Attendance Isn't What It Used to Be at Wrigley Field, Because Tom Ricketts Wants It That Way

I think this phenomenon is mostly a macro trend.  The 2007 Cubs averaged 40,153 and were 6th in attendance.  To compare to a more recent emergent season, the 2015 Cubs averaged 36,540 and were....6th in attendance.  This year is a step below that at 34,373 and 9th, but this team had less pre-season excitement and looked dead in the water as late as mid-July so I think there's other potential explanations.  If next year's team is competitive most of the way through the year and they're still struggling to break a 35k average, that I'd put more on the Wrigley/Ricketts-specific component.

I hate the added "entertainment" that came with the left field video board. The speakers are obnoxiously loud, to the point that it can be difficult to hear what is being said on the video board. The content itself just does not appeal to me. I enjoyed Wrigley as one of the few places where you could escape all of the "fan experience entertainment" and just enjoy the baseball experience. That part of Wrigley will unfortunately never return. I will always love our home, but bringing it up to the modern fan experience has taken a lot away from the Wrigley experience. 

I mentioned it in another thread, but you alluded to it with your supply and demand comment - sports businesses view it as something of a failure when they sell out now, because to them it means they didn't charge enough for tickets. That's really all it comes down to. Whenever there's one of these 'why don't more people go to games' articles, regardless of sport, I want to scream 'THE TICKETS ARE TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE', because that's really the only reason.

3 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I think this phenomenon is mostly a macro trend.  The 2007 Cubs averaged 40,153 and were 6th in attendance.  To compare to a more recent emergent season, the 2015 Cubs averaged 36,540 and were....6th in attendance.  This year is a step below that at 34,373 and 9th, but this team had less pre-season excitement and looked dead in the water as late as mid-July so I think there's other potential explanations.  If next year's team is competitive most of the way through the year and they're still struggling to break a 35k average, that I'd put more on the Wrigley/Ricketts-specific component.

Totally agree, it's cool to crap on the Ricketts - so one is usually safe in doing so and no one looks below the surface at arguments that blame them for anything.  As you point well, attendance in different eras is a relative stat and in comparison to the rest of baseball it's not that much of an outlier as was presented. 

I live in another state and I assure you I'm definitely NOT among the "richest of the rich", but I attended 3 series at Wrigley this year and loved every minute of every visit.  My gameday experience has not been diminished.  Some of the Rickett additions I like, some I don't like at all but those have not scarred me to the point where it affects my enjoyment even in the slightest. 

33 minutes ago, CubUgly said:

Totally agree, it's cool to crap on the Ricketts - so one is usually safe in doing so and no one looks below the surface at arguments that blame them for anything.  As you point well, attendance in different eras is a relative stat and in comparison to the rest of baseball it's not that much of an outlier as was presented. 

I live in another state and I assure you I'm definitely NOT among the "richest of the rich", but I attended 3 series at Wrigley this year and loved every minute of every visit.  My gameday experience has not been diminished.  Some of the Rickett additions I like, some I don't like at all but those have not scarred me to the point where it affects my enjoyment even in the slightest. 

from 6 to 9 out of 30 is a big drop-off. The Ricketts are not bad owners in the sense that they have invested in the Cubs and Wrigley, they are extracting every dollar out of it. They are bad owners because they are bad humans.

38 minutes ago, Andy said:

I mentioned it in another thread, but you alluded to it with your supply and demand comment - sports businesses view it as something of a failure when they sell out now, because to them it means they didn't charge enough for tickets. That's really all it comes down to. Whenever there's one of these 'why don't more people go to games' articles, regardless of sport, I want to scream 'THE TICKETS ARE TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE', because that's really the only reason.

Yep. It’s also why most renovations you see lately shrink the capacity of the park. They want to artificially constrict supply, and they’d rather create 500 high-value, high-priced seats than leave 1,000 (or even 1,500 or 2,000!) more traditional seats. The Guardians have decreased the capacity of What Used to Be The Jake by like 5,000 over the last several years.

53 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I think this phenomenon is mostly a macro trend.  The 2007 Cubs averaged 40,153 and were 6th in attendance.  To compare to a more recent emergent season, the 2015 Cubs averaged 36,540 and were....6th in attendance.  This year is a step below that at 34,373 and 9th, but this team had less pre-season excitement and looked dead in the water as late as mid-July so I think there's other potential explanations.  If next year's team is competitive most of the way through the year and they're still struggling to break a 35k average, that I'd put more on the Wrigley/Ricketts-specific component.

As I said in the piece, though, it’s that very macro trend that I want to decry, and to highlight for others to better notice. Owners are intentionally setting higher prices and shrinking the capacity of their parks with the aim of *lowering* attendance but increasing revenue. The Rickettses are just the latest to wade deeper into those waters.

