Breaking Down 2010 MLB Regular Season Attendance

There were no extra games played this regular season, much to the chagrin of Padres fans, but when the books were closed on 2010 (sans the postseason), MLB’s paid attendance was almost flat compared to last season.

All told, MLB’s audited attendance (we’ll get to why “audited” means something in a minute) came to 73,061,781, compared to 73,367,659 for the 2009 regular season — a decline of just 0.42 percent. When looking at attendance per game, 2010 saw an average 30,067compared to 30,300 last season. The reason “audited” makes a difference is, if we added up all the paid attendance figures you get 73,061,763 in 2010 and 73,508,197 in 2009, a decline of 0.61 percent. Since MLB does not release the audited figures for each of the 30 clubs, the best we can work with are the unaudited figures for individual clubs. Still, it paints the story of paid attendance well enough (now, if only the league were to count actual turnstile clicks as opposed to ticket sales, we’d have a true “attendance” picture).

As it was last year, and the year before (actually, there were two last season with the Mets and Yankees, and the Nationals the year prior), new stadium development made the numbers turn out better than they could have. The Twins, with their new Target Field, bolstered the league by posting the largest increase over last season. All told, paid attendance for the Twins was 3,223,640, compared to 2,362,149 last season — an increase of 36.47 percent. If you were to adjust the league attendance with the Twins’ figures from last year, paid attendance would have been 72,200,290. Instead of a decline of four-tenths of a percent, you get a decline of 1.6 percent. It will be interesting to see if the attendance figures hold next season given the fact that MLB will not have the benefit of a new stadium opening next season (the Marlins new ballpark is slated to open in 2012 and there are no new ballparks set to open anytime soon).

Behind the Twins, the largest increases came from the Reds (17.89 percent) and Rangers (16.19 percent). All told, 13 clubs posted gains (Twins, Reds, Rangers, Rockies, Giants, Braves, Phillies, Marlins, Pirates, Yankees, A’s, Nationals, and Angels).

In terms of total attendance, the Yankees are on top (3,765,803), followed by the Phillies (3,647,249), and Dodgers (3,562,320), who fall from the #1 position they held last season.

For decliners, the Cleveland Indians dragged the league down more than any. Drawing 1,391,644, compared to 1,766,242 for 2009 (a difference of 374,598), the Tribe drew 21.21 percent fewer fans this year than in 2009. They were closely followed by the Mets, who, with the lackluster performance in the standings and a year removed from the initial honeymoon of CitiField drew 2,559,738, compared to 3,154,270 last season — a decline of 18.85 percent. If you compare attendance to the last year in cavernous Shea Stadium, the Mets are down a whopping 36.67 percent from when the club was second in the league in attendance behind only the Yankees after drawing 4,042,047. Other double-digit declines came by way of the Blue Jays (down 16.3 percent) and Royals (10.24 percent). For the Royals, part of the decline is due to last season being the first season after the renovations to Kauffman Stadium.

In terms of the lowest total attendance, it’s the Indians at #30 (1,391,644), followed by the A’s (1,418,391) and Marlins (1,524,894).

In terms of which Division drew the best in 2010, the numbers may surprise you. When looking at average attendance, the National League cleans up. All three of the NL divisions drew better average attendance than their AL counterparts (see table and chart below)

2010 Attendance (By Division)
Division	Total	Avg
NL West	13,663,479	2,732,696
NL Central	15,146,161	2,524,360
NL East	12,200,139	2,440,028
AL East	11,905,752	2,381,150
AL West	9,260,006	2,315,002
AL Central	10,886,226	2,177,245

Coming back to total attendance, the decline from last season, while slight, is still a decline. In fact, despite total attendance numbers coming in at the sixth-highest totals ever, the economy has still packed a punch over the past three seasons. To place the 2010 attendance figure (73,061,781) in perspective, it is all of 38,812 more than 2004’s total (73,022,969). The following is the past decade by total attendance.

