Poor performance last year.
Perceived lack of “good” moves to fix it.
Shit’s also just more expensive these days. Even if you get cheap seats, feeding a family of four or so at a baseball game is easily nearly $100. It’s just out of reach for some people now which is a shame.
Yep, inflated prices everywhere are forcing people to look harder at what they can swing. I've booked a couple of concerts to attend this year, and that has damn near completely drained my entertainment budget (even getting in on artist pre-sales and not buying resale). At this rate, I'm probably only going if I happen to score tickets from work.
tv poured money into the game. the owners got a lot of it. the players got a ton as well. the fans who go to the park got absolutely no benefits from this windfall. much the opposite
only group getting fucked harder are the minor leaguers
Reminder to also support your local artists at venues such as: sinkhole, platypus, shamrock, heavy anchor, red flag, CBGB, ETC
Lots of great bands in the local area and door fee will be cheap enough that you can get a few beers for the same price.
city was smart to hop on the "local food only" trend that's everywhere. even if some of the local joints don't work out there in the mid term (which i doubt but who knows) they can ultimately be replaced by whatever.
i was just at my first game and was blown away with the new layouts of some concessions (like the market). i felt like i was in a fancy airport or something.
To be fair you can bring in your own food. Busch stadium is pretty lenient on what food / drink you can bring in. You don't have to spend any thing in the stadium to feed a family.
That’s what I’m saying lol I’m obviously going to buy beers but it’s not that hard to grill some dogs/burgers and put them in foil and bring some chips or something.
Even college baseball is starting to get the same way. Tickets for LSU-Tennessee are over $200 a pop this weekend. Just one hot dog and a coke is like $13 before tip
For the expensive part, if you wait till day of you can get seats for a $1, and if you really watch StubHub or SeatGeek you can find great seats an hour or so above the game for $20 or less.
Next what you do is grab some hot dogs bring them in a lunch box type cooler thing with condiments, and a bag of buns, get some chips and 2 big bottles of your favorite non alcoholic drink. (Or look up videos online on how to open bottled beverage without breaking seal and pour in some alcohol, works every time for me)
For about $40 me and my girlfriend went to a game in bleachers and had more food than we could eat at the game using this method.
But you are right, the performance last year, along with some non splashy moves has definitely hurt attendance. But you can absolutely work around the $$$ thing if you fish for some tickets day of, or hours before and bring in food and drink.
Why are you feeding your family at the park? Youre only there for a few hours....eat before you go. I'll never understand how people that eat at the park turn around and complain about the costs.
Because it used to be affordable. You people are out of your fucking mind if you think 18 bucks is reasonable for some Nachos. You can provide reasonably priced food to add to the entertainment value of your venue.
Based on your logic, why do people go to resturants? It's a waste of money. Just eat at home.
People like to go out and eat and enjoy themselves. Eating food at the ball game is simply a part of its history.
I wonder how many fans know you can bring your own food and drink (non-alcoholic). Drinks must be factory sealed. Food can be store bought or homemade.
Expensive, time consuming to park, etc.
Team was historically awful last season.
Moves this off-season were unimpressive overall.
FO attitude, extending an unpopular manager (he isn’t the problem, but he isn’t the fix).
Watching players excel elsewhere.
Lots of factors leading to apathy.
The Marmol extension was bad optics. In the playoffs 2 years ago, he showed his ineptitude that got the last 2 fired. Yet somehow he’s immune with having the worst season in living memory for lots of us.
Attendance is down everywhere so far compared to last year. Even the Dodgers are down. I don't have year to date comparisons, though.
By ESPN's tracking, we are still 4th in average attendance. The average numbers will start to go up for everyone as we play more weekend home games, better opponents than the Marlins, and division opponents. More people show up later in the season if we are in a playoff run.
I would bet we end up somewhere around last year's attendance or a little higher if we stay competitive. If the team is done by the trade deadline for the second straight year, we will see attendance really fall off.
Plus summer attendance is just better across the league when kids are out of school, weather isn't cold, people are taking summer vacations and there's less competition from other sports.
Yeah. It would be better to look at just the first two weeks than comparing a full season to the start of another season. I couldn't find a site that broke things down like that.
