Attendance to Date: 12.5% Over 2011

[Going Underground]

I was way off on the attendance. The O's had the lowest attendance of any team yesterday. Bad crowdbad game and the fans were not into it at all. The team and the fans felt flat. I was so quite in most innings, Seemed like the fans waited to boo Reynolds. I guess he is the scapegoat for all the O's woes. Should have brought Gregg on so fans could at least boo some more. The game was one of the quietest and least enthuastic crowds I have seen in a long time. Are the fans jumping ship already? I am going again Sunday to see if I can stand the heat and if the O's can stand the heat and not spontaneous combust for the season and burn out and fade away.

Even the O's bird gave up and was not on the dugout cheering on the O's. No Rock this Yard and this is our house in the ninth either. Everyone had given up.

[OFFNY]

.

Friday 6/29 vs. THE INDIANS

...

24,779

[OFFNY]

.

JUNE 28th, 29th, 30th, JULY 1st (vs. The Indians)

O

THURSDAY: 17,676

FRIDAY:Ooo24,779

SATURDAY: 35,335

SUNDAY: Oo16,689

_________

TOTAL:oooO 94,479

[Frobby]

.

JUNE 28th, 29th, 30th, JULY 1st (vs. The Indians)

O

THURSDAY: 17,676

FRIDAY:Ooo24,779

SATURDAY: 35,335

SUNDAY: Oo16,689

_________

TOTAL:oooO 94,479

Pretty mediocre crowds this weekend but understandable given the weather. The team isn't giving the fans much inspiration now.

[TradeAngelos]

I look at it this way -- we drew 2.6 mm in 2005, the year the Nats arrived. That was after the team had 7 losing seasons in a row. That tells me that, even with the Nats around, a consistently winning team in Baltimore would draw 3 million. The drop from 2.6 mm in 2005 to the more recent season is more a function of constant losing than it is the Nats.

Which makes not spending another $20 million on payroll to field a team that can consistently win all the more puzzling.

An extra 800k or so makes that up, and would pay off in ways that can't be calculated in numbers with the fans.

[Frobby]

Which makes not spending another $20 million on payroll to field a team that can consistently win all the more puzzling.

An extra 800k or so makes that up, and would pay off in ways that can't be calculated in numbers with the fans.

This seems a bit more plausible now than it did a year ago, or the year before that, etc. Despite the recent struggles, this is a better team than we've had in a while, so the idea that spending another $20 mm might make some appreciable difference seems more realistic than it did in the past.

[Going Underground]

I was in the yard Thursday and Sunday. Small crowds and very peaceful. More cheering for the Indians on Sunday then the O's. THe excitement has left the yard now. They didn't even boo Kevin Gregg when he was brought in. Just silence or heat exhaustion. I know the heat and power outages were bad but 16,000 on a Sunday? I guess light rail was also not working from Lutherville to North Ave. I heard the grumbling on leaving the stadium. The O's need to do something to get fans back. Thome is what he is. It was more quiet then the prior year at both games. Bad pitching and heat put the fans asleep.

[TonySoprano]

Even if you take into account the lost gate during the Texas series, attendance is up 20.4%, and on pace for over 2 million for the first time since 2007.

[Frobby]

Even if you take into account the lost gate during the Texas series, attendance is up 20.4%, and on pace for over 2 million for the first time since 2007.

The O's also had one lost gate in 2011, when an early game against Texas had to be made up as a doubleheader on April 9, 2011. So really, 40 paid dates this year vs. 40 dates last year is apples to apples.

I think the O's have a more favorable schedule (for attendance purposes) than last year. We had no weekend series with Boston in the second half of last year, and though we had one with the Yankees, attendance was "dampened" by some really lousy weather (about 137,000 attended the 4 game series and they had no crowd higher than 37,528 that weekend; a fifth game -- which itself was a make-up from earlier in the year -- got rained out that weekend and had to be rescheduled as a weekday solo home game in the middle of a road trip on only a few days' notice). I think attendance will continue to be up significantly in the second half. It will help if the temperatures dip below 100 degrees and the O's continue to win!

[TonySoprano]

The O's also had one lost gate in 2011, when an early game against Texas had to be made up as a doubleheader on April 9, 2011. So really, 40 paid dates this year vs. 40 dates last year is apples to apples.

Except that we're at 42 home games and 41 attendance figures. If you go to this chart, you'll notice there are only 80 dates listed for 2011. 41 games to 41 games, attendance is up 22.9%.

[TheBee]

Anecdotal Evidence that interest is up: I spend as much time as possible at the New Jersey beaches of Cape May/Wildwood Crest/ and Diamond Beach. Usually, I am the only Oriole and Ravens fan visable. Yes, that does lead to situations with Jets and Yankees fans who just can't resist talking smack, but so what, I'm wearing my gear. Regardless, this spring and summer on my trips I am seeing a ton more O's gear. It is a real, noticeable upswing. I have been frequenting that area for most of my life. I keep wanting to go up to people and see if they are on the OH.

[Frobby]

Except that we're at 42 home games and 41 attendance figures. If you go to this chart, you'll notice there are only 80 dates listed for 2011. 41 games to 41 games, attendance is up 22.9%.

My mistake for relying on my memory of how many home dates we've had, but my point is the same -- the 41/41 comparison is apples to apples because we had only 80 home dates last year and the same will be true this year (barring any further rain outs that can't be made up as a separate gate).

[LookitsPuck]

I was in Greece, and I saw an Orioles fan. Pretty damn surprising.

[Frobby]

35,566 for the first game of the second half last night. In 2011, the O's had only one crowd bigger than that in the second half, and only topped 30,000 six times in the second half of the season.

I assume there will be a good crowd again today, despite the weather. Hopefully they get the game in and the Orioles give the fans a reason to want to keep coming out.

[Frobby]

43,215 to honor Jim Palmer today. I'm glad they went home happy. A lot of people stayed until the end. They'll probably come back after watching that one.