Analysis, Baseball, Fan Data, Sports Data, Sports Fan Data

A Deeper Look into Fan Attendance by MLB Team

In our last post, we explored the attendance patterns across major league baseball. In this post, we take a closer look at the attendance performance of individual teams. As the data in the table show, the Los Angeles Dodgers have the highest average attendance in baseball the past three years  (46,230) followed by the St. Louis Cardinals (42,854) and the San Francisco Giants (41,303). The Tampa Bay Rays have the lowest average attendance the last three years at 15,650.

The ticket sales departments of the high average teams are undoubtedly pleased, but even better than a high average is a consistently high average, or put differently, low variance in attendance. The Giants have the lowest attendance variance of any team in baseball the last three years, though the Cardinals and Dodgers are also in the top five. After all, it’s hard to maintain a high average without regularly selling a lot of tickets. But having a high average and low variance suggests that home team fans are supportive of their team no matter who is playing—arguably a higher degree of interest.

Team Mean Attendance Standard Deviation Min. Attendance Max. Attendance Variance
Angels 37234.86 4326.519 24304 45007 1.87E+07
Astros 28246.42 7149.111 3385 43753 5.11E+07
Athletics 19692.16 7210.076 9329 40019 5.20E+07
Blue Jays 38646.44 9131.714 14184 48871 8.34E+07
Braves 26991.44 8826.582 12582 51220 7.79E+07
Brewers 30521.42 6643.854 17374 46032 4.41E+07
Cardinals 42854.8 2548.505 34286 48052 6494879
Cubs 38665.87 3352.346 26390 42186 1.12E+07
Diamondbacks 25723.19 7569.122 12215 49043 5.73E+07
Dodgers 46230.38 4239.965 35448 53701 1.80E+07
Giants 41303.06 999.5157 31621 42862 999031.5
Indians 20881.18 7355.631 8766 35789 5.41E+07
Mariners 27146.11 9307.902 13376 47065 8.66E+07
Marlins 21150.38 4450.738 10637 36969 1.98E+07
Mets 32468.14 6456.69 19617 44666 4.17E+07
Nationals 31385.85 5772.104 17161 42744 3.33E+07
Orioles 27021.84 9522.491 0 46289 9.07E+07
Padres 28598.35 7659.78 14224 45282 5.87E+07
Phillies 23724.41 5937.219 13238 45549 3.53E+07
Pirates 27545.96 7177.444 2596 39933 5.15E+07
Rangers 31729.65 7284.19 17884 49289 5.31E+07
Rays 15650.45 5318.524 6509 40135 2.83E+07
Red Sox 36023.89 1716.889 31011 38378 2947707
Reds 25310.73 8582.289 10586 43804 7.37E+07
Rockies 33274.01 7808.19 20227 49360 6.10E+07
Royals 30936.49 5453.611 17727 40085 2.97E+07
Tigers 31178.91 5112.876 21237 45049 2.61E+07
Twins 25740.53 5571.681 15171 40660 3.10E+07
White Sox 21483.84 6835.627 10842 39579 4.67E+07
Yankees 39209.31 5370.847 25566 48608 2.88E+07

With less than half of the 2018 MLB season left, and the playoffs fast approaching, be sure to go to a FanWide game watch party at a local bar, pub, or restaurant.