Bernardo Fallas notes that, through the first six games of the season, attendance at Minute Maid Park is down about 8% from last year. And here are the reasons given:
Drayton:
“The last two years, we’ve been — in my lifetime — in the worst recession any of us has ever seen. People were worried about the economy, so certainly people cut back.”
Pam Gardner:
"Our expectation entering the season was that we should be able to maintain or be very close to what we did last season. Of course, the team is a big bonus to that; if the team performs well, hopefully you can do better.”
Mo' Drayton:
“The team winning certainly adds a great deal to the attendance."
Let's see here, because weekends are where you're supposed to be able to pick up attendance numbers. Casual fans may not be willing to come out and sit through Brett Myers vs. Matt Cain on a Wednesday night. But the first weekend of the season brought the Phillies to town, where attendance was 27,288 / 35,138 / 28,619, for an average of 30,348. It should be noted that the Sunday game was the lowest Sunday attendance since a June 7, 2009 game against the Pirates (25,729). And a weekend series against the Phillies in 2009 brought an average of 32,258. It was Labor Day Weekend, but the Astros were still 14GB.
We have already discussed how the Astros are getting the screw-gee from the League Office this summer, playing on the road over Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day - so don't expect the Astros to outdraw 2009.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
