NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball's average attendance dropped 4 percent to 28,830, its lowest since 2003 after 14 consecutive seasons topping 30,000, and six stadiums set record lows.
Baltimore's Camden Yards, Chicago's Guaranteed Rate Field, Minnesota's Target Field, Miami's Marlins Park and Pittsburgh's PNC Park also drew their smallest attendance since opening as part of a ballpark boom. In a season of unusually cold and wet weather, 17 of the 30 teams experienced drops.
The average is down 14.4 percent from its high of 32,785 in 2007, the last year before the Great Recession. It had not been that low since 28,013 in 2003.
On-field success and attendance usually are linked, but not always.
The NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers set a club record, Colorado drew its biggest crowds since 2001, World Series champion Houston since 2007 and the New York Yankees since 2012 — including a new Yankee Stadium record 23 sellouts.
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