we had Koufax and Gibson and Marichal and Seaver and guys like that, who pitched 300 innings a year. Today, people panic if someone approaches 200 innings. The old way was a lot more fun to watch--if you had a pitcher's duel, you didn't take it for granted they'd both be out by the 7th inning. I love baseball, even today's game...but I don't love it as much as I used to, and don't blame people for staying away from the parks...

[Kingofalldems]

31. Football and the culture around it awful.

CTE

Screaming talk show hosts

Owners sitting high up in luxury boxes watching their gladiators.

[Yeehah]

32. Money has ruined MLB baseball

Big money teams in the series almost every year.

[Hoyt]

35. Haven't been to MLB in several decades. But, I have been to a few minor league games.

You can drive and park close to ballpark. Admission and food is reasonable and it's fun.

I was a big fan in 50s/60s, but only because I played Little League.

[stopbush]

36. Big Yankees fan here. I like baseball just the way it is as a game.

Tickets are generally too expensive, and one must assume that huge player salaries and servicing debt on new stadium construction has a lot to do with it. I’ve been to only one pro game in the last 15 years (local team is the Angels. Meh), whereas I went a lot to old Yankee Stadium when I lived there. I watch a lot of baseball on MLB, ESPN etc.

But I’m 65.

[kacekwl]

38. Sorry MLB but you have to lower prices.

Baseball along with all professional sports is just a rich guy or corporate game now. No one I know myself included has been to a game unless someone had corporate tickets. I was watching a game the other day and saw a hot dog vendor in the stands the sign on his box read 7.50 for a dog. Come on man.

[Trenzalore]

40. Went to a Phillies game this year

The tickets were $25 without fees probably $35 after they tacked on the fees.

They charged $18 to park. It was hot, they charged $5 for a bottle of water (normal size). They charged $10 for a beer and $12 for a Pizza that can be best described as slightly better than a Tostino Party Pizza.

It was hot, I got 3 bottles of water. Cost of attending the game around $80 all considered. Cannot afford to do that every weekend so I go to the ball park once a year.

The day I went Bryce Harper went out in the 4th inning due to the heat. I only got 4 innings of the star attraction.

[The Genealogist]

41. Too expensive

I've been to 5 baseball games, three KC Royals games, two Springfield, MO Cardinals games. All five involved tickets I didn't have to pay for. I like baseball if it is a fast-paced game. One of the KC games I saw when I was about 11 was absolutely miserable. They were playing the Angels, and we finally left after 11:00, I think it went to something like 14 innings.

I prefer to listen to baseball on the radio. I think it is because I used to listen to the St Louis Cards with my grandpa, whom I idolized, so that made it special.

[Yavin4]

43. Games are available on TV and streaming. No need to go to the games.

I never go to games in NYC because of the ticket cost and transportation getting there is a headache. Also, every Yankees/Mets game is on TV. So why go?

[Dustlawyer]

44. When Drayton McClain owned the Astros they had a great farm system that produced

many great pitchers. When a pitcher had a breakout year he would be traded before he could demand big money. The Astros were content fielding a mediocre team as long as the loyal fans kept attending. He was in it for the money and not to win.

Owning a major sports franchise should be a public trust that you intend to try to win it all every year. Due to the climbing salaries something more must be done to keep the small markets in the game and with a chance to win it all.

[blue neen]

45. I don't know about you, but I resent paying for ballparks with our tax dollars...

yet the owner of the team refuses to spend the money it would take to win.

Bob Nutting is making money hand over fist, while we pay for PNC Park. He could not care less about putting a winning team on the field. So, he fields a team that is now a civic embarrassment.

I'd say resentment felt by the fans is going to continue to keep a lot of people away from the ballpark.

Bob Nutting is disgusting. He deserves our wrath.