2012 attendence and fans

[Baseball is Life]

wow....how many different ways was I supposed to say it was my opinion???
Yes, it's based on those few stragglers who I happen to sit near by in the ball park and over hear in the beer line, you found me out!

Never mind him. Some people on here have a hard time accepting opinion, silver linings, generalizations, etc.

It a classic left brain vs. right brain thing. It's what makes the world go around, I guess.

[Smithian]

Data points:

- Yankee fan at my pharmacy knows about Bryce Harper ("talented kid!") and says, "In spite of the injuries, your team is really good".

- Bumped into former Mets fan on facebook who now wears a Nats hat. "The Nats have built their organization the right way."

- Member of my family who grew up  mid-90s Yankee fan is now fanatic Nats fan.

Hard work to rebuild a die-hard fanbase after 30 years without baseball and the beginning of Nats III, but this team will draw.

I used to get loads of crap for being a Nats fan and lots of people didn't even think I was serious when I said the Nationals. Now? People love talking the Nats. The reputation of the team has gone up a lot.

[PowerBoater69]

26K announced for tonight, which sounds about right, there was a huge walk-up crowd.  Traffic sucked tonight so I missed the top of the first and as I walked in the line at the box office literally went across the street.  But there had to have been thousands of no shows, no chance the park was even half full.  The lower deck was crowded behind the dugouts and sparsely populated otherwise.  The upper decks were deserted other than the 300s behind home plate.

[Displaced Bucco]

Do the Nats annouce the numbers on season ticket sales?  It would be kind of interesting to see the trends as well as full vs half vs partial plans.

[RobDibblesGhost]

EvRYbudDIEClapUrHans!  who needs a crowd to get loud when there the PA folks can do the noise pumping at inappropriate times?  And how does Hans feel about being slapped so much?

Games I've been to, there is more noise that is not PA stimulated.  for example, the PA folks will do their Hans number, the noise will die out, then a let's go Nats chant will start, or clapping, or something.  Then they'll do a different rhythm, that'll die out, then the noise will start.  Specifically, I think this was the case in the Friday Phillies game, and it was my impression earlier. 

I really hate the PA when they start a Let's Go chant when we are in the field.

As for attendance, there are at least 9 big draws remaining on the schedule: The Os series, the NYY series, and at least one weekend series with the Braves.  You can tell the anticipated big series by the rcr / ticket exchange black out dates.  We've only hit I think the OD and Take Back the Park blackouts.  The RCR has added a black out for 6/2 Dierkes Bentley.  I'm thinking we'll maintain over 25K and not that it is artificially pumped up early and we'll pay later.

Here's some info I got today about RCR blackouts:

That blackout list is as follows:

May 19
May 20
June 15
June 16
June 17
July 21
Aug 18

June 2, May 18 and July 4 are also sold out at this point.

I find it strange that this Friday is a sellout (unless what they mean is that it's sold out in terms of RCR seats)

[Obed_Marsh]

wow....how many different ways was I supposed to say it was my opinion???

Nice ninja edit.

You are the one who is taking his personal opinion and applying it universally. He's just saying that's what he observed.

Now he is sure. It has been edited after the fact.

[OldChelsea]

26K announced for tonight, which sounds about right, there was a huge walk-up crowd.  Traffic sucked tonight so I missed the top of the first and as I walked in the line at the box office literally went across the street.  But there had to have been thousands of no shows, no chance the park was even half full.  The lower deck was crowded behind the dugouts and sparsely populated otherwise.  The upper decks were deserted other than the 300s behind home plate.

Actually we had quite a few groups (school/tourist/whatever - easily recognised by matching T-shirts) up in the 300's/400's last night, and I was wondering if they'd even count them since they may have gotten in on freebies - I remember this happening in the past. (The announced attendance of 25,942 is 578 over our season average to date.) On the other hand, we did have quite a few STH no-shows in the TBSITH neighbourhood.

The ones who really lost the plot last night were the 300-level concessions - many positions closed and the ones that were open were overwhelmed - the Nats Dogs roughly behind 308/309 on the outer concourse ran out of Budweiser draught in the fourth inning, an unforgivable faux pas for one of my regular seatmates - it's the only concession on that level that has Bud draught (24oz cups for $9 - ask for 'tall') but that concession is also the Infield Gallery's prime food dispensary and everyone seemed to be ordering nachos for a party of four - worst queues I've seen up there this season, even worse than Opening Day or the Phillies weekend. No vendors in the stands until the fifth inning either.

(Sorry to threadjack but this does tie in a bit with attendance - you can attract a lot of new fans/matchgoers with our improved play on the diamond, but poor/non-existent concessions can make their return visits less likely in many cases.)

[PowerBoater69]

Actually we had quite a few groups (school/tourist/whatever - easily recognised by matching T-shirts) up in the 300's/400's last night, and I was wondering if they'd even count them since they may have gotten in on freebies - I remember this happening in the past. (The announced attendance of 25,942 is 578 over our season average to date.) On the other hand, we did have quite a few STH no-shows in the TBSITH neighbourhood.

The ones who really lost the plot last night were the 300-level concessions - many positions closed and the ones that were open were overwhelmed - the Nats Dogs roughly behind 308/309 on the outer concourse ran out of Budweiser draught in the fourth inning, an unforgivable faux pas for one of my regular seatmates - it's the only concession on that level that has Bud draught (24oz cups for $9 - ask for 'tall') but that concession is also the Infield Gallery's prime food dispensary and everyone seemed to be ordering nachos for a party of four - worst queues I've seen up there this season, even worse than Opening Day or the Phillies weekend. No vendors in the stands until the fifth inning either.

