Yankees On Pace For Lowest Total Attendance Since 2003

This may seem hard to believe, but the Yankees are 75% done with their home schedule for the 2009 season. Only 22 home games remain and it is a certainty that the Yankees won't reach the 4 million fan mark for the first time since 2004. A smaller home stadium, combined with overpriced tickets and rainy weather have resulted in the Yankees being on pace to draw "only" 3.6 fans to the "new house."

As of today, the Yankees have a total attendance of 2,650,398, according to our attendance tracker. (note, some of our attendance numbers differ from the numbers on baseball-reference.com, but according to mlb.com, our numbers are correct). Being generous, we will assume that with the heat of a pennant race and numerous games against team that are over .500 (including the Red Sox), the Yankees will average 47,000 fans for the rest of the schedule. This may be a leap of faith considering they have only seen crowds swell to that size on nine occasions in 2009, but in this scenario, the total attendance would be 3,684,398.

Taking a look at the Yankees' encyclopedia on baseball-reference, you will find that the Yankees haven't drawn less than 4 million fans since 2004, and are on pace to have their lowest attendance since drawing 3,465,600 in the pre-A-Rodian year of 2003. Yankees brass knew this was coming when they announced plans for a stadium that held 4,000-6,000 fewer fans than the previous iteration of Yankee Stadium, but planned on the Legends suites to subsidize those lower totals. With a good portion of those seats being given away earlier this season as part of a price cut, we are left wondering if the Yankees are concerned about these lower attendance totals.

The Yankees are the best team in baseball and are playing in front of a packed house every night, so there is little cause for concern. However, when you step back and realize that the Yankees drew nearly 4.3 million fans for the past few years, you wonder who is being shut out of the fancy new stadium.

As it stands right now, there will be 700,000 - 800,000 less fans who have the privelege of walking through the gates of Yankee Stadium in 2009. Who are the people that helped the Yankees reach previously unattainable attendance marks, but are nowhere to be found in the new place? Are they out of towners who planned trips to NYC the past few years to catch one final (or first) glimpse of the cathedral? Are they the Wall Street suits who had reality set in once the financial crisis hit and are now unable to afford the luxury of baseball games? Are they hard-working middle class families who realized that the $12 bleacher seats and $20 upper deck seats were sold out within days of the public on-sale and can't afford any of the other seats?

We have really learned to enjoy the new stadium. The amenities are nice, the standing room spots behind home plate allow us to watch games from directly behind $375 seats without paying a dime over $20, and the atmosphere during the recent Red Sox series proved that worries about the new stadium being more quiet were unfounded. We just can't help but wonder who is being shut out of the new place. Read the full post, after the jump

Largest Crowd Since Opening Day Saw Today's Walk-Off Classic

The walk-off warriors struck again this afternoon, and the largest crowd since opening day was there to witness it.

If you take a peek at our Yankee Stadium attendance tracker, you will notice that today's attendance of 46,889 beat out the attendance for the Red Sox game on 5-5-09 for second place in 2009. Of course, the Yankees haven't come close to the 48,271 from 4-16-09. At the time, it seemed like that was a disappointing number, but it is likely going to take a playoff game to top it. Perhaps the stadium holds a few less people than they thought it would? Read the full post, after the jump

FINAL 2009 Yankee Stadium Attendance Tracker

With the Yankees having trouble filling the expensive seats, now is as good of a time as ever to start a new Yankee Stadium attendance tracker. For now, we will just post the official attendance (based on the box score), the date & time and the weather conditions for that day. Perhaps sometime in the future we can put it in graphical form, but for now it is just simple numbers. Will the Yankees ever crack the 50,000 mark? We'll have to wait and see...

