ST. LOUIS — Sparse crowds at Busch Stadium are making headlines across major league baseball after the organization recently set a record-low attendance at the stadium.
Hundreds of tickets were available to the Cardinals game Wednesday night on StubHub for $0, though some StubHub fees were required. It's strange and unwelcome territory for the franchise.
As of 9 a.m. Thursday, tickets for St. Louis' game at 1:15 p.m. versus the San Diego Padres were available for $1 on SeatGeek and StubHub.
After making the drive from Iowa, not even the 100-degree heat could keep Cardinals fans like Kristin and Jeffrey Bowen from catching a game.
“It was awesome,” Kristin Bowen said. “It was a really awesome experience.”
However, they noticed something that’s become a concerning trend in baseball heaven.
“There were a lot of Padre fans,” Bowen said.
The team announced it sold more than 27,000 tickets to Tuesday night’s game, but multiple sources close to the team told 5 on Your Side fewer than half actually made it through the turnstiles.
“The number I understand was closer to 12,000,” 101ESPN host Tim McKernan said. “Every game they’re playing of late, they’re breaking what was like a 24-hour low record of lowest attendance in Busch Stadium III history.”
Busch Stadium III, which opened in 2006, has a seating capacity of 46,000.
101ESPN hosts McKernan and Randy Karraker said sagging attendance numbers are a direct result of poor messaging by the organization.
“I think there’s been a feeling of the emotional and financial investment that fans have made has not been reciprocated by the organization,” McKernan said.
“We were told last offseason that the 71-win season, the losing season, was a one-off,” Karraker said. “There were full expectations of getting back to the playoffs and going deep into October in 2024.”
“I get the sense that Cardinal fans either feel like they’re being lied to, or they’re being treated like they don’t know any better,” McKernan said. “This market has educated baseball fans and that messaging gets tiring.”
Despite drawing 3,500 fans fewer per game, according to ESPN, the Cardinals still have the sixth-highest attendance in baseball.
“You have to be old enough to go back to the 1970s with the Cardinals to see a Cardinals home game as empty as they have looked in recent weeks,” McKernan said.
With that in mind, what do they think it would take to get fans back to the ballpark?
“A lot of people say they don’t buy tickets because of John Mozeliak,” Karraker said. “If that’s a part of not drawing people to the ballpark, I think that’s something they have to look at and replace.”
“I’m not really sure what the plan is,” McKernan said. “They have an aging pitching staff, and there isn’t a lot of young stars up and down that lineup right now. When I look at it, I’m concerned beyond 2024.”