Professional Baseball Sees Uptick in Attendance for Second Consecutive Year
For the first time in over a decade, professional baseball has seen a rise in attendance for two years in a row. The latest season drew in 71.35 million fans, a 0.9% increase from the previous year. This marks the highest average attendance since 2017, with an average of 29,568 fans per game.
The total number of fans in attendance rose by 0.8% compared to the previous year, with 2,413 games played. This upward trend is a welcome change after the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant decline in attendance in 2020 and 2021.
Five teams managed to draw in over 3 million fans, with the Los Angeles Dodgers leading the pack at 3.94 million. The Philadelphia team came in second with 3.36 million, followed closely by San Diego at 3.33 million. The New York Yankees and Atlanta teams rounded out the top five, with 3.31 million and 3.01 million fans respectively.
Some teams saw a decline in attendance, including St. Louis, Houston, and Toronto, who all dropped below the 3 million mark. Oakland, who will be relocating to Sacramento and eventually Las Vegas, drew the lowest attendance at 922,286.
In terms of television viewership, ESPN’s Sunday night games saw a 6% increase, averaging 1,505,000 viewers. Fox’s broadcasts also saw a rise, averaging 1,879,000 viewers. Among younger viewers aged 18-34, ESPN Sunday games increased by 12% and Fox by 9%.
Online streaming also saw a significant boost, with 14.5 billion minutes streamed on MLB.TV, a 14% increase from the previous year. The number of games watched in their entirety also rose by 17%.
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