Attendance is way down at Major League Baseball games – but not in Milwaukee

JR Radcliffe | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On Monday morning, Forbes reported attendance across Major League Baseball is down a significant 6.5 percent compared to this point last year, with an average of 27,483 fans per game in 2018 compared to 29,402 last year. In all, total attendance is down 1,860,576 fans.

Milwaukee, however, is definitely not to blame.

In the Forbes data displaying attendance changes year-over-year, the Brewers have the second-largest increase in fans per game across baseball, averaging 33,323 fans, up from 28,753 in 2017. That’s an increase of 4,570 fans per game (16 percent), trailing only reigning World Series champion Houston (6,278).

Only the Diamondbacks (3,141 per game) and Yankees (2,477) are also seeing increases of larger than 2,000 fans per game. In all, 11 of the 30 teams are pacing better than last year.

The Brewers fill Miller Park to an average of 81.5 percent capacity, which is the ninth-best mark in baseball, and despite being located in one of the league's smallest markets, their average sits 10th in fans-per-game attendance.

Obviously, the team’s winning ways have a lot to do with it, though this isn’t unfamiliar territory for the Brewers. According to numbers compiled by ESPN.com, Milwaukee was 10th in per-game attendance last year, too, and 16th in 2016 and 13th in 2015 – both years when the team was well out of contention. In 2014, when the Brewers had a strong season until a late-season lull, the franchise finished eighth.

There’s also the certainty that comes with a roof, enabling fans from across the state and beyond to attend games without fear of losing a game to weather. Unseasonably bad weather in 2018 certainly contributes to the overall MLB attendance drop.

The Forbes article points out that last year, attendance dropped less than 1 percent from 2016, though it was the first time since 2010 that attendance dipped below 73 million. The article also points out that a number of factors are in play, with weather playing some role (but not as big as one might think).

Teams such as the Miami Marlins and Toronto Blue Jays changing the way they measure attendance has also been part of the equation, as has the increase in seat prices.