On Tuesday, the St. Louis Cardinals recorded their lowest ticketed attendance at Busch Stadium: a pitiful 27,224. As Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, the actual turnstile attendance sat slightly below 13,000, a highly troubling number for a franchise that has been a bastion of fan loyalty for decades.
A new low of 27,224 was the announced ticket sold crowd at Busch Stadium.
The actual turnstile attendance?
It was slightly less than 13,000, multiple sources told the Post-Dispatch.
As reported and more here … https://t.co/S8ICOfDXzL
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) August 28, 2024
This record low comes after a streak of multiple games with attendance below 30,000 for the Cardinals. In the 18 years since the stadium opened, not counting the pandemic-restricted 2020 season, this is the first time the Cardinals have dropped below this attendance threshold.
Slumping Attendance Spells Trouble for St. Louis
In 2023, the Cardinals broke their 15-season streak of finishing with a winning record, going 71-91 and finishing last in the National League Central. The last time they had back-to-back losing seasons, not counting the strike-shortened 1994 season, was 65 years ago in 1958 and 59
Through the 2010s, the Cardinals had the second-highest total attendance in the league, trailing the large-market Dodgers. In the 2020s, things have taken a turn for the worse. Multiple sub-par seasons have diminished fan support. Uncertainty surrounding TV deals for the organization has created spending anxiety in the front office. However, it is not purely a performance issue that has caused this lack of turnout. During the last-place 2023 season, attendance only dropped two percent from its previous mark in 2022, leaving little room for concern about whether the team could garner its continuous support through 2024. However, attendance has steeply declined this season for a team that has struggled to remain above .500. At times, it played some of the least exciting offensive baseball in the league.
Spending Woes
The Cardinals, by all metrics, have struggled in 2023. Their major free-agent pitching acquisitions, Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson, have all had sub-par seasons. Major prospects Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker have not panned out, and both are currently playing at Triple-A Memphis. Team stars Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt have both struggled offensively this season. Although Arenado has returned to form, Goldschmidt continues to have a career-low year heading into September. All signs point toward this Cardinals team missing the playoffs for the fifth time in nine years.
Over the past few years, the Cardinals have hesitated to dole out massive contracts or trade packages for stars. Recent memory draws back losing sweepstakes for stars such as Max Scherzer and Juan Soto. Both of whom the team was reportedly in contention for on the market. The team’s conservative spending habits have often frustrated their fan base, and owner Bill DeWitt Jr. has unequivocally stated that the team will not be taking on any significant payroll in the coming seasons. With the anxiety surrounding the extension of a TV contract with Bally Sports, the Cardinals cable television broadcaster, it seems likely that the team will continue to sit pat for multiple years. While this might signify they wish to build internally, the Cardinals farm system is only the 19th-best baseball, according to mid-season rankings.
However, St. Louis has failed to improve significantly since its 2019 NLCS loss to the Washington Nationals and continues to stagnate.
As the Cardinals’ attendance continues to plummet, so will their earnings. If ownership refuses to spend to improve the team, their performance will stagnate. As their on-field performance stagnates, so will their attendance. This quandary looks to plague the Cardinals for years to come.
Main Photo: © Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
