Robinson Cano’s arrival helped stopped the plummeting turnstiles revenue at Safeco Field this year, as the club topped 2 Million fans for the 1st time since 2010, and saw the greatest percentage jump in park draw from 2013 to 2014. With a young nucleus surrounding the ALL-Star 2B, the club should contend for the next several years, and maybe Seattle will crack the top half of attendance in the AL once again.

By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024

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Baseball is in trouble, that is what everyone will say in the newspapers, however the attendances in the game are doing well compared to year to year totals.

Over 34.45 Million Fans viewed games in the ‘Junior Circuit’ during the 2014 campaign.  While this total is down from 34.6 MIL fans in 2013, it only represents a drop of 0.5% or 150,000 people.

Cleveland fell back into the cellar of attendance at Progressive Field, barely drawing 1.43 Million butts in the seats.  It was an 8.6% drop for the 2013 season, where they drew 1.57 Million fans amidst a playoff race.

The biggest percentage in lost attendance goes to the Rangers, who struggled though an injury filled year, to bring in 14.4% less people than in 2013.

Seattle paid $240 MIL for Robinson Cano last winter, and were rewarded at the turnstiles, with the biggest jump at 13.8% more people going through the wickets at Safeco Field.  It was the 1st time they drew more than 2 MIllion since 2010.

2014/2013 MLB Attendances

Another franchise cracking the 2 MIL barrier was the Oakland A’s – accomplishing the feat for the 1st time since 2006.  Sadly, their nice season ended in the AL Wild Card Game, and failed to produce a home playoff date at the Coliseum.

The Athletics still raised their attendance by 10.7 from 2013 – 2014.

Finishing with the 2nd best influx were the AL Pennant winning Kansas City Royals, taking in cash from 11.4% fans for the season.  I am sure their appearance in the World Series should spike Kauffman Stadium’s totals greatly for next year.

2013’s biggest rise in attendance had been the Toronto Blue Jays, however they rescinded this season’s mark to about 161000 less Canadians taking in the sights of The Rogers Center.

If you account for the Jays year to year drop, the rest of the league was up 11000, and Toronto was down 16100  They are the outlier here, as the 2013 final totals had been bumped up 5700/per game from the 2012 campaign. It was only natural to see the regression from a 73 win club the previous season.

The good news here is that the people of Toronto rallied for several summer sellouts, and big crowds.

There is no question the Yankees were lucky Derek Jeter decided to have a farewell tour, otherwise they may have not lead the league in attendance this past year.  The road games he played in had to be positively affected as well.

The Angels topped the 3 Million fans mark for the 11th straight year under the direction of Arte Moreno, and an AL West winning team.

In a city like Chicago, it wasn’t so nice for the ‘Pale Hose’ – as not even the last season of Paul Konerko, or 1st for Jose Abreu translated into more viewers in the seats.  The White Sox suffered another decline in attendance for the 8th straight year since their 2005 World Series effort.  They once almost were drawing 3 MIL/year with the team formerly managed by Ozzie Guillen, now they are down to about half of that.

Speaking of park on the descent.  The Minnesota Twins have seen another 300K fans not show up at Target Field for the 4th straight year.  At this rate, the people going to games will only rival what the ‘Metrodome’ used to bring in around the talk of ‘contraction’ at the turn of the millennium.

Houston saw a small bump in the right direction – after seeing years of frustrating crowds.  There is no doubt the people will come back as the team progresses more to the right direction, and there will be nearly 3 MIL fans back in Minute Maid Park once they are contenders.

The newly named Globe Life Park In Arlington experienced the worst percentage in attendance from 2013 to 2014, but that is clearly understandable when over 60 players were used due to injury. The guys need to stay healthy and rebound to the 2010 – 2013 form, that saw them win 370 games in that span, and 90+ in every campaign.

Texas, on the other hand, may be on the downward slope of their attendance projections, albeit I think they can hover in the middle of pack even if the team struggles.  The 2010 and 2011 runs brought a lot of new fans in for the park, and their drop in people coming to Globe Life had more to do with the 60+ players they had to use due to injury.

There wasn’t much of lost ticket revenue for St. Pete, with the Rays experiencing their 1st losing year since 2007.  It will be interesting to see how many people avoid Tropicana Field if the club isn’t in contention for a 2nd straight season in 2015.

The Baltimore Orioles saw a slight raise in people coming into Camden Yards for 2014, which was their 1st AL East Title since 1997.  At 6th in the league for attendance, they have been gradually moving in the right direction since Buck Showalter took the helm as manager.  Hopefully they will spend some more money for 2015.

The Red Sox and Angels continue to draw well each year.  New York doesn’t have a scheduled “Farewell Tour” in 2015 as of yet, and if their offense keeps its anemic ways present like this year’s squad doled out on a daily basis, they may not be the attendances leaders next campaign in the AL.

Detroit is about as solid as a baseball city  there is.  In the last 6 – 7 years, they are routinely near the 3 MIL mark, and have a decisive advantage over their AL Central teams for revenues in this regard.  Based on their small decline in attendance, only Kansas City has an increase of people showing up at the park in 2014 out of  the 5 teams.

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