Attendance
Posted by Andy on April 10, 2010
Earlier this morning I noticed how bad the Athletics attendance has been so far. FYI this data is available right here on the attendance figures for 2010 MLB. If you are too lazy to click, here are the data for the season so far:
| Tm | Attendance | Attend/G | Managers |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARI | 107,358 | 26,840 | Hinch |
| ATL | 116,694 | 38,898 | Cox |
| BAL | 48,891 | 48,891 | Trembley |
| BOS | 113,678 | 37,893 | Francona |
| CHC | Piniella | ||
| CHW | 98,502 | 24,626 | Guillen |
| CIN | 108,489 | 27,122 | Baker |
| CLE | Acta | ||
| COL | 49,509 | 49,509 | Tracy |
| DET | 45,010 | 45,010 | Leyland |
| FLA | 40,666 | 40,666 | Gonzalez |
| HOU | 116,960 | 29,240 | |
| KCR | 82,626 | 20,657 | Hillman |
| LAA | 208,290 | 41,658 | Scioscia |
| LAD | Torre | ||
| MIL | 152,963 | 38,241 | Macha |
| MIN | Gardenhire | ||
| NYM | 134,145 | 33,536 | Manuel |
| NYY | Girardi | ||
| OAK | 71,434 | 17,859 | Geren |
| PHI | Manuel | ||
| PIT | 79,437 | 26,479 | Russell |
| SDP | Black | ||
| SEA | Wakamatsu | ||
| SFG | 42,940 | 42,940 | Bochy |
| STL | LaRussa | ||
| TBR | 101,605 | 25,401 | Maddon |
| TEX | 113,167 | 28,292 | Washington |
| TOR | Gaston | ||
| WSN | 88,747 | 29,582 | Riggleman |
Obviously the teams showing no data haven't had any home games yet. Don't ask me why the Astros don't have a manager. 🙂 (It's time for Brad Mills to get a little more respect...)
Of course, Oakland's attendance is up slightly over last year's season-long average of 17,392 per game. It's quite a shame to see a team that has had a lot of success over the last 10 years have such poor attendance.
April 10th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
It looks like an awful ballpark for baseball, which might have something to do with it. Look at KC. They're bad, but Kauffman Stadium is a great venue, so it's a little more than half-full while the massive Coliseum isn't much than a third-full.
April 10th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Its tough to judge attendance this early. After four games, Oakland is going to beat last years average because the home opener accounts for 25% of the attendance instead of 1.2%. Last year after four games they averaged ~22k. That said, last year they opened on a weekend and this year they opened early in the week. It takes a while for these things to balance themselves out.
April 10th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Oakland didn't even draw well when they were winning three World Series in a row
April 10th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
The only World Series game I've ever been to was Game 1 at Oakland in 1973. You could walk up to the box office just before game time and buy a ticket.
April 12th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Rich and Gerry,
While Oakland did not draw well in the 1970s and doesn't today, in the late 80s and early 90s, the A's had great attendance (they were one of the top teams in attendance at nearly 3 million). Then the city decided to take what was a very pleasant baseball park (especially for the time) and add a monstrosity to attract the Raiders back to Oakland, making it an unpleasant park (especially for today, when most teams have improved their parks).
My point is, it is not that it is impossible for the A's to attract lots of fans in Oakland, it is that in a relative sense the park has become much worse. At the same time, both the Finley ownership in the 70s and the ownership groups since the mid 90s have been antagonistic to the fans.