Inspired by baseball’s opening day across the country Thursday, analysts at ConvergEX Group found an interesting correlation both Fantasy Baseball fans and Wall Street traders can appreciate: History shows MLB attendance mirrors consumer confidence.
So if Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig’s prediction proves correct, we should be in for a modest economic recovery this year. Selig said this week that total attendance will be up about 3 to 5 percent, according to Sports Business Daily.
“Declining since 2007, attendance is a sound representation of the still sluggish economy, since it is measured over a lengthy season and includes a broad national sample,” wrote Beth Reed and Nicholas Colas of ConvergEx. “Last season, average game attendance across the league was 30,344, which was up 0.7 percent from the prior year, but still shy of the all-time high average of 32,770 set in 2007.”