2024 Attendance Predictions

[IanRubbish]

Would be interesting to parse the concert games out of the total and get a revised total/differences...

My guess is there will be a crap tonne of postgame concerts next season...

Was just thinking about that, but yes, the summer concert series has been behind some of the mid to high 30s games.   Next year's attendance predictions will need to adjust for Lady A, Flo Rida, and Star Wars. 

[OfftheBat]

Back into 22nd place ahead of the Twins thanks to three nights of "Let's Go Yankees". 

Will be interesting to see how the Cubs fan travel this weekend.

I went to the games this weekend, Cubs fans took over Nats Park, to put it bluntly. I tried to out-scream them but could not.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

And the tomahawk chopping walking dead are here next.  At least it's the Hialeah dead fish after that. 

I went to the games this weekend, Cubs fans took over Nats Park, to put it bluntly. I tried to out-scream them but could not.

[HalfSmokes]

Nice to see Baltimore in the bottom half of attendance despite being in the middle of a great pennant race

[Senatorswin]

Nice to see Baltimore in the bottom half of attendance despite being in the middle of a great pennant race

It's crazy they don't open up the upper deck in left field. Is it they don't want to clean it or they don't want fans to buy less expensive tickets?

[imref]

It's crazy they don't open up the upper deck in left field. Is it they don't want to clean it or they don't want fans to buy less expensive tickets?

we were there two years ago for the 30th anniversary of the opening of Camden Yards. A ton of Oriole legends were there and the place was packed, but the LF section was shuttered.  We watched fans keep trying to move into it and keep getting chased out. Eventually by the 7th inning or so security gave up and folks moved into it.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I would pay extra to sit in those LF seats, as far as physically possible from those revolting Old Bay & crab "Maryland dogs"

[IanRubbish]

Nice to see Baltimore in the bottom half of attendance despite being in the middle of a great pennant race

That market is small so they need to be really good for a few years in a row to top 30k, and that's with much lower ticket prices than DC.

The experience around Camden Yards also isn't great.  Few good restaurants and bars, probably the worst surrounding area of any urban ballpark.   Nats Park wasn't great in that regard when it opened, but it's improved dramatically since the neighborhood developed.   

[JCA-CrystalCity]

doesn't help OPACY that the inner harbor went down the tubes. The hey day for OPACY and the area was years ago. In the 90s, it was nice surroundings. Even 10 years ago, going up for red sox - os game, the main sort of street from the park to the harbor had restaurants. Pratt? or is Pratt what the BW Parkway turns into?

[Senatorswin]

doesn't help OPACY that the inner harbor went down the tubes. The hey day for OPACY and the area was years ago. In the 90s, it was nice surroundings. Even 10 years ago, going up for red sox - os game, the main sort of street from the park to the harbor had restaurants. Pratt? or is Pratt what the BW Parkway turns into?

Yep, Pratt is the street you take a right on after passing the stadium to go to the inner harbor. It's hard to believe they are so mismanaged that they let their cash cow inner harbor go down the tubes. There is one place to go before or after an O's game, Pickles Pub, and that's small.

They have so much land between the casino and Camden Yards they could develop but they keep it looking like a junk yard.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

They have so much land between the casino and Camden Yards they could develop but they keep it looking like a junk yard.

the problem is the football stadium. You need so much parking and that thing is so big that it really kills the development potential between there. Add in the incinerator on the other side, and the two elevated ramps into the city (395 and the end of 295), there's no potential for other development in that direction. The rail probably needs to be suppressed and 295 rebuilt at street level to get more out of that stretch, but you still have the 395 problem.

The south side of Pratt between OPACY and the inner harbor has big blocky buildings and is just something you walk by.

[imref]

What's going in with Inner Harbor redevelopment? I haven't been there in a few years but I thought they were finally rebuilding it?

[OfftheBat]

And the tomahawk chopping walking dead are here next.  At least it's the Hialeah dead fish after that.

Hopefully there will be more of us than Braves fans this time 

[Senatorswin]

the problem is the football stadium. You need so much parking and that thing is so big that it really kills the development potential between there. Add in the incinerator on the other side, and the two elevated ramps into the city (395 and the end of 295), there's no potential for other development in that direction. The rail probably needs to be suppressed and 295 rebuilt at street level to get more out of that stretch, but you still have the 395 problem.

The south side of Pratt between OPACY and the inner harbor has big blocky buildings and is just something you walk by.

