The Rangers' season-ticket base remains about 16,000, but that is down about 1,500 from a year agoGETTY IMAGES
The Rangers are averaging 26,953 fans per game at Globe Life Park this season, "down a little more" than 15% compared with the same number of home games (23) a year ago, and the team "could be headed for their lowest attendance" since drawing 2.15 million in '09, according to Evan Grant of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. The Rangers have "taken the biggest hit in walk-up attendance." They are also "down almost" 19% for their first 12 Friday-through-Sunday weekend games this season, averaging 30,324 compared to 37,295 last season. This despite the fact that this season's weekend opponents early on have "seemingly been more attractive" with series against the Astros and Red Sox. The Rangers have "tried to help boost their single-game ticket sales by upping the number of popular bobblehead giveaways from nine to 12 for this season and increasing university and theme day promotions." However, most of those will "take place later in the season." Attendance is down "across baseball this year," and in the Rangers' case, "add the lag effect that comes with trying to sell tickets after a losing season, an inactive winter and then an awful start." So it is "not surprising the decrease has outpaced the league average." Still, the Rangers "rank fifth" in the AL in average attendance, thanks to a season-ticket base "built up over the course of a decade of success." That base "remains about 16,000, down about 1,500 from a year ago, but still strong." Meanwhile, club ownership reps said that although the Rangers have "scaled back payroll this season, further losses this year will not impact the team's long-term payroll or baseball operations budgets" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 5/10).
