PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, is highly regarded as one of the most beautiful of the recently built ballparks; however, the Pirate's lack of success causes it to be empty most of the time.
Nine MLB franchises welcomed over 3 million fans through their turnstiles during the 2009 season and similar numbers are likely to occur again this season. One of the primary differences between MLB and the NFL is the source of revenue: the NFL makes the bulk of its money (over two-thirds) from national television broadcasts, Major League Baseball generates less than 20 percent of overall sales from national broadcasts.
While some awful baseball teams see great attendance figures (the Cubs are currently 15 games under .500 but still averaged 37, 878 fans at Wrigley Field this year – 92.1 % of capacity), other great baseball teams play in front of empty crowds night after night (the Tampa Bay Rays, who fluctuate daily with the Yankees for the best record in all of baseball, see an average of 22,923 fans a night at Tropicana Field – 52.4 % of capacity). Rays left fielder, Carl Crawford, has publicly complained about the empty seats at “The Trop” this season, and that lack of an intense atmosphere could propel him to sign somewhere else next winter when he enters free agency.
The underlying reason for these differences in attendance figures has a lot to do with performance, a little to do with the demographics of the regions teams play in (some argue there is simply no appeal for baseball in Florida, where the Rays and Marlins both consistently draw low crowds regardless of performance), but another cause is a team’s ballpark. A baseball stadium affects a club’s financial and on-field success more than any other sport.
Although 90 feet from first to home and 60 feet 6 inches separates the pitcher from the batter, varying amounts of foul territory and differing fence distances in the outfield makes each ballpark slightly different. On top of the purely on-field variations between fields, their structural appearances, both inside and outside, give each their own feel. Walking into Wrigley Field or Fenway Park, seeing the hand turned scoreboards and small seating capacities, elicits an old-time appreciation for our American past time, while Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers, with its retractable roof and large concourse area, provides a very different but nonetheless enjoyable fan experience.
Since 1992, when the Baltimore Orioles opened Camden Yards, 20 of the 30 MLB teams have unveiled new ballparks. As the “we have a new ballpark” sensation fades away in the future as the stadiums get older (the Twins averaged 29,466 fans per game in 2009 at the Metrodome, but since moving to Target Field, that number has jumped to 39,770), it will be interesting to see how the economic side of baseball does. Many clubs, including the Orioles, strived for an old-time feel when they built their new ballpark, with the idea that they could create a charm around their team’s field similar to that of Fenway and Wrigley. The Orioles are probably the best example of what will happen to most teams as time wears on: in 2004 Camden Yards averaged 34,444 fans per game, then by 2006 that number had fallen to 26,581, and this season they rank 24th in attendance figures with a meager 20,698 average.
Team executives come up with as many possible ways to draw customers to the park; installing showers in the outfield of U.S. Cellular Field (White Sox) to cool fans down on a hot summer day, putting a pool in the right field of Chase Field (D’Backs), or allowing kids to play wiffle ball in a custom miniature field built in the outfield concourse of the Ballpark in Arlington (Rangers). Teams will race sausages around the field (Brewers), pass out bobble heads to each fan and put on firework shows at the end of the game to lure fans in. The reality is that fans, for the most part, are most willing to pay money for a good team or a great ballpark, and when you combine the two, you find the highest attendance figures (the Phillies, who hold one of the best records in all of baseball, sit atop the NL East, have made appearances in two consecutive World Series’, and play in beautiful Citizens Bank Park which was built in 2004, have averaged 45,000 fans a game in 2010, 103.4% of capacity).
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