A few years ago I was texting with a non-New Englander friend who was headed to Boston summer as a tourist. My buddy, not much of a baseball fan, had the usual list of attractions he hoped to line up for himself and his family: Old North Church, Faneuil Hall, Tea Party Museum, Duck Boat…and of course taking in a Red Sox game. In the 21st century, Fenway had become an attraction independent of the fortunes of the Red Sox, of interest even to non-fans looking for a quintessential Boston experience. Every season between 2004 and 2019 the Sox sold at least 2.8 million tickets – over 34k per game, with sellouts and near-sellouts most nights.
An oldster like me knows that there was no way “go to Fenway Park” was always in the top ten of the typical tourist’s list. When I was coming up it was easy to walk up on the day of the game and get a $5 bleacher seat to see Ralph Houk’s squad stumble through a loss to the Orioles. Prior to 2004, Fenway rarely sold out. Here is the total attendance for playoff seasons from the Bad Old Days:
2003: 2.6m (note that this is the year park capacity went from 34k to 36k)
1999: 2.4m, 30k per game
1995: 2.1m (only 72 home games that season, so that translates to 30k per game),
1990: 2.5m (31k per game)
1998: 2.4m
1986: 2.1m (26k per game)
1975: 1.7m (21k per game, back when Fenway held 33k total)
1967: 1.7m
The pre-Impossible Dream 60’s teams had poor attendance, and no team in the 70s broke the 30k-per-game barrier, not even the ‘78 team.
In the 80s Fenway was usually at 75% capacity (the best 80’s season was 1989, with 2.5m tickets sold, 30k per game, in support of an 83-79 team anchored by Clemens, Lee Smith, and Nick Esasky (!?!).
In the 1990s, attendance crept into the 80% capacity range, but the relative highs and lows were not related to on-field performance. For example, the ’92 squad (73-89) brought in 2.4m, but the ’98 team (92-70) could attract only 2.1 million.
Over in the How Long Will Chaim Last thread, a few posts mention waning attendance as a potential factor in Bloom’s eventual demise, with Lose Remerswaal pointing out
So how many will pass through the turnstiles in 2023?
An oldster like me knows that there was no way “go to Fenway Park” was always in the top ten of the typical tourist’s list. When I was coming up it was easy to walk up on the day of the game and get a $5 bleacher seat to see Ralph Houk’s squad stumble through a loss to the Orioles. Prior to 2004, Fenway rarely sold out. Here is the total attendance for playoff seasons from the Bad Old Days:
2003: 2.6m (note that this is the year park capacity went from 34k to 36k)
1999: 2.4m, 30k per game
1995: 2.1m (only 72 home games that season, so that translates to 30k per game),
1990: 2.5m (31k per game)
1998: 2.4m
1986: 2.1m (26k per game)
1975: 1.7m (21k per game, back when Fenway held 33k total)
1967: 1.7m
The pre-Impossible Dream 60’s teams had poor attendance, and no team in the 70s broke the 30k-per-game barrier, not even the ‘78 team.
In the 80s Fenway was usually at 75% capacity (the best 80’s season was 1989, with 2.5m tickets sold, 30k per game, in support of an 83-79 team anchored by Clemens, Lee Smith, and Nick Esasky (!?!).
In the 1990s, attendance crept into the 80% capacity range, but the relative highs and lows were not related to on-field performance. For example, the ’92 squad (73-89) brought in 2.4m, but the ’98 team (92-70) could attract only 2.1 million.
Over in the How Long Will Chaim Last thread, a few posts mention waning attendance as a potential factor in Bloom’s eventual demise, with Lose Remerswaal pointing out
Lose is right. Leaving out the Covid (2020-2021) seasons, the 2.6m who went to Fenway in 2022 were the fewest since the 2001 season. It appears the Fenway-as-attraction effect isn’t ironclad. Other disappointing Sox teams (2012, 2014) still sold out nearly every game, but now it appears the front office can’t run a bad team out there and expect sellouts.And the stadium was already less than full the past couple years and the resale market is already tanked
So how many will pass through the turnstiles in 2023?
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