It’s not a revelation that negative images stick in your head more than the positive ones. Take this crowd shot in Cincinnati last night, where the Reds drew 12,994 fans. Now what if I told you that, through the first 11 games, the team’s average crowd of 23,666 fans per game is 10.4% better than it was last year?
It also has to do with where the empty seats are. In New York, fans like to jab the Mets and the Yankees for their high premium ticket prices, so it makes sense that you’ll see many pictures of a lot of empty seats behind home plate. But it’s not like no one is going to Mets and Yankees game. The Mets, who are 5-12, are down 7.8 percent versus last year and the Yankees are down 5.9 percent.
The greatest concern for baseball should be in Cleveland and Kansas City, where teams have done well but the city doesn’t seem to care. The Indians are 12-5, but the crowds are down 5.3 percent, thanks four games where less than 10,000 fans showed up. Kansas City is 11-6 and has seen its crowds decline by a whopping 16.8 percent, including last Thursday in Seattle where 8,811 people were counted.
And what in the world is going on in Chicago, where the loveable losers can’t even fill up Wrigley? The 16 percent drop through the Cubs first seven home games is hard to believe.
But for all the bad, there is the good. Through the first seven games, the Blue Jays are up more than 7,000 fans. And warmer weather and good baseball has given the Bay Area teams a pop. The World Champion San Francisco Giants are not surprisingly up 21 percent, while the Oakland A’s are up nearly 26 percent.