Date & Time / Attendance / Weather Conditions

4-16-09 1:08 PM/ 48,271 (announced sellout) / Sunny, lower 60's
4-17-09 1:05 PM/ 45,101 / Sunny, upper 60's
4-18-09 3:40 PM/45,167 / Partly Sunny, mid 70's
4-19-09 1:05 PM/ 43,068 / Mostly Cloudy, mid 60's
4-21-09 7:05 PM/ 42,065 / Cloudy/drizzle, low 50's
4-22-09 1:05 PM / 43,342 / Cloudy/drizzle, low 50's
4-30-09 7:05 PM / 43,388 / Cloudy, upper 50's
5-1-09 7:05 PM / 44,058 / Cloudy/rain showers, mid 60's
5-2-09 1:05 PM / 44,970 / Sunny mid 60's
5-4-09 7:05 PM / 46,426 / Rain, low 50's (2:16 rain delay at start)
5-5-09 7:05 PM / 46.810 / rain showers, upper 40's
5-6-09 7:05 PM / 42,585 / Cloudy/rain showers, upper 50's
5-7-09 7:05 PM / 43,769 / Partly Cloudy, lower 60's
5-15-09 7:05 PM / 43,856 / Partly Cloudy, upper 60's
5-16-09 1:05 PM / 45,455 / Cloudy, mid 60's (chance of rain late)
5-17-09 1:05 PM / 44,804 / Cloudy, mid 50's (chance of rain early)
5-18-09 7:05 PM / 43,244 / Cloudy, low 50's
5-19-09 7:05 PM / 42,838 / Clear, upper 50's
5-20-09 7:05 PM / 43,903 / Clear, upper 60's
5-21-09 7:05 PM / 43,342 / Clear, lower 70's
5-22-09 7:05 PM / 46,288 / Clear, upper 70's
5-23-09 4:05 PM / 46,889 / Partly Cloudy, upper 60's
5-24-09 1:05 PM / 46,986 / Partly Cloudy, low 80's
6-3-09 7:05 PM / 43,948 / Cloudy, low 70's
6-4-09 7:05 PM / 44,452 / Rain Showers, mid 50's (:12 delay at start)
6-5-09 1:05 PM / 45,713 / Cloudy, mid 60's
6-6-09 1:05 PM / 46.205 / Partly Sunny, low 70's
6-7-09 1:05 PM / 46,465 / Partly Cloudy, upper 70's
6-8-09 7:05 PM / 44,706 / Partly Cloudy, low 70's
6-12-09 7:05 PM / 47,967 / Partly Cloudy, mid 70's
6-13-09 4:05 PM / 48,056 / Light Rain, low 70's
6-14-09 1:05 PM / 47,943 / Partly Cloudy, low 70's
6-16-09 7:05 PM/ 44,873 / Partly Cloudy, low 60's
6-17-09 7:05 PM / 46,052 / Cloudy, low 60's
6-18-09 1:05 PM / 45,143 / Rain, upper 50's (5:26 rain delay at start)
6-30-09 7:05 PM / 46,181 / Rain to start, mid 60's (0:58 rain delay at start)
7-1-09 7:05 PM / 45,285 / Partly cloudy, low 70's
7-2-09 7:05 PM / 46,142 / Cloudy, low 70's (0:36 delay at start due to threat of storms)
7-3-09 1:05 PM / 46,308 / Partly cloudy, low 70's
7-4-09 1:05 PM / 46.620 / Partly cloudy, mid 70's
7-5-09 1:05 PM / 46.320 / Sunny, mid 70's
7-6-09 1:05 PM / 46.450 / Sunny, low 80's
7-17-09 7:05 PM / 46.197 / Cloudy, Thunderstorms, upper 70's (0:57 rain delay in 8th inning)
7-18-09 1:05 PM / 46.423 / Sunny, low 80's
7-19-09 2:05 PM / 46,937 / Sunny, low 80's
7-20-09 7:05 PM / 46,342 / Partly Cloudy, upper 70's
7-21-09 7:05 PM / 45,589 / Cloudy, Showers, upper 60's (0:26 rain delay to start the game)
7-22-09 1:05 PM / 47.134 / Partly Cloudy, upper 70's
7-23-09 7:05 PM / 44.206 / Cloudy, Rain, low 60's (2:43 rain delay to start the game)
7-24-09 7:05 PM / 46,086 / Partly Cloudy, mid 70's
7-25-09 1:05 PM /46,412 / Sunny, mid 80's
7-26-09 1:05 PM / 46.163 / Cloudy, mid 80's
8-6-09 7:05 PM / 49,005 (announced sellout) / Cloudy, mid 70's
8-7-09 7:05 PM / 48,262 / Partly Cloudy, mid 70's
8-8-08 4:05 PM / 48,796 / Partly Cloudy, upper 70's
8-9-09 8:05 PM / 48,190 / Cloudy, upper 70's
8-10-09 7:05 PM / 46,376 / Partly Cloudy, low 90's
8-11-09 7:05 PM / 46,523 / Partly Cloudy, mid 80's
8-12-09 1:05 PM / 47,113 / Cloudy, low 80's
8-25-09 7:05 PM / 46,511 / Partly Cloudy, low 80's
8-26-09 7:05 PM / 46,461 / Partly Cloudy, low 80's
8-27-09 1:05 PM / 47,209 / Cloudy, low 70's
8-28-09 7:05 PM / 46,318 / Rain, mid 60's
8-29-09 1:05 PM / 46.193 / Cloudy, Showers, low 70's