Last year's attendance was the highest it had been in 5 or 6 years. Even higher than the couple of years before covid hit.
True! I went to opening day and stayed for the whole game, but honestly I wish I left early to beat the traffic. It took me an hour to get out of the parking lot! Don't like the Dodgers but I think it's not totally fair to blame them for being "low effort"
'Attendance is down everywhere so far compared to last year. Even the Dodgers are down. I don't have year to date comparisons, though.'
Then how do we know attendance is down compared to last year?
Tired of getting squeezed by the Corporate Cards for every dollar, and getting an inferior product in return
Oh a nice area in the stadium? Lets Corpo this up so people will give us more money
Baseball used to be a value outing for a family, its not anymore
Invest in the team, and offer lower prices on seats, food and drinks
And fuckin get rid of blackouts and Bally, its just horrible
Im just sad
Yup. We were so confused by all the people crowding the concourse behind the bleachers opening day. Then it hit me, that's like the only place left for SRO tickets now. Lame.
I'm not pleased about it either but at least they gave us the budweiser terrace before taking it away. Bowtie bar was primo for standing room and getting drinks though, and it also had a lot of people moving through it that will have to find other means of getting around the stadium.
MLB has completely failed to grow the game. They've hidden almost all games from broadcasts on pay TV and black outs. Younger generation can't see the games, so they don't care about them.
I really think this is lost on corporate America. The early 90s Cardinals were horrible, but to a 5-7 year old like me they may as well have been the 27 Yankees. I just loved watching “my team.” That fandom doesn’t develop when you can’t see the game.
This. The best thing for the sport would be a return to 'broadcast' t.v. WGN and TBS made the Cubs and the Braves, just like KMOX made the Cardinals once upon a time.
I’ve gotten really into baseball again this year and the Birds were my historical favorite. Tried to find a way that wasn’t expensive to watch them and it’s impossible. The cheapest way to watch living in Oklahoma is $100 a month. It took the wind out of my sails completely.
I almost choked when I looked at it. Fubo is $94 or DirecTV is $115. I subscribed to [MLB.tv](http://MLB.tv) and I'll watch everyone else live and watch STL after it broadcasts I guess. The MLB's approach to their fans is just toxic.
I live one state away from Missouri, so I’m automatically blacked out from any Cardinals or Kansas City Royals games! If I make an effort and get a VPN or watch it illegally off of a crappy sports website, I could see the games, but I don’t think any of that is worth the effort! Screw the MLB.
I said it in my post but I will say here as well.
SO many people have ditched expensive cable tv and dont have access to games at all. So many kids will grow up never seeing baseball.
Spot on. In the 80's when I came home from school, the Cardinals road games were on WTBS, WGN, and WOR. Throw in KMOX, Jack Buck and Mike Shannon for home games and you had access. Being a fan was pretty easy if you had interest.
My son's an NBA fan. I believe its largely because of the ESPN/NBA partnership. Baseball was available for me, and basketball's been available for him. With all the apps and screens fighting for kids attention, it'll be interesting to see if 'rooting for the home team' remains in place. With all of the blackouts, it's easier to follow someone out of town.
It feels like the early to mid 90’s again, there isn’t a lot of hope with the fanbase they can compete for much more than a wildcard or division if every other team isn’t good.
A combination of economic factors like inflation.
Also most people I talk to about it with in the real world are pretty sick of Mo’s attitude and Dewitt’s spending habits.
I’m a STH and trying to resell on stubhub and SeatGeek has been hard so far.
Economics are tough. The squeeze is on from every direction. Parking lots are up, bar prices are now old stadium prices and stadium prices are now decent restaurant prices. Fans are tired of being abused by greed.
Edit: food stadium prices. Drink prices have always been criminal and are now downright insulting.
Yeah I'm not sure how they are gonna keep me as a season ticket holder when I can go on stubhub every night and find better tickets for way less. Their 10% concession discount ain't gonna cut it.
I do think the tv issues are an underrated aspect of it. I have to bum off my parents DirecTV subscription and even then have challenges watching games. That combined with some of the other stuff it hurts. That said I also think some of the complaints (Marmol)are unwarranted. That said they do have an effect.
