As the Pirates remain in contention for a spot in the playoffs, the organization “gets closer to its goal of setting a franchise record for attendance,” according to Dan Majors of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. The “magic number is 2,436,140, one more than the total that turned out in 2001, the year PNC Park opened.” Pirates Exec VP & CMO Lou DePaoli said, “In the 42 home games played through the All-Star break, attendance has been up 12.25 percent over last year. And last year finished up 22 percent over 2010. So you're seeing some pretty significant attendance growth at PNC Park a couple of years in a row.” This season, the Pirates have drawn 1,069,946 fans for an average of 25,475 per game. At that pace, the Pirates “would end up with about 2,038,000 tickets sold.” DePaoli said, “Our goal is to try to beat that 2.4 million. It's still mathematically possible to get there, but we'd need some really strong crowds from here on out.” The “good news of the local team selling more tickets carries with it the bad news of fewer tickets left to buy.” The team has five Saturday games remaining, and “all of them are just about sold out” (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 7/20).
