Monday, June 30, 2008

Weekend Series Attendance: I'm Disappointed.

A bit disappointed by the crowds over the weekend. I really thought hovering near .500 for a significant stretch this season, followed by improving 7 games last year after improving by 6 the year before would increase attendance at least somewhat, but apparently not.

- Is it the construction at the K coupled with the slight inconvenience of parking?

- Do we need to allow even *more* time for success for fans to begin flocking to the 'K' again in surges?

- Has the team performed poorly in promoting their product?

- Or has Kansas City officially given up on a franchise now promising to turn the corner for good - for the first time in 15 years?

36,360 on Friday (+/- 25,000 Royals fans)

37,357 on Saturday (+/- 25,000 Royals fans)

31,803 on Sunday (+/-20,000 Royals fans)

Some numbers for the season, per Baseball Reference.

Total Attendance: 794,433

Attendance / Game: 19,861

Attendance Rank: 14th of 14

Total Attendance 2007: 1,616,867

Attendance / Game: 19,961

Attendance Rank: 13th of 14

That's right, folks. Our attendance is actually *below* that of last year, even following all the marked changes in the organization and the stadium.

Last weekend, roughly 1/3 of the fans were Cardinal fans....and yet we STILL couldn't sell out 2 of the 3 games, against a notorious rival, on a summer weekend. From my own perspective, it seemed Cardinal fans dominated as much of the stadium as they have in the past 5 years. Is the city this slow to understand the significant changes that have occurred not only in the standings/record, but in the organization as a whole? Absolutely pathetic. Who or what is to blame? How in the world do you explain this?

2 comments:

esmithe said...

Let's try not to get too disappointed yet. Those numbers are still pretty good for a last place team.

Although, 14 out of 14 is pretty sad.

KMartin said...

The 12-game losing streak. Sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb. Everything else doesn't matter because the streak represents another losing season is on its way. Given what fans have endured over the past 10 years with this team and their respective administrations, the high cost of fuel these days, the 12-game losing streak, yada yada, its going to take more than "marked" changes, broken ground, and big score boards to break this trend. I wouldn't be too quick to judge fan turn out. It's really basic, this trend will continue until the Royals start winning, winning, winning, and stop losing, losing, losing. This is a small market team that counts on drawing fans from many miles away. Right now, it's easier to just stay home and watch it on TV.