Yes, as the article states, part of this is because there are a handful of teams that aren’t even trying to be competitive. That seems to be an ongoing trend the last few years, so those teams having crappy attendance is no surprise.
Tampa though, is competitive, and getting just terrible attendance at home games. There doesn’t seem to be a real interest in that team. It may be the lack of a superstar, the crummy stadium, or it may be the market itself but there
s clearly a problem there.
Also, let’s face it. There are frankly a lot more things to do than go to a baseball game. It’s not a particularly thrilling game to watch most of the time. Folks my age might enjoy relaxing at a game with a beer and a hot dog, but that’s definitely not for everyone. Especially when you can watch from home and eat your own food and drink your own drinks.
TV and streaming ratings, are up, but fans not showing up at the stadium is not where you want to be for the future of this sport. They need some better stories, characters, and players worth stopping what you’re doing to watch.
There are some, but not in the cities struggling with less than 10,000 fans in the seats.
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26857513/mlb-attendance-4th-straight-year
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