April is always one of the slowest months for MLB attendance, so we’ll take the numbers with a grain of salt, but so far in 2009 MLB attendance appears to be on the decline for the second year in a row; the surprising news is how poorly the Yankees and Mets are doing in playing to capacity.If you’re Commissioner Bud Selig, you’re probably still very nervous about the way the beginning of the 2009 season has gone.
During the offseason and spring training, the word we got from MLB front-office types was that they were expecting attedance rises and revenue drops. It appears the former has happened; we haven’t yet visited enough MLB parks to know if the latter is true as well. Here are the 2009 numbers for the first three weeks of the season when compared to the 2008 overall average attendance figures:
| Team | 2009 | 2008 | +/-% |
| NY Yankees | 44,502 | 53,069 | -16 |
| LA Dodgers | 43,257 | 46,056 | -6 |
| Philadephia | 42,783 | 42,254 | +1 |
| LA Angels of Anaheim | 41,774 | 41,194 | +1 |
| Chicago Cubs | 39,516 | 40,743 | -3 |
| St. Louis | 37,775 | 42,353 | -10 |
| Boston | 37,775 | 37,643 | +0 |
| NY Mets | 36,907 | 51,165 | -27 |
| San Francisco | 35,890 | 35,356 | +1 |
| Colorado | 35,435 | 33,127 | +6 |
| Milwaukee | 35,366 | 37,882 | -6 |
| Houston | 30,352 | 34,741 | -12 |
| Tampa Bay | 28,986 | 22,259 | +30 |
| San Diego | 28,881 | 29,969 | -3 |
| Arizona | 27,295 | 30,986 | -11 |
| Chicago White Sox | 27,214 | 30,877 | -11 |
| Seattle | 27,162 | 28,761 | -5 |
| Detroit | 26,849 | 39,538 | -32 |
| Atlanta | 26,515 | 31,269 | -15 |
| Texas | 24,501 | 24,320 | +0 |
| Oakland | 24,380 | 20,558 | +18 |
| Minnesota | 24,347 | 28,425 | -14 |
| Florida | 23,391 | 16,688 | +40 |
| Baltimore | 22,396 | 25,000 | -10 |
| Cincinnati | 21,746 | 25,415 | -14 |
| Toronto | 20,942 | 29,626 | -29 |
| Cleveland | 20,500 | 27,122 | -24 |
| Kansas City | 20,400 | 19,986 | +2 |
| Washington | 20,027 | 29,005 | -30 |
| Pittsburgh | 17,058 | 20,113 | -15 |