MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has a problem with the "perception people take from the snapshot of a wet, dreary April and extrapolate into doom and gloom" for the league's attendance figures, according to Tom Verducci of SI.com. Attendance through May 1 was "down -- by 369 people per game," or 1.3%. However, the Dodgers "alone accounted for 63 percent of the decline in MLB attendance." Selig said, "Do I have any concerns? No. None whatsoever. We'll be up. All I can tell you is I'm bullish where we are and where we'll finish. ... I've been watching these things for 40 years. Overall, I know the ticket business. We're off to a beautiful start." Verducci wrote the "problem with baseball in April is that chunks of seats within view of the television cameras often go empty, including seats that are sold, and often because of lousy weather." Those camera shots "become referendums on the state of the game." But Selig said, "We're down four-tenths of one percent (in 2010) in the worst economic times since the Great Depression. We've come through in brilliant shape. If you told me three years ago where we would be we all would be happy, and that's true of any business in this economy." Verducci noted MLB is "consumed in so many different ways that hardly existed, if at all, in its pre-strike popularity: fantasy leagues, web apps, satellite radio, web sites and a plethora of television viewing options on fantastic-looking displays." Attendance "remains a vital revenue stream and measure of interest, but now it is part of a much more diverse picture of how baseball is consumed" (SI.com, 5/3).
CLIPPED WINGS: A handful of St. Louis Post-Dispatch writers discussed the "sparse crowds at Busch Stadium so far this season." Joe Strauss noted the market for Cardinals tickets has "definitely softened," as over 75% of single-game tickets are "going for below face value" through the team's new dynamic pricing system. There "seemed a tangible turnoff" to the contract negotiations with 1B Albert Pujols this offseason, and the club missing the playoffs three out of the past four seasons "also fed skepticism." However, Strauss noted the Cardinals "will still reach 3 million attendance this season, so the issue is only relative." Rick Hummel noted the weather "has been among the worst in many years ... and there really has only been one attractive opponent in Cincinnati." Bryan Burwell wrote, "As the weather calms down and warms up, the attendance should rise." But Jeff Gordon wrote attending games is "very expensive, despite bargain ticket pricing for lesser games." Gordon: "What we're seeing is a natural market correction" (STLTODAY.com, 5/3).
