Taking a Look at the Giants Attendance in 2022

Oct 10, 2022 | 2022 Season, Latest Post

by
Greek Giant

Here is the rundown of attendance, by team, in Major League Baseball for the 2022 season (courtesy of ESPN):

2022 Attendance Home Road Overall
RK TEAM GMS TOTAL AVG PCT GMS AVG PCT GMS AVG PCT
1 LA Dodgers 81 3,861,408 47,671 0.0 81 31,104 0.0 162 39,388 0.0
2 St. Louis 81 3,320,551 40,994 0.0 80 27,895 0.0 161 34,485 0.0
3 NY Yankees 78 3,136,207 40,207 0.0 81 30,418 0.0 159 35,220 0.0
4 Atlanta 81 3,129,931 38,641 0.0 80 28,216 0.0 161 33,461 0.0
5 San Diego 81 2,991,470 36,931 0.0 80 29,754 0.0 161 33,365 0.0
6 NY Mets 77 2,564,737 33,308 0.0 80 29,330 0.0 157 31,281 0.0
7 Houston 81 2,688,998 33,197 0.0 80 25,112 0.0 161 29,179 0.0
8 Toronto 81 2,653,830 32,763 0.0 78 26,280 0.0 159 29,582 0.0
9 Colorado 80 2,597,428 32,467 0.0 80 27,801 0.0 160 30,134 0.0
10 Boston 81 2,625,089 32,408 0.0 81 26,106 0.0 162 29,257 0.0
11 Chicago Cubs 81 2,616,780 32,305 0.0 81 29,044 0.0 162 30,675 0.0
12 San Francisco 81 2,482,686 30,650 0.0 79 29,337 0.0 160 30,002 0.0
13 LA Angels 81 2,457,461 30,339 0.0 81 25,561 0.0 162 27,950 0.0
14 Milwaukee 80 2,412,420 30,155 0.0 81 27,290 0.0 161 28,713 0.0
15 Seattle 80 2,287,267 28,590 0.0 81 22,973 0.0 161 25,764 0.0
16 Philadelphia 80 2,276,736 28,459 0.0 81 29,193 0.0 161 28,828 0.0
17 Washington 81 2,026,401 25,017 0.0 80 27,839 0.0 161 26,419 0.0
18 Texas 81 2,011,381 24,831 0.0 79 22,443 0.0 160 23,652 0.0
19 Chicago White Sox 80 1,976,344 24,704 0.0 78 22,118 0.0 158 23,427 0.0
20 Minnesota 80 1,801,128 22,514 0.0 80 22,827 0.0 160 22,670 0.0
21 Arizona 81 1,605,199 19,817 0.0 81 29,182 0.0 162 24,499 0.0
22 Detroit 79 1,551,149 19,634 0.0 76 23,612 0.0 155 21,585 0.0
23 Baltimore 78 1,368,367 17,543 0.0 81 26,132 0.0 159 21,918 0.0
24 Cincinnati 80 1,395,770 17,447 0.0 81 30,005 0.0 161 23,765 0.0
25 Cleveland 76 1,295,869 17,050 0.0 80 25,315 0.0 156 21,289 0.0
26 Kansas City 80 1,277,986 15,974 0.0 80 22,474 0.0 160 19,224 0.0
27 Pittsburgh 81 1,257,458 15,524 0.0 80 28,495 0.0 161 21,969 0.0
28 Tampa Bay 81 1,128,127 13,927 0.0 81 25,027 0.0 162 19,477 0.0
29 Miami 81 907,487 11,203 0.0 80 27,803 0.0 161 19,452 0.0
30 Oakland 79 787,902 9,973 0.0 81 26,031 0.0 160 18,102 0.0

 

Here is the list of attendance figures, by year, for Willie Mays Field with the top figure being 2022 and working down to 2000, the first year of the new park: (courtesy of Baseball Reference):

From 2010 – 2017 the Giants had a sellout streak for the ages. Ok, yes, sometimes those figures were inflated and some of these were not actually sellouts-sellouts but you get the idea. The fans went in droves. Every game was an event. We would ask our co-workers, moms and dads: “Is Timmy pitching today?” What’s Buster’s average?”  “When does Bumgarner pitch again?”

Those days are long gone.

By May of 2022 the Fan Cost Index (Cost to take a family of four to a Major League Baseball game) for the Giants was $308.36, the 7th most expensive price in the Big Leagues. The Red Sox, Cubs and Astros were the three most expensive teams to watch at home for a family of four. Granted, San Francisco is a high-income area compared to most of the rest of the USA but in a nutshell you have one of the reasons why the Giants attendance of 2.48 million was the lowest mark in the Willie Mays Field Era. Throw in the lingering effects of the pandemic, prolonged restrictions on mask-wearing and vaccines, and the fact that the Giants had a disappointing 2022 season of 81-81 and missing the postseason after a 107-win division-winning campaign in 2022 and you have more of the reason why attendance fell to this point.

But I (and many others) argue that there are other factors that contribute to the Giants dip in attendance in San Francisco.

Here is my list, in order of priority

  • Boring Team- yes, they are boring
  • Revolving Roster- too many roster changes makes it impossible to embrace new and young players
  • No Superstars- with Buster retiring the Giants lacked the star power that all fans need to make baseball games an event

With the thirteenth highest payroll at $168 million and change the Giants have become a mid-market team payroll-wise in a big market city with a recent history of championships and star power. With the Zaidi regime all of that has changed. The Giants inability to develop their own in-house talent coupled with their inability to sign a big free agent or even retain their own short-term stars like Kevin Gausman means this team has become a bit of a conundrum from the point of view of fan entertainment and attendance.

You get what you pay for and right now the Giants are spending like they are pinching pennies and are content to contend for the postseason.

Fans have taken note.

Memo to Giants ownership: If you want to sell out the park again sign better players. Develop your own stars and stop the roulette wheel of AAAA players.