The Royals’ push to make the postseason for the first time since '85 likely will result in the team's best home attendance mark in more than 20 years. Royals VP/Marketing & Business Development Mike Bucek expects season attendance to see an 8-9% increase after the final game at Kauffman Stadium this Sunday. The average crowd of 23,405 at Kauffman likely will break the season mark of 1,934,578 set in ’93 -- the final season of Baseball HOFer George Brett’s career. The Royals’ season attendance of 1,778,817 through just 76 games already has surpassed last year’s total of 1,750,754. The Royals sit just a half-game back in the AL Central, and this weekend's three-game series with the first-place Tigers will go a long way in determining whether meaningful October baseball returns to K.C. “Obviously the on-field performance is the best promotion you can have, but we’ve had some really good promotions and ticket packages available that have also helped,” Bucek said. Attendance numbers do not reflect a sellout for a Labor Day weekend game against the Indians, which was postponed due to inclement weather and will be played Monday in Cleveland. Aiding the improved attendance this year, Bucek said, is an expanded television slate on FS K.C., which scheduled 150 games this year, up from 140 in ’13. Royals games through Sept. 15 have averaged a 6.45 local rating, good for a top five spot in MLB. “Last year we had a big push toward the end -- we had a massive pickup,” Bucek said. “Hopefully we’ll take it to the same level in the next week or two.” Several games set to run on FS K.C. were picked up by national outlets, including Fox' decision to broadcast this Saturday’s Tigers-Royals afternoon game in 79% of households as part of its regional coverage.
WEB TRAFFIC, MERCHANDISE SALES ALSO UP: Web traffic on Royals.com is up 7% over last year, while mobile use in September is up 462% over the same month in ’13. “The growth has been steady all year, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the jump there,” Bucek said of fans’ mobile use. “I don’t have an exact explanation for the increase, I think a lot more people are just accessing Royals content that way.” Merchandise sales at Kauffman also have increased by 15%, including a 40% jump this month compared to last September. That has been helped by the sale of popular player T-shirts, such as LF Alex Gordon's No. 4 and C Salvador Perez' No. 13, and New Era headgear. Bucek: “It’s been a very long time since the Royals made the postseason, so people are pretty stoked. They’re excited.”
