ST. LOUIS – Attendance for St. Louis Cardinals games reaches unprecedented levels once again.
The Cardinals reached a new low in single-game attendance on Wednesday for the second straight night. It was the first non-pandemic-restricted Cardinals game in Busch Stadium III history that drew less than 30,000 in paid attendance.
The final reported attendance for Wednesday was 29,580. That’s a new record low, falling below a previous record-low mark of 30,022 set just one day earlier.
Keep in mind too, MLB teams calculate attendance based on tickets sold for the game, not necessarily how many fans sit down at the stadium for games.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports reporter Benjamin Hochman shared a view of the stadium on social media platform X right around first pitch that showed several upper-deck sections of the stadium completely empty and almost every other section with scattered crowds. At full capacity, the stadium draws around 47,000 fans.
The nosedive in attendance coincides with a Cardinals ballclub struggling to turn a corner amid a prolonged slump. The Cardinals have lost eight of their last 11 games, now sitting two games below .500 (62-64) and five games out of their closest path to postseason via the Wild Card. Their 11-17 record since All-Star break ranks among MLB’s worst.
Fans who attended Wednesday’s game and stayed for the duration were treated to a nice surprise, however, as veteran Nolan Arenado capped a comeback victory with an extra-inning, walkoff grand slam.
Circling back to attendance, Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III told FOX 2’s Martin Kilcoyne earlier this year that the Cardinals sell around 70 percent of their tickets before Opening Day, largely in part through season ticket packages. Prepaid tickets for games like Wednesday’s are reflected within single-game attendance numbers.
DeWitt said that the last 30 percent “is a function of how the team plays, and maybe your schedule, your promotional work you do, and various things that play out during the season.” He called team performance a “swing factor” in determining attendance.
As the Cardinals scramble to salvage the 2024 season, it remains to be seen if improved performance can improve attendance from unchartered territory.
The Cardinals rank seventh in average attendance this season (36,322 as of Wednesday, according to Baseball-Reference), but it’s a notable fall from fourth last year and a decrease of around 4,000 in paid attendance per game.
The Cardinals close a three-game series with the NL Central-leading Brewers on Thursday before a brief road trip to Minnesota, followed by another weekday homestand against the San Diego Padres. After that, there are 13 home games remaining on the regular-season schedule in September.
