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Baseball Saw a Million More Empty Seats. Does It Matter?

A 12-year slide in M.L.B. attendance has clubs turning to deals like standing room subscription passes. These days, filling the seats is less crucial to baseball’s bottom line.

Total attendance across 2,429 regular-season M.L.B. games dropped by about a million fans in 2019, to 68.5 million.Credit...Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

Andrew Gaare, a 25-year-old “big time” Mets fan, spent this season watching games from a perch behind center field. He is an Amazin’ Mets ballpark pass subscriber, so he can go to as many home games as he wants for $40 a month. There’s just one catch: His ticket is for standing room only with no assigned seat.

“It’s not really that bad,” Gaare said.

Even though Gaare’s pass works out to roughly $3 per game, for the Mets and other Major League Baseball clubs, Gaare represents the latest hope in baseball’s attempt to reverse a 12-year slide in attendance. He’s young, lives near the stadium and wants to attend more games at a reasonable price, making him the perfect candidate for a ballpark pass at a time when baseball will try just about anything to sell tickets.

The 2019 season will be remembered as the year of the home run, when baseballs flew out of stadiums at a historic rate. But in front offices across the sport, it will also be remembered as yet another season when attendance continued to dwindle, spurring teams to think up evermore inventive ways to get hard-core and casual fans alike to attend games.

Average Ticket Sales Per Game

35,000

32,500

30,000

27,500

25,000

2000

2005

2010

2015

2019

35,000

32,500

30,000

27,500

25,000

2000

2005

2010

2015

2019

Source: Major League Baseball

By The New York Times

Total attendance across 2,429 major league games during the regular season dropped by about 1 million fans this season to about 68.5 million, about 14 percent lower than a high of 79.5 million tickets sold in 2007. The drop for 2019 followed a 2018 season in which total attendance dipped below 70 million for the first time since 2003.

[For a look at how each team’s average attendance has changed since 2000, scroll to the bottom of this story.]

Baseball officials understand their challenges. The games are long. Children — and their parents — can struggle to sit through nine innings. The fan base is aging. Many teams are terrible, with four losing more than 100 games this season. At the same time, league revenue, which topped $10 billion in 2018, is up more than 70 percent from a decade ago, thanks in large part to increasing media rights fees, which reached an all-time high this year.

Those diverging trend lines — fewer fans in the ballpark, but richer media fees and overall revenues — make up an uncomfortable truth about baseball in the 21st century. Ticket sales, long the bread and butter for the sport, are no longer the central driver of the business at a time when the sport’s digital business is ascendant.

Image
Ticket sales have become less important to baseball’s bottom line than things like television rights.Credit...Calla Kessler for The New York Times

“It’s never going to go away,” Noah Garden, M.L.B. executive vice president for business and sales, said of ticket sales. “It isn’t going to die. But it’s going to change. There are going to be a different number of people that want to purchase tickets a different way.”

There already are. Four teams introduced the ballpark pass in 2015, and now 18 of the 30 M.L.B. teams have some type of subscription option, which varies in price from $30 each month for standing room only to $125 for a guaranteed seat. While it has not been enough to reverse the downward trend in ticket sales, baseball executives believe it is attractive to younger fans, who are used to paying for subscription services like Netflix and Spotify.

“You’re not going to get rich off the ballpark pass,” said Brooks Boyer, the White Sox’ senior vice president for sales and marketing. “But you’re getting people in the park.”

That is important in part because the energy from full stadiums comes across on telecasts, and because with an aging fan base, baseball is trying to cultivate the next generation of fans. But it is also a delicate dance. If teams lower ticket prices too much, they could devalue their product and drive away those customers who still pay hundreds or thousands of dollars each season for a premium experience.

The Miami Marlins, who attract the smallest average crowd in baseball, are trying to woo fans with a host of new ticketing options. They include a “ticket bank” in which fans buy credits at a discount before the season that they can use to purchase tickets during it. But with dozens of ticket types, the Marlins risk angering fans who later notice they could have purchased their tickets for cheaper.

The hope is fans don’t “second-guess themselves on their next purchase as to whether this is the right place, right location, right time,” said Adam Jones, the Marlins’ chief revenue officer.

The most popular new ticketing trend, though, is the ballpark pass (and its variants). According to M.L.B., fans in their mid- to late-20s represent the largest group of ballpark pass buyers.

Like a Silicon Valley start-up, baseball realizes that its ticket challenges reflect broader competition for leisure spending, attention and time. “We don’t look at it as a revenue driver,” M.L.B.’s Garden said. “It is, to me, more of a customer activation tool.”

At the heart of baseball’s decreasing attendance is the diminishing appeal of the traditional season ticket and the luxury box. With such a robust secondary market, teams can no longer argue that fans need to buy season tickets so they can guarantee access to the most desirable games and the postseason. Also, getting any person or business to commit to do something 81 days a year has become increasingly difficult, especially when the risk that the team will be terrible, sometimes intentionally, is higher than ever.

Average Yearly Ticket Sales

METS

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

YANKEES

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

The Mets and Yankees both moved into new stadiums in 2009.

METS

YANKEES

The Mets and Yankees both moved into

new stadiums in 2009.

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

Source: Baseball-reference.com

By The New York Times

Coming off their worst season in more than a decade, the Kansas City Royals said they sold 1,000 fewer season tickets this year than last year. At the same time, the Houston Astros, who are having their third straight 100-win season, have drawn 1,500 fewer fans each game.

Average Yearly Ticket Sales

HOUSTON

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

KANSAS CITY

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

Houston won the World Series in 2017; Kansas City won in 2015.

HOUSTON

KANSAS CITY

Houston won the World Series in 2017; Kansas City won in 2015.

