Marlins Park’s Second Opening Night Attendance Woes

There’s nothing terribly surprising about the headline. The Marlins finished in last place in the National League East last season. They traded all of the marquee players over the winter, save for superstar Giancarlo Stanton, who is under team control until after the 2016 season. The team threatened to sue season-ticket holders who refused to pay their ticket invoice in a dispute over whether their view was obstructed. And a week before the season started, the Marlins had teamed with Groupon to offer two-for-the-price-of-one tickets for opening night against the Braves. Then the Marlins started the season on the road with a 1-5 record.

Still, when my colleague Jeff Sullivan snapped this photo just as the opening night was getting underway at Marlins Park, I was, well, surprised.

The official attendance, courtesy of the box score on MLB.com, was 34,439. That’s 3,000 or so shy of the 37,442 seating capacity. Of course, official attendance means tickets sold, not the number of fans through the turnstiles. Even so, the Marlins failed to match the attendance from last season’s inaugural opening night of the ballpark, missing that 36,601 mark by more than 2,000.

How does the Marlins’ second opening night stack up against other ballparks that have opened since 2000? Not particularly well.

Fourteen ballparks have opened between April 2000 and April 2012. The only one to see a significant drop in attendance from the first opening day to the second — other than Marlins Park — was Minute Maid Park (nee Enron Field) in Houston. The Astros’ new park opened in 2000 and hosted 41,583 fans on opening day. The next season, the Astros sold only 35,526 tickets to opening day. Why? I bet the collapse of Houston-based Enron — for which Minute Maid Park was originally named — had a dampening effect.  It may have had something to do with the Astros’ .444 winning percentage in 2000, as well.

But a losing record in the first year doesn’t tell the whole story. Indeed, several other teams had dismal records in their inaugural seasons in the new digs. And yet fans still showed up for the second opening day. Here’s a chart listing the 14 ballparks opened since 2000, the inaugural opening day attendance, the team’s winning percentage in its first year in the new ballpark, and the second year opening day attendance.

Team	Ballpark	Year Opened	Inaugural Opening Day Attendance	Winning Percentage First Year	Second Year Opening DayAttendance
Giants	AT&T Park	2000	40,930 (sell out)	.599 NL West Title	40,930 (sell out)
Tigers	Comerica Park	2000	39,168	.488	40,104
Astros	MinuteMaid Park	2000	41,583 (sell out)	.444	35,526
Brewers	Miller Park	2001	42,024 (sell out)	.420	43,005 (sell out)
Pirates	PNC Park	2001	36,954	.383	36,402
Reds	Great American Ballpark	2003	42,343 (sell out)	.426	42,122 (sell out)
Phillies	Citizens Bank Park	2004	41,626	.531	44,080 (sell out)
Padres	Petco Park	2004	41,400	.537	43,538 (sell out)
Cardinals	Busch Stadium	2006	41,936	.516 NL Central Title	45,429
Nationals	Nationals Park	2008	39,389	.366	40,386
Yankees	Yankee Stadium	2009	48,607	.636 AL East Title	49,293
Mets	CitiField	2009	41,007	.432	41,245
Twins	Target Field	2010	38,145	.580 AL Central Title	40,714 (sell out)
Marlins	Marlins Park	2012	36,601	.426	34,439

Other than the Astros, and now the Marlins, only the Pirates saw a drop in attendance from the first opening day to the second, but it was minimal. Every other team saw opening day attendance rise in the second year, even teams with losing records in the inaugural season — the Tigers, Brewers, Reds, Nationals, and Mets.

This isn’t about “attendance shaming.” Marlins fans have every reason to stay away from the ballpark this season. It’s simply an effort to put the Marlins’ experience in some historical context. Based solely on these opening day attendance numbers, history hasn’t treated the 2013 Marlins particularly well.

And, don’t bother trying to ask the Marlins players about it. Eric Adelson of Yahoo Sports talked with Placido Polanco and Kevin Slowey about the crowd after the game, but notes that he was then escorted out of the clubhouse by the Marlins media relations director. At least he was allowed to stay in the stadium, unlike several fans who wore shirts and carried signs protesting the franchise’s direction, and were asked to leave by stadium security personnel.

Major League Baseball is at its most most prosperous point, perhaps ever. In an era of unprecedented labor peace and financial well being for all, the current state of the Marlins is simply an unfortunate stain on the game.