8-30-09 1:05 PM / 46,664 / Partly Cloudy, upper 70's

9-7-09 1:05 PM / 47,436 / Partly Cloudy, low 70's

9-7-09 7:05 PM / 45,953 / Cloudy, upper 60's

9-8-09 7:05 PM / 45,350 / Cloudy, low 70's

9-9-09 7:05 PM / 45,848 / Cloudy, low 70's

9-11-09 7:05 PM / 46,771 / Rain, upper 50's (2:40 in 2 delays)

9-12-09 1:05 PM/ 46,497 / Cloudy, upper 60's

9-13-09 1:05 PM / 46,413 / Partly Cloudy, mid 70's

9-14-09 7:05 PM / 44,701 / Partly Cloudy, mid 70's (makeup of 5/3 rainout)

9-15-09 7:05 PM / 45,847 / Partly Cloudy, mid 70's

9-16-09 7:05 PM / 46,046 / Cloudy, low 60's

9-25-09 7:05 PM / 48,449 / Clear, low 60's

9-26-09 4:10 PM / 48,809 / Cloudy, low 60's

9-27-09 1:05 PM / 47,576 / Cloudy, drizzle, mid 60's (1:00 delay to start the game)
9-28-09 7:05 PM / 45,348 / Cloudy, rain, low 60's (1:56 delay to start he game)
9-29-09 7:05 PM / 44,794 / Cloudy, low 60's
9-30-09 7:05 PM / 46,956 / Cloudy, low 50's
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END REGULAR SEASON

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POSTSEASON:

ALDS

10-7-09 6:07 PM / 49.464 / Cloudy, low 60's

10-9-09 6:07 PM / 50,006 / Cloudy, upper 50's

ALCS

10-16-09 7:57 PM / 49,688 / Cloudy, Drizzle, low 40's

10-17-09 7:57 PM / 49,922 / Cloudy, mid 40's

10-25-09 8:20 PM / 50,173 / Partly Cloudy, upper 50's

World Series

10-28-09 7:57 PM / 50,207 / Drizzle, mist, low 40's

10-29-09 7:57 PM / 50,181 / Cloudy, low 50's

11-4-09 7:57 PM / 50,315 / Cloudy, mid 40's

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END POSTSEASON

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TOTAL POSTSEASON ATTENDANCE: 399,956

TOTAL REGULAR SEASON ATTENDANCE: 3,719,358
(#2 in MLB behind the Dodgers)
TOTAL 2009 ATTENDANCE (REGULAR + POSTSEASON): 4,119,314

More info on 2009 regular season MLB attendance figures at the Biz of Baseball

Remember, this is tracking PAID attendance. The Yankees don't release how many people actually went through the turnstile. For example, on the 4-22-09 day game, the paid attendance was 43,342, but anyone watching on TV knows that the Yankees were lucky if 30,000 were in the stadium.

Read the full post, after the jump