Minor league baseball attendance slips to below pre-pandemic levels

MiLB operators around the country believe the decrease is largely due to a dip in the group and corporate salesGetty Images

MiLB teams in 2022 saw "significantly reduced attendance levels from where they were pre-pandemic," as the 120 affiliated teams drew 30,916,465 fans, according to J.J. Cooper of BASEBALL AMERICA. That total may be "up significantly from last year’s 22,088,997 fans," but it is a "big dip from what teams have historically drawn." From 2005-19, the 120 full-season MiLB clubs averaged 33-35 million fans per season. MiLB’s total attendance those years "topped 40 million fans" each year, when including "ticket-selling short-season and rookie ball teams as well as the Mexican League." MLB’s reduction of the minors in 2021 from 160 to 120 ticket-selling teams "has likely assured that the all-time MiLB attendance record of 43,263,740 fans, set in 2007, is a record that will likely never be broken." MiLB clubs averaged 3,910 fans per game this year, up from the 3,205 in 2021, but from 2005-19, MiLB full-season teams averaged at least 4,150 each season. MiLB operators around the country believe the "decrease is largely due to a dip in the group and corporate sales." The Single-A Dayton Dragons led the minors with an average of 7,935 fans per game in 2022 (444,346 total). Because the High-A Midwest League "plays fewer games, the overall total attendance leader" was the Triple-A Nashville Sounds (555,576 total, 7,611 average) (BASEBALL AMERICA, 10/5).

ON THE DOWNSWING: The AP wrote MiLB teams combined to draw 30.9 million fans this year, “down from 41.5 million in 2019,” the last season before COVID-19 and before MLB began cutting affiliates. MLB said that teams averaged 3,910 this season for 7,908 games, "down from an average of 4,044 for 10,262 games in 2019." In 2021, when many areas had “coronavirus-related restrictions on capacity,” teams drew 22.1 million for 6,828 games, an average of 3,235. MLB “cut guaranteed affiliations from 160 to 120" ahead of the 2021 season, "down from 176 teams in 2019” (AP, 10/7).