Thought came from the following tweet from MLB reporter Deesha Thosar: https://x.com/deeshathosar/status/1835861333272642010?s=4
Does anyone have any thoughts on why attendance is low during a playoff race? The Mets are ranked 17th / 30 teams for attendance this season, despite being 9th in baseball in wins and 1st in payroll.
It seem to be more of a weekday attendance issue, but more than half the games are played on weekdays.
Thoughts?
46 comments
I have the 20 game plan and I drive to each game since I am out on Long Island.
I have to factor in an additional $50 to park each game, plus the prices of food/beverage is getting insane.
It’s just too expensive to a lot of people regardless of how the team is doing.
Today is a 20game plan night, and 5-dollar Tuesday, so I assume there will be a bigger crowd.
Schools back in session. That’s the biggest issue. Plus, going to a game is not cheap. I only manage about one game a year
It’s a Monday in September after school has started against a bad team. A school night in the fall on a Monday it is a miracle anyone is at these games.
Let’s see how things are this weekend. If Citi Field is not absolutely packed to the rafters for a weekend series against the rival Phillies while the Mets are in the midst of a playoff chase, then we may have a problem.
Mass transit sucks.
Parking is expensive.
Football’s back and it’s a national sport so people will stay home and watch MNF
School is back on
People seem to forget this, but it’s fucking New York City. We work our asses off here and Monday night against a shit team is a huge ask.
Also, we need to make plans in advance. See above comment. We are fucking busy people.
I have always thought that the location of citi field sucks. If you are coming from NJ (like I am) or CT… it’s a downright schlog to reach.
Parking at $40 is asinine when most days I’ll pay less than that for a ticket. Taking the train from where I live on Long Island is 1.5 hours total and going back home on a week day via that mode of transportation is exhausting – so the other option would be to drive but doing that anywhere near rush hour is murder. I would go to way more games if I could get to the stadium easier and if prices weren’t so inflated.
21k in attendance for mets/nats last night
32k in attendance for the cubs/a’s game
In the grand ranking of New York sports teams, where would the Mets sit? 5th? 6th?
People are all saying “it’s a Monday against a bad team” yadda yadda yadda. Fair point, but as OP pointed out, we’re 17th in attendance and I’ll add that we couldn’t get a player voted into the All Star game if he had 40 homers before the break.
Mets fans need to be better, like our players do.
I’m canceling my season pack because the value sucks. If you have season tickets or season packs, you know what I’m talking about. As much as Cohen spent on the team, he’s nickel and dimed fans.
They made it harder to exchange for good games, took out marquee games, and got rid of vouchers. Additionally a lot of the perks were taken away (like discounts on merch and fan specials) and the new connect tiered system is terrible.
Also as everyone mentioned, parking doubled in price, which makes it more expensive to park than the tickets themselves.
It’s expensive to attend Mets games. I used to take my two boys there when they were kids. Between the parking, the tickets, the food and the inevitable visits to the clubhouse shop, a single game could run me $250 or more. That’s a lot of money to many people.
It’s expensive for a family night out and kids are back in school.
The issue for me is traffic. From Staten Island you’re at least 90 mins in each direction regardless. Sucks.
Looking at the Mets average attendance, relative the the median team, by year:
2024 93
2023 105
2022 117
2021 109
2019 109
2018 101
2017 105
2016 121
2015 103
2014 89
2013 85
2012 95
2011 105
Something definitely looks a little off. those other three years below 100 were all 74-79 win seasons
Hey, it’s not about the team. It’s about the cost. Tickets, and then all the service fees, and then parking if you’re driving, which is unconscionably expensive, or train ticket, and then maybe you want to eat or drink something and you’re suddenly paying restaurant prices for a freaking hotdog and a bad beer?
these excuses are pathetic … the phillies nearly doubled our attendance last monday against the rays.
Was gonna go but ultimately it’s a Monday night, hoping to go later on in the week
The stadium experience has cratered. The food, which used to be a high point, is no longer anything special, but the prices continue to climb.
The stadium does not do anything special to make the game engaging or entertaining. The team does not do anything to draw fans out.
The team is good, but that’s only half the battle. Why would I spend all of this money for increasingly less value when I could watch the team win at home?
I’ve found $20 tickets on Gametime to sit section 130. Train fare is less than $6 round trip from Brooklyn. You can bring your own snacks and water into the stadium not to mention a free drink token if you sign your name up to be a DD lol
Fully worth the money in my case… Excited for the wildcard run and I’ll be there game 1 vs Philly! LFGM!!
It’s a Monday, people have to work and school the next day. Plus, why leave the comfort of my couch and 65-inch TV and cheap food for shelling out what will be several hundred dollars for two people to see the game in person?
This was a problem down the stretch in 2022, though I think some of that had to do with the losing and bad vibes we had going into that final week of the season leading up to the playoffs. But yeah as others have said summer’s over, school’s in session, it’s monday night game against the nationals, it’s an expensive night out, the Phillies series is more exciting later this week. Also something I think gets underrated is that we’re in NYC there’s so many entertainment options on any given night that the Mets have to compete with including the more popular franchise in the Bronx.
