MLB AL Attendance Off 6.5% With Five Clubs Down Double Digits

MLB teams averaged 30,351 fans per game this season, down 6.6% from last season. In the AL, teams saw average attendance slip 6.5% from '08, with five clubs seeing double-digit drops. The Yankees led all AL teams for the seventh consecutive season with 45,918 fans per game, but with decreased capacity at their new ballpark, average attendance was down 12.7%. The Blue Jays posted the AL's sharpest decline (-21.8%) and were among four AL clubs under 50% capacity for the season. The Red Sox set a total attendance record at Fenway Park for the 10th consecutive year and ended the season with 550 consecutive sellouts dating back to May '03. The Royals and Rangers both posted double-digit increases in '09, with Rangers Ballpark in Arlington hosting 30 games with at least 30,000 fans, compared to just 19 last year (THE DAILY). Please see yesterday's issue of THE DAILY for a breakdown for NL teams.

NOTES: With "decreased capacity and a small percentage of extremely high ticket prices, the Yankees totaled just seven sellouts in the first year of their new stadium and experienced a 13% drop in attendance" in '09. The team drew 3.7 million fans over 81 home dates (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/1)....Excluding the AL Central tiebreaker, the Twins drew 2,362,149 fans over 81 home dates, the "third-highest single-season attendance in franchise history." The season also marked the "fifth straight year the Twins drew more than 2 million fans, the longest such streak in Twins history" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 10/5)....The Orioles "set a new Camden Yards low in attendance" for the second consecutive season. It was the team's "lowest season attendance total since they drew 1.67 million at Memorial Stadium in 1988." Orioles President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail: "I don't think that honestly is a surprise, given the economy and the team expectations, and given what's going on around us." (Baltimore SUN, 10/5)....Though "strong turnouts for the final weekend of the home season pushed the Toronto Blue Jays' average attendance" to 23,162 over 81 home dates, that average was the team's "lowest since 2003" (NATIONAL POST, 9/28).

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