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

Source: Baseball-reference.com

By The New York Times

Mario Alioto, executive vice president for business operations with the San Francisco Giants, where average attendance dropped to 33,300 this season from 41,500 in 2016, said the team hasn’t seen a drop-off in the number of season tickets sold since last year. Regardless, they are already thinking about what the fan of the future might want. The Giants sold out their 2,500 ballpark passes on the first day they were available this season.

“In today’s world, it’s more about connecting with that brand,” he said.

The Oakland Athletics, who play in one of baseball’s most outdated stadiums, first implemented their subscription option A’s Access in 2017, and have gone further with it than any other major league team. It is now their only season ticket option.

Subscriptions cost $33 to $75 a month. The cheapest option grants fans standing room only access to all 81 games and a guaranteed seat for at least 10 games, with the option to purchase a seat for additional games. Buyers get discounts on concessions, merchandise and parking.

The Athletics averaged 20,521 fans a game this season compared with 19,427 a year ago. Dave Kaval, the Athletics’ president, said A’s Access membership has more than doubled this year, with 9,535 additional people purchasing the pass this season.

The A’s also added the Treehouse, a large area in left field that includes two bars, a patio deck, games and a D.J., with these new fans in mind.

“All of those experiences together will encompass a trip to the ballpark,” Kaval said. “That’s going to be very important as baseball continues to compete with other entertainment.”

Teams have also begun ripping out luxury suites, a decision they don’t make lightly because they account for 5 percent to 25 percent of attendance revenue, according to Todd Lindenbaum, chief executive of SuiteHop, an Airbnb-type service for luxury suites. Premium lounges have replaced them. Before this season, for instance, the Giants tore out six traditional suites and installed the Cloud Club, a semi-exclusive suitelike venue.

“Especially in this area where there are so many start-up tech companies, they want to come out, they want to hang, they want to have a meeting,” the Giants’ Alioto said. “They are having a great time. But it’s a product that we think a business consumer is looking for.”

Luxury suites have always been a tougher sell for baseball teams than their football and basketball counterparts, said Lindenbaum. It is much easier to entertain clients in a suite for eight or 10 N.F.L. games than for the 81 home dates baseball provides. But there is still interest in what he called “premium experiences.”

“They just look different than they did 25 years ago,” Lindenbaum said.

Rising prices, especially coming out of a recession, have likely contributed to baseball’s dropping attendance. Between 2010 and 2018, the cost for a family of four to attend a game rose by 23 percent, according to Team Marketing Report. The price of the average baseball ticket on the secondary market rose 10 percent, according to the ticket-selling platform SeatGeek.

Meanwhile, fees from baseball media rights are growing at a much faster rate. That explains how revenue can soar while attendance plummets. Baseball’s new television agreement with Fox included a 39 percent increase over the previous deal.

Also, numerous teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies, have signed long-term, multibillion-dollar deals with regional sports networks in recent years. The Tampa Bay Rays recently signed a new television deal that reportedly quadrupled their average payment.

“You can’t raise the prices of tickets, whether they be suites or regular tickets, anywhere near the value that the media rights are increasing,” Lindenbaum said.

In other words, baseball will likely be fine in the short- and medium-term, but there have to be fans watching the games for the media rights to retain their value, and nearly everyone in baseball agrees that the surest way to create lifelong fans is to have people play the sport and attend games.

Fewer fans in the stands now may very well lead to even fewer there down the road.

Joe Ward and Jaymin Patel contributed reporting.

Average Ticket Sales, Team by Team

ARIZONA

ATLANTA

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

BALTIMORE

BOSTON

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

CHICAGO CUBS

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

CINCINNATI

CLEVELAND

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

COLORADO

DETROIT

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

HOUSTON

KANSAS CITY

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

L.A. ANGELS

L.A. DODGERS

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

MIAMI

MILWAUKEE

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

MINNESOTA

METS

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

YANKEES

OAKLAND

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

PHILADELPHIA

PITTSBURGH

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

SAN FRANCISCO

SAN DIEGO

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

SEATTLE

ST. LOUIS

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

TAMPA BAY

TEXAS

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

TORONTO

WASHINGTON*

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

*The Montreal Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals in 2005.

ARIZONA

ATLANTA

BALTIMORE

BOSTON

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

CHICAGO CUBS

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

CINCINNATI

CLEVELAND

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

COLORADO

DETROIT

HOUSTON

KANSAS CITY

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

L.A. ANGELS

L.A. DODGERS

MIAMI

MILWAUKEE

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

MINNESOTA

METS

YANKEES

OAKLAND

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

SAN FRANCISCO

PHILADELPHIA

PITTSBURGH

SAN DIEGO

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

SEATTLE

ST. LOUIS

TAMPA BAY

TEXAS

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

TORONTO

WASHINGTON

The Montreal Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals in 2005.

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

’00

’05

’10

’15

’00

’05

’10

’15

Source: Baseball-reference.com

By The New York Times

A correction was made on 
Sept. 29, 2019

An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of a White Sox executive. He is Brooks Boyer, not Bayer. The article also misspelled the given name of a San Francisco Giants executive. He is Mario Alioto, not Marcio.

How we handle corrections

Danielle Allentuck is a reporting fellow on the sports desk. She is a graduate of Ithaca College and previously worked at USA Today, NBC Sports and the Buffalo News.  More about Danielle Allentuck

Kevin Draper is a sports business reporter, covering the leagues, owners, unions, stadiums and media companies behind the games. Prior to joining The Times, he was an editor at Deadspin. More about Kevin Draper

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section D, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: With Fewer Fans in the Seats, Teams Offer a Place to Stand. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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