MLB Sees a Sharp Drop in Attendance

[Lhalo]

I’m guessing the reasons are prices of tickets/concessions and length of games.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/major-league-baseball-sees-a-sharp-drop-in-attendance-1529063246

[Angelsfan1984]

6 minutes ago, LHalo said:

I’m guessing the reasons are prices of tickets/concessions and length of games.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/major-league-baseball-sees-a-sharp-drop-in-attendance-1529063246

My guess is parking and concessions. Why would you pay well over 200$ for a family of 4 out the door when you can watch it at home and feed the entire family for 1/4 the price? While I definitely believe the live experience is wonderful, its not worth the financial cost to do it more than a couple times a year for a larger family. I don't think length of game has anything to do with it, as i'd rather be somewhere for longer if i'm paying that much money to be there.

[OCAngelsNotLAA]

I love live sports, but the cost/hassle of attending games plus the quality of HDTV leave me with little motivation to attend more than 1-2 games a year and i live a 5 min drive from Angels stadium or ponda.

[zenmaster]

It's a good thing we still have games blacked out on TV in the year 2018 or else the numbers would be even lower!!

 

 

[nando714]

31 minutes ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

My guess is parking and concessions. Why would you pay well over 200$ for a family of 4 out the door when you can watch it at home and feed the entire family for 1/4 the price? While I definitely believe the live experience is wonderful, its not worth the financial cost to do it more than a couple times a year for a larger family. I don't think length of game has anything to do with it, as i'd rather be somewhere for longer if i'm paying that much money to be there.

I’ve paid $6-8 a ticket this season and ended up on the field level in shallow right field almost every game. Sometimes I like sitting in LF where it’s almost always empty. 

You should NEVER go up to the box office and buy a ticket. Secondary market is where it’s at.

- $10 to park at the stadium isnt bad compared to let’s say Oakland or Dodger stadium 

-bring your own bag of peanuts

- most of the time I’ll bring big water or buy a beer every now and then. 

-season tickets are for suckers

[TroutField]

Idk about the rest of baseball but I know for me... I live in the Palm Springs area, so that’s a 2 hr drive each way to the stadium plus a full tank of gas, plus parking, plus food and drink at the stadium... all for the bullpen to blow it in the 9th?

I feel robbed if the Angels get blown out or don’t play well.

[Angelsfan1984]

4 minutes ago, nando714 said:

I’ve paid $6-8 a ticket this season and ended up on the field level in shallow right field almost every game. Sometimes I like sitting in LF where it’s almost always empty. 

You should NEVER go up to the box office and buy a ticket. Secondary market is where it’s at.

- $10 to park at the stadium isnt bad compared to let’s say Oakland or Dodger stadium 

-bring your own bag of peanuts

- most of the time I’ll bring big water or buy a beer every now and then. 

-season tickets are for suckers

Trust me, that's exactly how I do it as well. I have a hook up on tickets so I can actually go whenever I want for free and I usually bring my own food. Its the 12$ beers that are a joke.

[WeatherWonk]

It's not the length of games. It's the cost.

Fed chair "puzzled" why wages aren't increasing, along with the low unemployment. Duh! So many decent paying jobs were sent overseas by corporations, with the complicity of Congress and multiple presidents. All that's left are crummy service jobs at fast food and C-stores. That last is an exaggeration, of course. Technology also replaced many good paying jobs. Wait till robotics REALLY gets going!

People cant afford these games and the associated expenses. Just read yesterday that the rise in gas prices costs the average family an addition 70.00/month over the same month last year. There goes a big chunk of discretionary spending each month.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Generally when we go to a game we either get tickets for free or buy some nose bleeds the day of.  We park across from the stadium for free and grab a bite before heading in then grab a beer at the game.  All in all it's not that expensive but there's only 2 of us.  To me baseball can get pretty boring on TV at times but being at a game is completely different.  That said between traffic and being able to watch at home in HD (and change the channel if it's boring or disappointing) we don't go to many games.  

[UndertheHalo]

Maybe it’s not the $20 tickets.  Maybe it’s that literally more then a 1/3rd of the teams in the league are tanking garbage tire fires.  Why should fans invest in the team if the billionaire owner can’t be bothered to put a competitive team on the field ? Even if the ticket and parking are free.  Why the F*ck would I spend 3 or 4 hours of my life watching the <insert shitty team> play trash baseball.  How many things can a family do in 3-4 hours.  How many things can a young person do in 3-4 hours ? I mean, anything else.  When the “rebuild” is done you can show up.  Tickets will still be cheap. 