2 minutes ago, Matt Trueblood said:

As I said in the piece, though, it’s that very macro trend that I want to decry, and to highlight for others to better notice. Owners are intentionally setting higher prices and shrinking the capacity of their parks with the aim of *lowering* attendance but increasing revenue. The Rickettses are just the latest to wade deeper into those waters.

For sure, I don't mean to imply ownership has their hands tied into doing so or anything like that.  Just that they don't seem to represent a deviation from the new norm at this point.

18 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

from 6 to 9 out of 30 is a big drop-off. The Ricketts are not bad owners in the sense that they have invested in the Cubs and Wrigley, they are extracting every dollar out of it. They are bad owners because they are bad humans.

Again it's all relative, I'd have to dig into the 6 to 9 you just can't look at it in a vacuum and say it's a big drop, which is what was done IMHO in the original article,

As for the Ricketts i have enough issues of my own to correct before I tee off on anyone as a human being.   I'll leave that to the rest of you. 

It's wild to me that the math works out for them.  Obviously the suites and all inclusive seats are going to do that for them, but more butts in seats means more beer and hot dogs sold.  I have to think another 3-5,000 people in the building would be buying more than enough concessions on top of their tickets to result in higher revenues than more expensive seats do.

2 minutes ago, CubUgly said:

Again it's all relative, I'd have to dig into the 6 to 9 you just can't look at it in a vacuum and say it's a big drop, which is what was done IMHO in the original article,

As for the Ricketts i have enough issues of my own to correct before I tee off on anyone as a human being.   I'll leave that to the rest of you. 

Nah, they're actively ****** people doing harm to the least of us and they've given us plenty to tee off on them for.  It's why I haven't been to Wrigley in at least 5 years.  I refuse to give them any of my money.

2 minutes ago, mul21 said:

Nah, they're actively ****** people doing harm to the least of us and they've given us plenty to tee off on them for.  It's why I haven't been to Wrigley in at least 5 years.  I refuse to give them any of my money.

Touche - I won't judge you.  I'm still gonna go though. 

12 minutes ago, mul21 said:

It's wild to me that the math works out for them.  Obviously the suites and all inclusive seats are going to do that for them, but more butts in seats means more beer and hot dogs sold.  I have to think another 3-5,000 people in the building would be buying more than enough concessions on top of their tickets to result in higher revenues than more expensive seats do.

even at $20 dollars a beer, that's a lot to make up from $35 dollar to $200+ tickets.

On 9/6/2023 at 12:06 PM, Y2J said:

I hate the added "entertainment" that came with the left field video board. The speakers are obnoxiously loud, to the point that it can be difficult to hear what is being said on the video board. The content itself just does not appeal to me. I enjoyed Wrigley as one of the few places where you could escape all of the "fan experience entertainment" and just enjoy the baseball experience. That part of Wrigley will unfortunately never return. I will always love our home, but bringing it up to the modern fan experience has taken a lot away from the Wrigley experience. 

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I do agree with a few of those points:

• The speakers can be blaringly loud.  It depends a lot on where you are sitting with respect to the speaker positions, but I have one directly above my seats and it occasionally becomes very distracting and drowns out any attempt at conversation.
• I wish the video board would be utilized more often for replays, as that is where I find the most benefit.
• I do miss the traditional organ music and would much prefer that over the personalized player walk-up songs (most of which have zero appeal to me), but I also completely understand that the world has moved on and the walk-up music is never going away.

With that said, I think the game experience is largely the same as it has always been.  You might have to put up with a few more advertisements and you might have to go to the concession stand instead of waiting for a hot dog or peanut vendor to walk by, but the cumulative changes that have been made are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

2 hours ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I do agree with a few of those points:

• The speakers can be blaringly loud.  It depends a lot on where you are sitting with respect to the speaker positions, but I have one directly above my seats and it occasionally becomes very distracting and drowns out any attempt at conversation.
• I wish the video board would be utilized more often for replays, as that is where I find the most benefit.
• I do miss the traditional organ music and would much prefer that over the personalized player walk-up songs (most of which have zero appeal to me), but I also completely understand that the world has moved on and the walk-up music is never going away.

With that said, I think the game experience is largely the same as it has always been.  You might have to put up with a few more advertisements and you might have to go to the concession stand instead of waiting for a hot dog or peanut vendor to walk by, but the cumulative changes that have been made are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

One thing that I really miss is Gary Pressy behind the organ. There are some signature rally tunes that went with Gary that were as unique to Wrigley as the ivy itself. After hearing them all of my life, not hearing them anymore has been weird, to say the least. 

The organ is so much better than the overly loud canned rock music.

Are they piping in crowd noise too?

Only @25K at the game last night.