Unless fans of clubs like the Miami Marlins, Kansas City Royals, and Toronto Blue Jays start coming out to see their failing clubs play, yearly attendance of Major League Baseball games will fail to crack the 70 million-fan threshold for the first time since 2003.
At this point, MLB owners aren’t panicking – but they are getting a bit concerned.
The lack of people taking themselves out to the ballgame across MLB has led the average crowd size at a game to fall to 28,874 fans and September will likely see that figure fall farther.
Perhaps the biggest reason for the overall drop is there are a plethora of teams – including the Marlins, Blue Jays, Royals, Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, and Pittsburgh Pirates – that are drawing more than 5,000 fewer fans per game this season.
Those teams are all in different situations, but their common similarities are that none of them are very good and that none of them made any marquee free-agent signings that would indicate to their fan bases the clubs are actually serious about winning.
Other problems that need to be remedied include the reduced number of balls in play, the increased length of games and the rising prices of tickets, parking, hot dogs, and beers.
“This is all real, and to deny its combined consequence would be ignoring a threat to the game,” according to Yahoo Sports. “Which is why the league and ownership are talking about possible remedies.”
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