Gotta understand, we here are passionate fans of baseball.  We appreciate seeing Carlos Correia or Mike Trout.  The average person doesn’t give a shit.  They have maybe heard of some of the better players.  That they’re good at baseball doesn’t really mean a lot.  

Put a winner on the field and people will show up.  That’s it.  This tanking garbage is destroying professional sports. 

Edited June 15, 2018 by UndertheHalo

[Inside Pitch]

 

9 minutes ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

My guess is parking and concessions. Why would you pay well over 200$ for a family of 4 out the door when you can watch it at home and feed the entire family for 1/4 the price? While I definitely believe the live experience is wonderful, its not worth the financial cost to do it more than a couple times a year for a larger family. I don't think length of game has anything to do with it, as i'd rather be somewhere for longer if i'm paying that much money to be there.

Lots of games early in the season took place under awful weather and had horrid attendance.  A couple weeks ago there were only like 4 teams with better year over year attendance..  Now it's up to 11 teams and the bandwagon in Seattle will do what they always do when one of their teams does well.   

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2018-misc.shtml

School is out -- summer is coming...  attendance will inch back up.

[Blarg]

It's all about the money. That is what curtails my attendence. I grew up on seats being very affordable but now it's just stupid money to go to a game and sit somewhere close to the action and have a couple hot dogs and a drink. 

[zenmaster]

The Marlins and Rays are dragging down the whole league.

[Angelsfan1984]

3 minutes ago, zenmaster said:

The Marlins and Rays are dragging down the whole league.

and Pujols making the angels lead the league in batters average age...

[Angelsfan1984]

Can someone tell the padres to stop challenging calls...7% success rate LOL

[Inside Pitch]

1 minute ago, zenmaster said:

The Marlins and Rays are dragging down the whole league.

Toronto is the biggest offender -- their attendance is down over 11K per game from last year -- Marlins are next at 10K fewer than last year.   

KC, Baltimore, Pitt and Detroit are all down 5K or more per game.   Pitt sold off Cutch.  KC made no real effort to retain it's FAs.   Detroit started their sell off last year...

So yeah -- people won't go watch tank jobs..    But Derek Jeter knows best...

[Blarg]

2 minutes ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

Can someone tell the padres to stop challenging calls...7% success rate LOL

Can you be further off topic?

[Inside Pitch]

Just now, Blarg said:

Can you be further off topic?

LOL -- to be fair -- that info is at the top of the MISC info stat link I posted...   

[fanfromday1]

I wonder how much the Angels attendance will drop off if Ohtani doesn't return this year?

[Docwaukee]

16 minutes ago, fanfromday1 said:

I wonder how much the Angels attendance will drop off if Ohtani doesn't return this year?

why do you think they keep saying they're confident he's coming back?

[Angelsfan1984]

26 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

LOL -- to be fair -- that info is at the top of the MISC info stat link I posted...   

Here let me try to spin it for him...maybe people aren't going to games because of so many failed challenges...hows that for reaching?

[krAbs]

I'm really curious if this article takes weather issues into consideration. I have a feeling that we have a small enough sample size of the year that that would make a big difference.

[Stradling]

I think people aren’t going because they complain about how expensive it could be.  When we were growing up it was expensive too, so we parked offsite and walked in.  We went to Del Taco, before the game.  The only thing you and your family are committed to is paying for the tickets.   If Brayden wants a cotton candy tough shit.   

[Angelsfan1984]

2 minutes ago, The Boogie Man said:

I think people aren’t going because they complain about how expensive it could be.  When we were growing up it was expensive too, so we parked offsite and walked in.  We went to Del Taco, before the game.  The only thing you and your family are committed to is paying for the tickets.   If Brayden wants a cotton candy tough shit.   

Eat a dick Brayden...nope nevermind that's $14.

 

[Chuck]

2 hours ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

My guess is parking and concessions. Why would you pay well over 200$ for a family of 4 out the door when you can watch it at home and feed the entire family for 1/4 the price? While I definitely believe the live experience is wonderful, its not worth the financial cost to do it more than a couple times a year for a larger family. I don't think length of game has anything to do with it, as i'd rather be somewhere for longer if i'm paying that much money to be there.

Yep. I've been to just three games so far this year (all Angels vs. Ms at Safeco) and have spent a total of $446.89 per my calculations. Oh and I don't pay for parking either. 

3 games!