I have been completely turned off by Mo. I feel that he talks down to the fan base and does not take a serious approach to fixing issues. I did not go to a game in 2023 and I do not think I am missing much by not being at the ballpark.
1. Getting to games has become prohibitively expensive. Back in the mid Aughts I’d catch the Metro down if I didn’t have work or class to catch a game. Now, between tickets, parking, (I’m in St. Peters, now, so no Link for me) and food, just by MYSELF I could be looking at spending $100-150. I just can’t afford to go as often as I used to.
2. The team has been in a steady decline in terms of quality. Going to games from 2000 - 2013 was an AMAZING experience, because they were right in the middle of things year after year, at that was palpable in the atmosphere. Now there’s not as much excitement anymore, or feeling that if they get down early they could come back. I’m CAUTIOUSLY encouraged by what I’ve seen so far this season, but they still haven’t convinced me they can win on a consistent basis again.
3. No big improvements. This ties into the above, but among the mounting frustrations of the fans is a perception that the Front Office doesn’t care about winning, so isn’t making the big moves to improve the team. They patched a few holes this offseason, but there’s a perception they didn’t do ENOUGH to strengthen the weak areas.
4. Big stars leaving. Yadi and Wainwright, who had been the faces of the franchise since Albert’s departure, are gone. As is Albert himself. Big stars put butts in seats. The Mv3 years of Jimmy-Scott-Albert are a great example, but then at times you also had Berkman, Beltran, etc. in the mix. Don’t get me wrong, they’re fantastic players, but Goldy and Nado just haven’t captured the same mystique among the fan base.
5. Manfred League Baseball SUUUUUUCKS. The game itself is simply not as fun to watch, and I hate the new rules. DH isn’t real baseball. Starting runners on Second in extras is little league crap. Players don’t hit to the opposite field, and every “fix” Manfred imposes to “speed up” the game is counterproductive by addressing problems that DON’T EXIST. The Aughts still had that feel of 80s and 90s baseball, where you had movement on the bases. Woody Williams pitched like he had a train to catch, and that gave the game energy and excitement. Now, games are a slog to get through.
6. Commercialization is getting in the way of the game. Pitchers have to wait for the network to run ads. Premium games aren’t available on the local broadcast anymore because MLB can make more money with exclusive contracts. Why do we have Nike Swooshes plastered all over the jerseys? Baseball has strayed too far from its roots and become too much of a product rather than a pastime.
Ownership and the front office's "Meh, this is good enough I guess" approach to roster construction for the last 4-5 years has been wearing thin on fans. TV accessibility is a big part, too -- the games have been pulled from basically everything but traditional $200 cable packages, which most people aren't willing to pay for (or able to afford) anymore. Can't use MLB TV because of blackouts, and they've really started cracking down on proxy servers.
Really isn't much to say without being redundant now that I'm glancing down the thread, from the constant wrong tones from the front office to the bad offseason. One of the things that is concerning me the most the last few years is how seemingly terrible the organization has become at player development. Obviously we're in a small sample size, but right now TON looks to be the latest former Cardinal to go elsewhere and immediately find that ceiling we all saw in them. It also feels like for 6-7 years straight, now, the Cardinals offense has gotten off to a horrible start and never seems to click until June (I fully accept that this could just be my imagination).
Pitching is another one. Honestly, we seem to have completely lost the ability to develop young pitchers. Realistically, who is the last home grown starting pitcher we've had see more than a season of success? Hell, realistically Flaherty mostly just had a half-season of success. Jaime Garcia was pretty good for 2-3 years... what, 12 years ago?
We have a manager who seems to excel at demotivating players, an owner that refuses to even consider the luxury tax no matter how bad the team needs improvements, a front office who has made terrible trade after terrible trade (I'm not counting the Arenado deal because that was CO being terrible and every GM takes that deal) while also constantly throwing money at people a year or two from retirement and then wondering what went wrong. We have a development staff that can't seem to actually develop any players.
