The St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals are both hovering a few games over .500 as of this week’s Major League Baseball All-Star break, but the Cardinals’ attendance has dropped this year while the Royals’ has risen.
On the east side of Missouri, the Cardinals’ average attendance at Busch Stadium is down nearly 4,600 fans per game from 2023, clocking in at just over 36,500, according to Baseball Reference.
If that number holds throughout the second half of the season, it would be the first time since 2011 that the Redbirds haven’t drawn an average of at least 40,000 fans per game in a season without COVID-19 attendance restrictions.
The only team that has seen attendance decline more in 2024 is the New York Mets, whose home games have averaged 6,100 fewer fans than they did in 2023.
St. Louis still ranks in the top 10 in MLB in total attendance this season, but it has slipped to sixth this year from fourth last season. The Cardinals’ falling attendance comes after a 2023 season in which the team missed the playoffs for the first time in five years.
About 250 miles to the west at Kauffman Stadium, the Kansas City Royals have seen a 15% bump in attendance in 2024. They have drawn an average of almost 19,000 fans through 31 home games this year, which is up about 2,600 fans from a year ago.
The Royals’ attendance has increased each of the past three years, but this year’s rise is more significant than the previous two.
Kansas City has done its part on the field this season. The Royals have won 52 games going into the Midsummer Classic, double their tally from 2023 and the most since 2015, when they won the World Series.
The team had four players selected to this year's All-Star game, including star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. who signed an 11-year contract extension with the franchise during the offseason worth nearly $290 million. The last time Kansas City had at least four players selected was 2016.
Although the Royals’ attendance is up, the team is still fifth-worst in MLB in total attendance, ahead of only Oakland, Miami, Tampa Bay and the Chicago White Sox.
MLB attendance overall has risen about 0.7% from 2023, which equates to about 300,000 fans overall and about 200 per game. Out of 30 franchises, 17 have seen attendance increases while 13 have decreased.
This story was originally published by the Missouri Business Alert, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
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