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See all those people dressed up in empty seat suits in the photo above? That picture was taken on Monday, April 29th for the opening game of the Kansas City Royals’ series vs. the Tampa Bay Rays at Kauffman Stadium. There were “reportedly” 11,744 fans in attendance at that game. (They must have all been sitting behind home plate.)
On Wednesday, for game three of the series with the Rays, the Royals probably wish they had 11,744 fans, because from the looks of things, there is almost no one in the stadium.
(The Los Angeles Chargers front office is still probably jealous.)
In 2015, the year the Royals went 95-67 and won the World Series, the average home attendance at Kauffman Stadium was 33,439 per game.
In 2019, with the Royals sitting at 9-20, the average home attendance at Kauffman Stadium so far is 14,924 per game.
Only two teams in MLB are averaging less fans at home games than Kansas City, and unfortunately one of them is the team they are playing: Tampa Bay. (Miami is the other team. Well done, Jetes.)
Things have gotten so bad in K.C. this year that the Kansas City Star actually had this headline recently: “If a Royals game happens and nobody’s there, what does it mean for the future?”
The Royals didn’t even sell out their home opener. In fact, it was the lowest attendance for a season opener in Kansas City since the first game after the 1994 strike.
If the team doesn’t improve on their current .310 winning percentage, what kind of attendance can they expect at home games in say, August or September? Probably a lot more of this…
Excuses… excuses…