2015 Cubs Attendance Watch: June 11-16 Homestand

Over the scheduled six-game homestand from June 11-16, a time of year when it should be pleasant in Chicago with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid to upper 50s, this is the weather we got for Cubs games, all night games except as noted:

• Thursday 6/11: 61 degrees at game time. The last five innings of the game were played in steady rain.
• Friday 6/12: 52 degrees at game time (3:05), strong northeast wind, drizzle and fog.
• Saturday 6/13: Two-hour, 48-minute rain delay (longer than the game!) with severe thunderstorms passing through the area.
• Sunday 6/14: No rain, but storms nearby, muggy and humid.
• Monday 6/15: Tornado sirens going off in Wrigleyville, torrential rain, game postponed.
• Tuesday 6/16: 54 degrees at game time. No rain, clear skies, but quite chilly for mid-June.

That's... not good. Nevertheless, paid attendance was strong, with the bleachers reopening. The Friday and Saturday games both had paid crowds over 40,000, and Saturday's game drew nearly a full house despite the weather and the Blackhawks playing on TV. Here are the numbers for the homestand ending June 16:

Date     Announced Crowd     In-House Estimate
6/11        35,031              27,000
6/12        40,016              27,000
6/13        40,693              37,000
6/14        33,201              28,000
6/16        35,914              26,000

Total tickets sold for this homestand were 184,855, or 36,971 per date. My in-house estimates totaled 145,000, or 29,000 per date, so there were an estimated 7,971 no-shows per date. There likely would have been more in the house for the Friday, June 12 date, due to the first 40,000+ tickets-sold date of the year, but the weather that date was miserable, windy, drizzly and cold, which probably kept some people away.

For the season the Cubs are now past the one million mark in tickets sold at 1,027,838, or 33,156 per date. That average is up significantly from the 32,422 average I reported in the last post in this series. My in-house estimates now total 827,000, or 26,677 per date for the 31 dates so far this season. That makes an estimated no-show total for the season 200,838, or 6,479 per date. That's up slightly from the last post in this series, but still down quite a bit from this time last year.

The Cubs' total attendance ranks 11th in MLB, just behind the Mets and slightly ahead of the Royals (and both those teams are up in attendance significantly this year). The Cubs' average attendance ranks seventh, about 1,500 per game behind the Angels and about 600 per date ahead of the Tigers.

The next homestand is a single series, four games against the Dodgers next week, three at night and one at 1:20 p.m., the only 1:20 date the entire month of June. Hopefully, the weather will be better.