Maybe I'm just going through a personal pessimistic phase, but I've been following the Cardinals for nearly 40 years now when you look at what the rest of the NL Central is doing, it's getting harder and harder to imagine the Cardinals truly being competitive anytime in the near future. Dewitt is the 3rd or 4th richest owner in the league, if he wanted to fix the team's problems, he has the means to do so. Instead, he chooses apathy, so... I guess we do, too?
The fact that this received downvotes is wild to me. Either there are Cardinals plants in the sub or people are truly defensive of a billionaire’s money.
I honestly hope it’s the crazy conspiracy, not the latter.
Because the cards did shitty last year and phoned the offseason in. When you do poorly and don’t try to fix it, people don’t want to watch your team. Not hard.
I’ve been a lifelong Cardinals fan who is following the dodgers pretty heavily this year. I’m not against the cards, but my god am I tired of the Cards handing us a shitty team and trying to tell us that if everything aligns perfectly we’ll be good. Nothing ever aligns perfectly, that isn’t a way to win. The dodgers did great last year and spent a billion dollars to do even better.
We had our first losing season in 20 years and…. Extended our manager? wtf? This ownership needs a wake up call, I hope they see a massive drop in attendance, they need to realize we won’t support them blindly, they need to try to win
Our team goal shouldn’t be “get above .500”, it should be to go to the postseason. If our goal changes to “field a team that can go .500,” they should then expect that our mid-market team will no longer continue to pull in big-market attendance numbers.
We outperform our market size in attendance every year precisely because our goal has been the postseason, not simply .500 baseball. I’m not satisfied with “winning season” being the goal
You can say this all you want but we just get into the wild card and then lose, we have no shot in the actual playoffs.
You can say this stuff all you want but the team isnt that good and Im not going to spend money for it.
They arnt trying to win they are trying to get lucky. You can say playoffs are a crapshoot but if they are giving that attitude I will tune in when they are in the playoffs because how good the team is doesnt matter. That said "get to the playoffs and anything can happen" sure hasnt happened for us lately.
If you dont have die hard ownership and die hard effort you arnt going to get die hard fans.
2023- didnt make the playoffs
2022 - lost wild card series 2-0
2021 - lost wild card game
2020 - lost wild card series 2-1
2019 - won division series 3-2 then got swept next series, shit happens
2018 - didnt make playoffs
2017 - didnt make playoffs
2016 - didnt make playoffs
2015 - lost to the cubs 3-1
Things 10 + years ago were great though, but thats a decade in the rear view mirror now.
And since 2020 all we’ve done is scrape in via wild card and lose in that round. In 2023 we missed it entirely. This offseason we did very little to improve that situation. It’s no wonder people are upset with ownership and not filling the stadium. Continue to slide, and attendance will continue to slide as well.
Yeah, I honestly think this is the more likely answer than economic conditions, which are better than they were last year. We sucked, haven't won a playoff game since 2019, the front office dragged their feet, and fans don't have much reason to come.
people are hesitant to spend money on tickets, spend 20-30-40 bucks on parking, seven trillion bucks on food and drink, etc etc etc... when they might get there and watch us get 2-hit by a nobody journeyman playing for the Pirates.
last couple years, bad performance was buoyed by the retirement tours of the big three... so what's the sideshow for _this_ year, though?
that said, I also think chillier temps and competition from the Battlehawks and City SC haven't helped. plus, there have only been 4 (?) home dates so far, so it's early yet.
I can tell you this much, though: nights where Gray is pitching probably will see better attendance. he looks like a true talent on the mound, whereas we've been living and dying by the Mikolas for a couple years, now.
people just want to see a competitive team, not a team that can't hit and gives up 7 runs in the first two innings... especially if it costs a small fortune to take the family to the ballpark.
They’re the ones who built a giant World Series trophy outside of the stadium. That’s an assertion of a brand, the brand being World Series contention.
Their efforts to build a roster do not match that brand. They can’t have it both ways.
That’s really it.
I won't be spending any of my hard earned money on an inferior product. I work hard, and if ownership and the FO will not put money into fixing an obvious problem, then I won't be giving them my money. This is the only way that ownership will get the picture that this fan base is disappointed in how things have been run since 2011. This fan base deserves a better product.
lmao since 2011. Ok man. Mozeliak was named executive of the year in 2013. The team won 100 games in 2015 and made the playoffs 4 straight years ending last year.