(Sorry to threadjack but this does tie in a bit with attendance - you can attract a lot of new fans/matchgoers with our improved play on the diamond, but poor/non-existent concessions can make their return visits less likely in many cases.)

Concessions lines were terrible last night, I wanted to get the $5 deal for a beer and peanuts but the line was long and didn't move for the minute I stood there, so rather than missing an inning of the game I paid $12 for the same thing at my seat.  Lerner efficiency at work.

[hammondsnats]

Great crowd last night.  I thought it was closer to 30,000.  Very loud and into the game.  The standing ovation we gave LaRoche was pretty cool.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I wonder if they were counting the military members and family tickets in the paid attendance last night? I thought it there was a military appreciation deal where they could get in free with ID?  Maybe it was a nominal cost.  The crowd seemed huge on TV.  I'm guessing there were big group sales and buses to account for the parking lot space.

[OldChelsea]

If speed of ticket sales on StubHub is any indicator, we're really going to get a full house for Saturday's Orioles visit...I posted my ticket there at 07.14 this morning at the flat STH price of $20...snapped up in 56min. And that's just for a single ticket - most potential customers would, I think, want two.

(Record high Nats Park attendance for an Orioles visit is 39,824 on Sunday 29th June 2008 - highest attendance for any match in that Nats Park debut season, and twelfth-highest Nats Park attendance of all time.)

[sportsfan882]

(Record high Nats Park attendance for an Orioles visit is 39,824 on Sunday 29th June 2008 - highest attendance for any match in that Nats Park debut season, and twelfth-highest Nats Park attendance of all time.)

[Lintyfresh85]

Someone needs to post the gif of the kid's face after Ronnie baseball goes yard.

[HerndonNat]

Coming from Herdon I could see where it would be a long haul. Do you think the Silver Line will change that?

I am not sure why exactly but I expect attendence to go up a little bit as the Metro expands.

I've actually recently moved to Gainesville so it is even worse.  It's not getting to the game that's bad.  During the week it would be leaving work early...driving all the way home to get the family...then driving back out.  Also not getting home at midnight since my 11 yo has school.  That's my main excuse for weeknight games.  During the weekend and Friday night driving in to the stadium is actually fairly painless.

[OldChelsea]

Three of the 24 highest-drawing matches in Nats Park history were this weekend:

44,685   Saturday 20th August 2011 vs Phillies
42,331   Saturday 19th May 2012 vs Orioles
41,985   Thursday 25th June 2009 vs Red Sox
41,918   Sunday 20th May 2012 vs Orioles
41,727   Sunday 21st August 2011 vs Phillies
41,530   Wednesday 24th June 2009 vs Red Sox
41,517   Tuesday 23rd June 2009 vs Red Sox
41,290   Monday 5th April 2010 vs Phillies
40,907   Thursday 12th April 2012 vs Reds
40,386   Monday 13th April 2009 vs Phillies
40,325   Friday 18th June 2010 vs White Sox
40,315   Tuesday 8th June 2010 vs Pirates [Strasburg debut]
40,043   Tuesday 27th July 2010 vs Braves
39,824   Sunday 29th June 2008 vs Orioles
39,638   Saturday 2nd July 2011 vs Pirates [‘traditional doubleheader’]
39,496   Saturday 5th May 2012 vs Phillies
39,479   Saturday 28th June 2008 vs Orioles
39,434   Sunday 30th March 2008 vs Braves [ballpark debut]
39,214   Saturday 3rd July 2010 vs Mets
39,055   Thursday 31st March 2011 vs Braves
38,049   Saturday 31st July 2010 vs Phillies
37,841   Friday 19th August 2011 vs Phillies
37,638   Sunday 25th September 2011 vs Braves
36,680   Friday 18th May 2012 vs Orioles

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Still have 3 NYY weekend games and at least one weekend series with the Braves. If it is still a close race with the Braves for first, all of those games should top 35K. 

Another way to look at it, there are 5 2012 games already on that list,  6 from all of 2011,  6 from 2010, 4 from 2009 and 3 from 2008.

[hammondsnats]

good nats crowd yesterday.  had a fun time.

[imref]

saw this posted earlier on twitter, Nats home attendance is up something like 25% this year, only Miami and Detroit have seen bigger increases.

[tomterp]

Following the conclusion of the weekend's games, average attendance is 27,331 vs. 21,285 per game a year ago through the same # of games.

This is a 28.4% increase from 2011.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Maybe they are measuring this by weight.

saw this posted earlier on twitter, Nats home attendance is up something like 25% this year, only Miami and Detroit have seen bigger increases.

[Mathguy]

Glad to hear it.  We were there Saturday night and there were ALOT of people standing against the railing in the 100 sections along the 3rd base/left field side.  From what I read, these weren't people leaving their seats in the 400 sections and getting a closer look.  The ushers began stopping people coming down the aisle until there was a break in the action.

good nats crowd yesterday.  had a fun time.

[Baseball is Life]

Mark Zuckerman ‏@MarkZuckerman
#Nats attendance now up 38% from last year at this point, roughly 8,000 per game. Only #MLB teams with higher increase: #Marlins, #Tigers.

[Obed_Marsh]

Why is the Tigers attendence so improved? I don't pay attention to the A.L.

[Baseball is Life]

The ushers began stopping people coming down the aisle until there was a break in the action.

I noticed that ushers are now asking people to wait between ABs before going down the aisles. Great idea. They do that at other ballparks around MLB. In San Diego, the ushers actually have these cute little signs.

Perhaps this will get some fans to become aware of when they get up from their seats, standing in the aisles, etc.

[Baseball is Life]

Why is the Tigers attendence so improved? I don't pay attention to the A.L.

I'm guessing Fielder and the somewhat improved economy in Detroit.