GAMMONSDAILY.com's Scott Butler noted the Phillies drew over 3 million fans this season, but "dropped from 1st to 8th" in MLB attendance. Average attendance "dropped from 38,522 through 60 home games to 32,834 in the last 20," a 15% decrease. The Phillies will have their first losing season since '02, and earlier this year began "slowly losing the fan base they built over the last decade." As the club "drifted further and further from contention, fans began avoiding the stands." With a "couple savvy moves" by team GM Ruben Amaro Jr., combined with improved play "from the youngsters, and improved performance from the veterans, fans will show their support" for the team in the coming seasons. However, if Amaro "has another poor off season, history shows that attendance will continue to decline and the Phillies will lose the advantage they have enjoyed for almost a decade" (GAMMONSDAILY.com, 9/25).
RAYS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE: MLB Commissioner Bud Selig noted the Rays have "been a great organization," but the attendance figures at Tropicana Field are "just not acceptable." Selig noted he has indicated if the team "doesn't make progress, I'm going to send somebody down there and we're going to have to do something about it." The Rays are on the verge of clinching their fourth postseason berth in six seasons, and Selig said, "Their attendance is the second-lowest in the big leagues today and that's disgraceful. I don’t know how much more blunter I can be than that" ("The John Feinstein Show," CBS Sports Radio, 9/25).
INDIANS LOOKING TO TREND UPWARD: The Indians averaged 22,453 fans over their final six home games, and in Cleveland, Terry Pluto wrote, "That could be a reasonable goal for 2014, which would bring them to at least 1.8 million." A "good sign was their 'no-show' rate for games this season was well under" MLB's average of 20%. Pluto: "I believe the attendance will go up if they can actually have back-to-back winning seasons" (CLEVELAND.com, 9/26).
NOTES: Thursday's crowd of 21,393 at Petco Park pushed the Padres' season attendance total to 2,166,691 -- the most since 2,427,535 in '08 (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/27)....The Yankees ended their '13 home schedule with a final attendance of 3,279,589, down 7.4% from last year and the team's third straight decline (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