As a Mets fan who lives in Westchester county Citi Field is just too far away for a Monday night game during the regular season
When the Mets played either at the Angels or at the DBacks, the home team had an ad on the padded bumpers around the ad boards behind the plate for a ticket special they were offering: 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas, $44.
Nearly half the commercial breaks that series opened with the stupid “Keep it 100” “deal” commercial: 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas, **AND 4 PRETZLES** for $100.
The difference is hysterical. That absolutely plays a part in why attendance is so bad.
Biggest factor is cost. As someone else mentioned, burger fries and a beer for one person is going to run you close to $40 with tax. If you work in the city you may already be looking at $30 between breakfast and lunch that day. People collectively have no excess savings from the pandemic anymore and credit card debt is at record highs. Even driving in on the weekends and paying for parking is insane.
Other factors: The off-season and start of the season were duds, so there’s less of a buildup of hype. The commute home from Flushing during the workweek is rough for people outside of Queens. Despite paying for a classic cable package in NY, I don’t get SNY, leaving me less plugged in and having to follow things more passively via social media.
The food is not very good anymore and the parking is a huge ripoff. Also the offense is really struggling, but at least the team has found other ways to win
A recurring theme I’m seeing that makes sense is it’s too difficult/expensive to get to the ballpark. A lot of the fan base comes from the surrounding suburbs of LI/NJ/CT and $40 parking + weekday traffic is pretty prohibitive. Wonder if Cohen considers working with the City to scale that price back down this winter
I also think part of it is self fulfilling. When people go to a game and the atmosphere is dead it’s easy to talk yourself out of going the next time…when Citi is (or when Shea was) rocking, in my experience the energy of the ballpark becomes addicting
man i gotta get out there
Very low attendance last night, but it was a Monday night game against a team that’s out of the race. Doesn’t shock me too much.
Team this year had a rough start. Poor start to the season is a huge factor as it plays into people deciding to go or not.
The parking is a whole separate issue as the Mets don’t control the prices on parking that’s done by the city and they actively raise them to have people take the subway or pay a ton (it’s a win win for the city either way).
The food is expensive too as people pointed out. Drinks are expensive.
Everything is luxury now
It is 100% about the cost (both in terms of dollars and minutes) of getting to the games, let alone actually buying a ticket and concessions. To get to Citi Field for a 7:10 p.m. first pitch, I have to leave my home in Central Jersey by 5 p.m. to get there in time to do *anything* in the stadium before the game starts — and that’s assuming the trains are actually working. (Don’t even get me started on trying to go home, with the LIRRs now mostly going to Grand Central instead of Penn, and hourly NJ Transit trains regularly getting canceled so you’re stuck waiting another hour to get home on a standing-room-only train….argh.)
Everyone should stay home and force them to lower prices all around. Its become an absolute ripp off from the parking to the tickets to the food to the drinks. Games should be affordable and accessible to all and were before corporations took over and price gouged the shit out of everyone.
Citi Field is literally such a hike for so many people, and why choose between paying $40 to park or take a crazy long train ride to/from the stadium. Plus, people gotta go to work and get up the next day lol
a Monday night game against a terrible team on a school/work night not at all surprised with the sparse turnout
Citi Field is so hard to get to as someone who lives in South Brooklyn. I have to take the subway for an hour and a half. Compare that to 25 minutes to get to Barclays Center and that explains why I’ve been to a couple of Nets games this season but no Mets games.
It’s simply too hard to get to (and home from) on a Monday night for a huge portion of the fanbase. If anything its an indication of failure to engage the people who live in Queens/Brooklyn
This thread Mets so hard. Playoff bound and all we can talk about is the quality of food, prices of beer, traffic blah blah blah
takes me like an hour and half one way from sunset park by subway. pass.
This isn’t going to affect many people, but the line at the kosher food stand is always extremely long and moves very slowly. Affects my ballpark experience and therefore how often I go.
Do the Yankees do anything in terms of transit or parking that make the attendance better?
Both of them are difficult to get to from me but im confused how the Yankees have such better attendance when they also have parking and transit issues
i work late everyday this week damn or i would totally grab a ticket
Speaking strictly for myself it’s all about my non desire to go and spend the absorbent price to attend a Mets game. I understand people not wanting to go on a school/work night in September. I just have a question though, did anyone have the travel complaint when the team was playing at the adjacent Shea Stadium?
It’s a monday and ppl work in the morning. Can’t all be unemployed Yankee fans.
Howie Rose theorized it’s because a wild card race isn’t as “sexy” (his words) as a race for the division, so less people are turning out. But also, it’s a Monday night in September. School’s back which limits parents and kids coming out, football’s on for people who like that more, the sun’s setting earlier, etc. Also, it is a pain to get there for most people not from Queens or Manhattan. I went yesterday, but I left in the middle of the ninth inning cause I wasn’t looking to get home at 11:30 when I had to wake up at 6am today. Hell, I probably wouldn’t’ve shown up if it weren’t for the tickets being so cheap.
Out of curiosity to the people that complain about parking prices, how many games did you go to when parking was $20 throughout the summer (so no school for those with kids)
Fun Fact: attendance was *less* than this during Winker’s walk-off and should be around this level all week until phillies fans take over the stadium friday/saturday