2016 Cubs Attendance Watch: July 27-August 3 Homestand

The Cubs begin another homestand Tuesday night, but before that happens, let's take a look back at the team's attendance for the homestand at the end of July and beginning of August against the White Sox, Mariners and Marlins:

Date     Announced Crowd     In-House Estimate
7/27        41,166              41,000
7/28        41,157              41,000
7/29        40,951              40,000
7/30        41,401              41,500
7/31        40,952              40,000
8/1         40,937              39,500
8/2         40,419              40,000
8/3         41,147              40,000

Four of the games fell short of the 41,000 mark. Three of them were night games and the fourth was the Friday, July 29 game against the Mariners, when there was pre-game rain and forecasts of rain during the game.

As you can see, the no-show count was quite small, and is likely to stay that way most of the rest of the season.

For the homestand, the Cubs announced 328,130 tickets sold, or 41,016 per date. My in-house estimates totaled 323,000, or 40,375 per date. That makes the estimated no-show count for the homestand 5,130, or 641 per date. There were a few scattered empty seats for all the games, probably attributable to season-ticket holders not showing up, or tickets that didn't sell on StubHub.

For the season, the Cubs enter this homestand with 2,139,859 tickets sold for 54 dates, or 39,627 per date. My in-house estimates total 1,969,500, or 36,472 per date. That means the total estimated no-shows for the season are 170,359, or just 3,155 per date. Again, the latter number is likely to go down by season's end. None of this should surprise you; obviously people want to pack the park to see this potentially historic season.

The Cubs are up 3,999 per game in average announced attendance this year over last, the third-biggest increase among all teams. The Blue Jays and Mets are the only teams with larger increases. That also should be no surprise; both teams had successful playoff years in 2015 after long droughts, which generally leads to more tickets sold in the following year.

The Cubs' total tickets sold number ranks sixth in MLB, just ahead of the Red Sox and just behind the Yankees. The average of 39,627 ranks fifth, just behind the Blue Jays and just ahead of the Yankees.

If the Cubs maintain that 39,627 average, they'll draw 3,209,787 this year, which would rank third in franchise history, just behind the 2007 team (3,252,462). They'd have to average almost 43,000 per date to break the 2008 franchise record (3,300,200), which isn't possible given Wrigley's capacity. They could wind up second, though.

I hope to have more pricing data here after the homestand that begins tonight is completed.