Blue Jays post largest attendance drop in Major League Baseball

Sep 28 2019, 11:17 pm

For the second consecutive year, the Toronto Blue Jays have the dubious honour of owning the single-biggest drop-off in attendance year-over-year.

As the team puts the finishing touches on their third straight losing season, the club is hemorrhaging thousands of fans per game compared to the 2018 season. When the Blue Jays conclude their regular season on Sunday, they will own the largest average game attendance decrease in Major League Baseball.

On average, the Blue Jays brought in an average of 7,428 fewer fans per home game this season compared to 2018. That translates to a 25.56% decrease in attendance for Blue Jays home games at Rogers Centre this season.

Thankfully, the Blue Jays don’t own the lowest average attendance per game (that honour belongs to the Miami Marlins who draw barely 10,000 fans a game), but the Rogers Centre is a far cry from what it was in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The five teams which lost the most fans in 2019 include the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, and San Francisco Giants. Collectively, those teams own a 306-488 record and own four of the six-worst overall records in MLB this season.

Last year, the Blue Jays also had MLB’s largest year-over-year attendance decrease, which saw the team lose 26% of their average fan base from 2017 to 2018.

With the Blue Jays on track to post its fourth or fifth-worst season in its 43-season history, it’s no wonder that fans dialled back on tickets for the second consecutive season.

Ian HunterIan Hunter

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