Cubs 2013 Attendance Watch

Once again, a kind request from me. If this topic does not interest you, please move on and read other posts. There will be more here at BCB on other Cubs- and baseball-related topics later today, on this off day for the team. For those of you who are interested in Cubs attendance figures, read on.

The weather was better and, until Sunday, so was the baseball. This resulted in larger announced crowds, as well as the first crowd estimate of 30,000 since Opening Day:

Date     Announced Crowd     In-House Estimate
5/13      35,O8O              18,OOO
5/14      38,123              28,OOO
5/15      38,O83              26,OOO
5/17      34,89O              21,OOO
5/18      38,766              3O,OOO
5/19      34,258              27,OOO

For the homestand, announced tickets sold totalled 219,200, an average of 36,533 per date. My in-house estimates totalled 150,000, an average of25,000 per date, so the estimated no-show count is still in five figures, 11,533 per date.

For the season, the Cubs have announced 792,120 tickets sold, an average of 33,005 per date. Total attendance ranks seventh in the major leagues -- but, keep in mind, the Cubs have played more home dates as of the end of this homestand than all but two other teams (24; only the Yankees and Dodgers, besides the Cubs, have played that many home games). The Cubs' average per date ranks 10th, slightly behind the Rockies (33,203) and ahead of the Nationals (32,654).

My in-house estimates for the 2013 season so far total 468,000, or 19,500 per date. That's up -- but barely -- from the 19,000 I reported after the last homestand. Thus the Cubs are still, by my estimates, experiencing over 13,000 no-shows per date. This number will likely drop as the weather continues to be consistently good and schools start to let out for summer.

The bleachers were sold out for Saturday's game against the Mets, partly because of the good weather, but also because 500 Mets fans traveled from New York for the game. Without them present Sunday on another beautiful day, the bleachers were only about three-quarters full.

The next homestand will include two weekday afternoon games against the White Sox. These are priced at marquee level for bowl seating and platinum level for the bleachers. Given the performance of both teams so far this season, I wouldn't expect either one of those games to sell out.