Disappointed in attendance?

[Jon]

Only 24,133 last night and it sounded like a lot of Yankees fans among them.

At best it looked like a 60-40 good guy to bad guy count and that is probably being generous. Add in the fact that many of the O's fans were your usual inattentive, casual types and yea, it wasn't fun. I summed up my experience over in the "I'm sure of this: swept by New York" thread. It was a very bi-polar night to say the least.

It only sounded like that in the 9th and 10th innings. Though the ESPN color guys did their best to say "LOTS of Yankee fans here tonight" throughout the entire broadcast.

Not sure where you were sitting but over in the third base box seats we were surrounded by them. When surveying the rest of the ballpark, it sure looked pretty heavily infiltrated to me. They did well to match our sounds levels and by the time the causal fans dipped out after Johnson's latest meltdown, we felt outnumbered.

Hopefully both the result and the crowd is more enjoyable when I'm back in Orange and black on Wednesday.

[Frobby]

29,040 tonight, and it sure looked to me like the vast majority were O's fans.

[Slappy]

Was there tonight, looked easily over 30k to me and maybe 80-20 for the good guys, at least up in the cheap seats.

[Going Underground]

Was there tonight, looked easily over 30k to me and maybe 80-20 for the good guys, at least up in the cheap seats.

In the box seats about 65% O's fans. Had 29.040 at the game. It looked like more because the Upper Deck was pretty full because of Ollie's bargain night.

[webbrick2010]

Had a great time... I'd say 85/15 O's fans

They were well behaved and had not much to cheer about. MGon was nasty, as was Hunter

[OFFNY]

.

3-GAME SERIES WITH THE YANKEES: 5/20, 5/21, 5/22

.

MAY 20th:..O 24, 133

MAY 21st:OO 29, 040

MAY 22nd:..) 26, 725

O

OOOOOOOOO)79,898

[Frobby]

.

3-GAME SERIES WITH THE YANKEES: 5/20, 5/21, 5/22

.

MAY 20th:..O 24, 133

MAY 21st:OO 29, 040

MAY 22nd:..) 26, 725

O

OOOOOOOOO)79,898

Surprisingly weak, IMO. The divide between weekday and weekend crowds this year is amazing. And yes, I think the premium pricing is putting a big dent in these Yankee/Red Sox weekday games.

[DrungoHazewood]

Surprisingly weak, IMO. The divide between weekday and weekend crowds this year is amazing. And yes, I think the premium pricing is putting a big dent in these Yankee/Red Sox weekday games.

I'm sure this would be difficult to estimate (although eyeballing photographs of the stadium might get you in the neighborhood) but it would be nice to know the ticket revenues. Teams really don't care about attendance, they care about revenues, and the correlation obviously isn't 1-to-1.

The Yanks have (or had) some crazy $1000 box seats. They probably make as much off one section of those as they would from half of the $30 upper deck.

[Going Underground]

Surprisingly weak, IMO. The divide between weekday and weekend crowds this year is amazing. And yes, I think the premium pricing is putting a big dent in these Yankee/Red Sox weekday games.

I think that is why the O's are going to this six game plan with Red Sox or Yankees at non prime prices. I think it should only be four games. Make it easier for fans on a limited budget.

Choose any two prime games, plus four non-prime games ... and you'll get all of your seats at the non-prime game price.

This is your chance to make sure Orioles fans fill the park with orange when we take on the rival Yankees or Red Sox, so don't delay! Let's make certain O's fans pack the Yard when we square off with our AL East foes.

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/bal/ticketing/packs_6gmflex.jsp?affiliateId=2T941U4H1-5G7

[scottbbfm]

Surprisingly weak, IMO. The divide between weekday and weekend crowds this year is amazing. And yes, I think the premium pricing is putting a big dent in these Yankee/Red Sox weekday games.

We've discussed it before, until its difficult to get seats on a weekend no reason to show up on the weekday, especially when it costs more.

[Frobby]

We've discussed it before, until its difficult to get seats on a weekend no reason to show up on the weekday, especially when it costs more.

Yes, but the discrepancy seems much greater than it was 10 years ago.

[Frobby]

Yes, but the discrepancy seems much greater than it was 10 years ago.

In 2003, the Orioles drew 2.454 mm, which is probably close to where they will end up this year. But in their first 9 weekday home games (excluding Opening Day), they averaged 21,045. Those games were against Cleveland, Tampa, Chicago and Detroit, not exactly a bunch of high drawing teams. The lowest crowd they had was 17,267.

The 2013 Orioles have already had 8 crowds below 15,000. Their first nine home weekday games averaged 14,468.

Yet, on the weekends, the O's are kicking butt. They are averaging 38,396 a game in nine weekend games. In 2003, they averaged 28,869 in their first 9 weekend games.

So, the discrepancy between weekend and weekday games is much bigger in 2013 than it was ten years ago. Weekday attendance is way down compared to then, and weekend attendance is way up. Why that's so is a bit of a mystery to me. It's not like weekday games were more convenient in 2003 than they are today.

The O's have three home games left in May -- two weeknight games against the Nats, and a Friday night game with the Tigers. I'm guessing those Nats games will draw pretty well, but it's hard to know if any DC fans will travel down for them, because the same two teams play two games in DC on Monday and Tuesday before they come to Baltimore on Wendesday and Thursday. I'm not sure that schedule is good for attendance for either team.

June should be very strong -- 2 weekend games with the Tigers, a Thursday-Sunday series with the Red Sox, a 3-game weekend series with the Yankees, and weekday series with the Angels and the Indians. June was very strong last year too (the Phillies and Nats each had a weekend series here that drew huge crowds).

To date, attendance is up 87,426, or 16.8%, from 2012 through 23 dates. Of note: the Orioles had only 79 home dates last year due to two rainouts rescheduled as single-admission doubleheaders.

[webbrick2010]

Day of game walkup fee still sticks in my crawl. Have refused to do it.

Weekday game are/were a spontaneous (hey the weather is great... so and so is pitching) decision.

I usually plan and buy in advance weekend tickets.

[backriver111]

So, the discrepancy between weekend and weekday games is much bigger in 2013 than it was ten years ago. Weekday attendance is way down compared to then, and weekend attendance is way up. Why that's so is a bit of a mystery to me. It's not like weekday games were more convenient in 2003 than they are today.

A lot seems to depend on the weather. I've been to 3 weekday games this year and every game was either very cold (it always seems the temperature is 10 degrees cooler inside the stadium), damp, or both. Not sure how it was in 2003 but the weather this year has not been ideal.

Right now the team is pulling huge walk up sales on those nice days and weekends. As long as the Orioles keep rolling those walk ups might turn into some season ticket holders next year. If that happens, attendance figures won't be so volatile between the weekday/bad weather games and the weekend/nice weather contests.

[scottbbfm]

It's a lot easier to swap tickets around from game to game than 10 years ago. That has to have something to do with it.

Also think the orioles are a more retail family entertainment, and less business - which happens on the weekdays.