There's an area across from the Pro Golf that has a fence around with a lot and I think a broken down building. When the Camden Yards stadium contract was redone the Orioles tried to get ownership around the stadium and I think that lot so they could develop it themselves. Fortunately, at least so far, the state hasn't given it to them. The Orioles have been given enough without that land also.

[Senatorswin]

Hopefully there will be more of us than Braves fans this time 

When I went to Atlanta the Nats fans didn't represent at all.

[OfftheBat]

When I went to Atlanta the Nats fans didn't represent at all.

What percentage were Nats fans approximately?

[Senatorswin]

What percentage were Nats fans approximately?

The Friday night game I saw 1 person in Nats gear, a Soto jersey.

Saturday night I saw 2. One before the game in a Scherzer jersey and 1 guy in a Nats T-shirt.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Truist may be the only MLB park I have no desire to visit...it sounds like an absolute hellhole. At least you can escape from The Trop on foot. 

[IanRubbish]

If you sit in the first five rows or so behind the Nats dugout you usually will have company when they're on the road, and most of my experience with this is Western and West Coast ballparks far from DC.  Was a lot better in 18-19 than now, but San Francisco and San Diego still seem to get anywhere from 10-50% Nats fans in that immediate area.   But if you're looking for a stadium takeover that's not happening anywhere. 

[Smithian]

That market is small so they need to be really good for a few years in a row to top 30k, and that's with much lower ticket prices than DC.

The experience around Camden Yards also isn't great.  Few good restaurants and bars, probably the worst surrounding area of any urban ballpark.   Nats Park wasn't great in that regard when it opened, but it's improved dramatically since the neighborhood developed.   

No one is more sick of hearing how nice Camden is than me, but this seems tough. Isn't it only a 10 minute walk to the Inner Harbor?

I haven't been to a ton of other ballparks, but I think the White Sox take title for worst area around a stadium. It's like if Navy Yard never changed around Nats Park.

[Natsinpwc]

No one is more sick of hearing how nice Camden is than me, but this seems tough. Isn't it only a 10 minute walk to the Inner Harbor?

I haven't been to a ton of other ballparks, but I think the White Sox take title for worst area around a stadium. It's like if Navy Yard never changed around Nats Park.

I think most of Inner Harbor has shut down and the area is dicey now?

[Natsinpwc]

There’s next to nothing around CBP and the other stadiums in Philly.  I guess a couple things over the years have opened but it’s still middle of nowhere.

[IanRubbish]

No one is more sick of hearing how nice Camden is than me, but this seems tough. Isn't it only a 10 minute walk to the Inner Harbor?

In its heyday, the Inner Harbor was a bunch of Baltimore guys in jean shorts eating at chain restaurants, hardly a great attraction.  But criminals took over and the mall there is mostly abandoned.   

What OPACY is missing, and I know was an issue in the franchise sale, is a series of bars and restaurants around the stadium like Nats Park, Oracle Park, Petco, Wrigley, Fenway, etc all have in the immediate areas surrounding them.  Part of the issue is the demographics of Baltimore are not DC, SF, or Boston, but also Camden's "great" design didn't include doing anything with the surrounding neighborhood. 

[HalfSmokes]

In its heyday, the Inner Harbor was a bunch of Baltimore guys in jean shorts eating at chain restaurants, hardly a great attraction.  But criminals took over and the mall there is mostly abandoned.   

What OPACY is missing, and I know was an issue in the franchise sale, is a series of bars and restaurants around the stadium like Nats Park, Oracle Park, Petco, Wrigley, Fenway, etc all have in the immediate areas surrounding them.  Part of the issue is the demographics of Baltimore are not DC, SF, or Boston, but also Camden's "great" design didn't include doing anything with the surrounding neighborhood. 

When we went to the national aquarium last year and made the mistake of trying to go into the mall so my daughter could use the bathroom. She was 12 and decided she'd rather wet her pants than go further than the hallway full of junkies. The chic fil a felt safe enough because it had multiple armed guards. The entire area is a craphole now

[IanRubbish]

There’s next to nothing around CBP and the other stadiums in Philly.  I guess a couple things over the years have opened but it’s still middle of nowhere.

I don't consider CBP, Yankee Stadium, or the awfully named Guaranteed Rate urban ballparks.  They're off ramp stadiums that happen to be within city limits.  Whereas even Chase Field now has a lot going on around it.   Houston and St. Louis have also done a lot to develop the areas around their ballparks.  Atlanta was designed that way, but it's very suburban, was built within a bland Reston Town Center type of development.