Total Attendance 2001-10
YEAR	GAMES	TOTAL	% (+/-)
2001	2413	72,530,213
2002	2412	67,858,176	-6.44%
2003	2413	67,688,994	-0.25%
2004	2402	73,022,969	7.88%
2005	2419	74,925,821	2.61%
2006	2421	76,078,766	1.54%
2007	2425	79,503,175	4.50%
2008	2415	78,591,116	-1.15%
2009	2420	73,367,197	-6.58%
2010	2426	73,061,781	-0.42%

Finally, here’s how each of the 30 clubs breaks down compared to last season (ranked by % of increase/decrease).

Team	# Gms	Attend (09)	09 Avg	# Gms	Attend (10)	10 Avg	Diff	Dif Per	% (+/-)
Twins	81	2,362,149	29,162	81	3,223,640	39,798	861,491	10,636	36.47%
Reds	81	1,747,919	21,579	81	2,060,550	25,439	312,631	3,860	17.89%
Rangers	81	2,156,016	26,617	81	2,505,171	30,928	349,155	4,311	16.19%
Rockies	81	2,665,080	32,902	81	2,875,245	35,497	210,165	2,595	7.89%
Giants	81	2,861,111	35,322	81	3,037,443	37,499	176,332	2,177	6.16%
Braves	81	2,373,631	29,304	81	2,510,119	30,989	136,488	1,685	5.75%
Phillies	81	3,647,249	45.027	* 84	3,777,322	44,968	176,629	515	4.91%
Marlins	81	1,464,109	18,075	81	1,524,894	18,826	60,785	750	4.15%
Pirates	81	1,577,853	19,480	81	1,613,399	19,919	35,546	439	2.25%
Yankees	81	3,765,807	46,027	81	3,765,807	46,491	46,449	573	1.25%
Athletics	81	1,408,783	17,392	81	1,418,391	17,511	9,608	119	0.68%
Nationals	81	1,817,280	22,436	81	1,828,066	22,569	10,786	133	0.59%
Angels	81	3,240,386	40,005	81	3,250,814	40,134	10,428	129	0.32%
Red Sox	81	3,062,699	37,811	81	3,046,445	37,610	-16,254	-201	-0.53%
Rays	81	1,874,962	23,148	81	1,864,999	23,025	-9,963	-123	-0.53%
Padres	81	2,154,203	26,595	81	2,131,774	26,318	-22,429	-277	-1.04%
Cardinals	81	3,343,252	41,275	81	3,301,218	40,756	-42,034	-519	-1.26%
Cubs	80	3,168,859	39,611	81	3,062,973	37,814	-105,886	-1,796	-3.34%
D-backs	81	2,129,183	26,286	81	2,056,697	25,391	-72,486	-895	-3.40%
White Sox	81	2,284,163	28,200	81	2,194,378	27,091	-89,785	-1,108	-3.93%
Tigers	81	2,567,192	31,694	81	2,461,237	30,386	-105,955	-1,308	-4.13%
Mariners	81	2,195,128	27,100	81	2,085,630	25,749	-109,498	-1,352	-4.99%
Dodgers	81	3,761,669	46,440	81	3,562,320	43,979	-199,349	-2,461	-5.30%
Astros	81	2,521,081	31,124	81	2,331,490	28,784	-189,591	-2,341	-7.52%
Brewers	81	3,037,451	37,499	81	2,776,531	34,278	-260,920	-3,221	-8.59%
Orioles	81	1,907,163	23,545	81	1,733,019	21,395	-174,144	-2,150	-9.13%
Royals	81	1,799,686	22,218	81	1,615,327	19,942	-184,359	-2,276	-10.24%
Blue Jays	78	1,786,626	22,905	* 78	1,495,482	19,173	-291,144	-3,733	-16.30%
Mets	81	3,154,270	38,942	81	2,559,738	31,602	-594,532	-7,340	-18.85%
Indians	81	1,766,242	21,805	81	1,391,644	17,181	-374,598	-4,625	-21.21%
TOTAL	2,426	73,508,197	30,300	2,430	73,061,763	30,067	-446,434	-184	-0.61%
MLB (Audit)		73,367,659			73,061,781				-0.42%

* Blue Jays games moved to Citizen Bank Park due to G20 security concerns

Source: Baseball-Reference, BizofBaseball.com research

See details for 2009 by Division