What if I told you a college baseball team had better attendance than an MLB team this season. Would you believe me?
Well, it happened, and it’s true.
The LSU Tigers averaged more fans per game this season than the Miami Marlins, who ranked last in MLB in average home attendance.
The Marlins drew 811,104 fans this season, placing them last in the league by an average of 4,000 fans per game. They only drew an average of 10,013 fans per home game this season, according to ESPN’s stats.
By contrast, the LSU Tigers had the best attendance of any college baseball team this season. They drew 399,085 fans in 37 home games, good for an average of 10,786 fans per game. They had almost 7 percent more fans per game than the Marlins!
Even Ole Miss, which was second in attendance at nearly 8,900 fans per game, came close to the Marlins.
The Marlins have always struggled with attracting fans. Even building a new stadium and signing a bunch of high-priced players didn’t help much because, as usual, they quickly stripped down their team. The Marlins could have had a decent squad this year, but they traded away most of their talent, such as reigning NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton and current NL MVP favorite Christian Yelich.
There was very little left to excite the fans. They had a number of PR blunders after Derek Jeter’s ownership group took over, to the point that not even their most famous fan wanted to buy tickets.
Neither the Marlins nor MLB can be happy about this development. It’s an embarrassment.
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