ST. LOUIS – In a new sign of uncharted territory for the struggling St. Louis Cardinals, some tickets for Wednesday’s game are listed online for free before fees.
Third-party ticket platform Stubhub shows several tickets marked for “$0” just hours ahead of the Cardinals’ evening matchup with the San Diego Padres, the third of four games in their final home series in August.
With fees, the final cost of the ticket through StubHub will likely be around $4, according to its website filters.
Other third-party vendors are listing tickets for similar costs. Listings start at “$1” per ticket on SeatGeek.com, which also involves some fees, and “$2” per ticket on TickPick.com with no added fees.
The low-priced tickets come as the Cardinals navigate throughout unprecedented attendance woes. Four of their last five games have drawn record-low attendance marks for non-pandemic-restricted games, the latest mark falling to 27,224 on Tuesday. Keep in mind, the team is tracking attendance through the metric of tickets sold, not necessarily how many people watch the game at Busch Stadium.
Several factors are likely contributing to the drop in attendance and low-priced tickets. St. Louis is dealing with blistering seasonal heat, children are back in schools, and perhaps most notably, the Cardinals are in jeopardy of back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since the 1950s. Costs for parking, food and other expenses may also deter some from going to the game who prefer not to pay for extra services around their experience.
Postseason hopes also continue to fade fast for the Cardinals, who now stand 10.5 games back of the NL Central Division lead and seven games out of a Wild Card spot with a record of 65-67 and only around one month left in the 2024 regular season.
The Cardinals host the Padres for two more games to complete their current homestand before a road trip to play two more surging postseason contenders, the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers.
