Spring Training Attendance Dips By 14% From Previous Year

March 13, 2013 3:08 PM

(Getty Images)

Filed under

MLB, Sports

(1090 The Fan / AP) – Bad weather, World Baseball Classic and expensive tickets, oh my! For those reasons, attendance for 2013 MLB spring training games are down 14 percent from last year.

You may recall, exhibition games started more than a week earlier this year as a way to help players prepare for the WBC. However, the early start translated to empty seats. Games in February were under way before a lot of fans had arrived in Florida and Arizona for their vacation or spring break.

Fans have mentioned they’ve noticed watered-down lineups that are the result of injuries, players taking part in the WBC and other regulars resting up.

High ticket prices turned off many fans too. It was reported that the price of some exhibition games went for more than $50 per ticket.

And, unexpectedly, chilly weather played a role in the attendance drop; several games in both Florida and Arizona were even rained out.

-Chris Coyle, 1090 The Fan

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

http://janiceschultze.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/beating-the-spring-training-doldrums/ Beating the spring training doldrums | Jan's Words and Pictures

[...] radio report this morning and in this report, I heard that fewer people are going to Major League Baseball’s spring training sites in Florida and Arizona. The [...]
http://www.janiceschultze.com/2013/03/15/beating-the-spring-training-doldrums/ Beating the spring training doldrums | Janice Schultze Writing and Photography

[...] radio report this morning and in this report, I heard that fewer people are going to Major League Baseball's spring training sites in Florida and Arizona. The [...]