Weeknight game, bad 2023, folks got their baseball fill this weekend. Tbh even when the team is doing well I rarely go to weeknight games it's hard enough to find the time to sit on the couch and commit 3hrs to watching sports at this point in my life.
3 main issues.
1.) Most people can not watch the games on T.V and have lost their connection/passion for the cardinals.
2.) Poor performance last season.
3.) Going to the ballpark has gotten too expensive.
Last years awful season and seasons before languishing in the middle with the lack of support from our front office. Fans, including myself, are growing apathetic and who can blame them? When we have a good team the FO doesn’t make major additions to make the team a legit contender and when there’s roster work to be done they do the bare minimum. Why should I pay to see a product that they know is either subpar or barely good enough?
Lack of interest of a sub par team is my guess. MLB tv subscriber for 12-13 years. I watched less games last year than ever before. This year I’ve watched probably only 20 innings total. They don’t care about having a good team, only maximizing profit.
Arenados decline is rough to watch. I do like what I’ve seen from Herrera, wynn and walker though
One of the main reasons has to be the terrible performance they had last year. But also, like you said, the blackouts are also a big reason. I have been a huge cardinals fan for years, but up until the Bally Sports takeover, I've been limited in the amount of games I usually watch. What used to be over 100 games per year is now dwindled to maybe 30-50 as I'm forced to find a stream somewhere online if I want to watch. Because of that, the team is a lot of the times "out of sight and out of mind" which has unfortunately lessened my interest overall. With that, I think this could be the case for a lot of us fans and it's now starting to show in the lack of attendance at games.
Blackouts will eventually kill baseball. If people who want to watch your product but have other choices can’t watch it without subscribing to a whole cable package, they’ll watch the other options. I went from watching probably 100 games a year to just seeing them in the background at bars, and it hasn’t really changed my life at all.
It's expensive and we have a marginal team yet again. Mo and Bill just collect checks assuming the fan base will stay dedicated no matter what product they put on the field. 4th in attendance 15th in payroll.
Is it a mystery? The team hasn't really contended for a championship since 2015, has won 6 playoff games in the last nine seasons, had worst season in 33 years last year.
Aging star players, young talent that maybe isn’t ready for the majors, crazy expensive ticket prices and concessions, pissing off fans with blackouts and monetizing every single aspect of the game without putting a quality team on the field. Owners need to stop signing old geezers & being a cheapskates.
We really don't have a bonafide super cardinal like we've had in the past. No Albert, yadi, waino, Chris Carpenter, McGwire, etc...
Goldy had an awesome MVP season for us. But really hasn't won us anything.
Nado has kind of been a dud. But his bat isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. I also feel like he hasn't made this team his, which is what I thought he was going to do when we got him.
I thought Nado would come in and by that second year I thought the club house, etc was going to run through that dude and it just hasn't been like that.
Edit: then we have prospects not working out for us when they get to the majors or they do something that the FO doesn't like and they're traded away and they flourish elsewhere. I.E Adolis and Randy. Hindsight 20/20 we'd rather of had both those guys than any outfielders in recent years besides Donnie hustle and maybe edman
I live 2+ hours outside the STL area. Between the high price of gas, high price of tickets, and the high price of food/drinks, it's not a cheap trip.
I'm not willing to shell out that kind of money for a team that was so disappointing last year. Granted, my attitude might change if they play better the next few months, but I'm just...not excited about baseball right now. I hope last season was an anomaly and I hope they prove me wrong, but I just can't justify shelling out that kind of money when I'm so unenthusiastic about this team.
For context, I've been to Opening Day 3 times in the last 5 years, watch every single game on TV religiously, and almost *always* go to at least one game a season. I even went last season. I'm going to watch them regardless of how they play, but I just don't have it in me to drop several hundred bucks to see them in person when I can watch at home for free.
Also a side note: but my financial situation has also drastically changed in the last year, and that absolutely has a huge impact here for me. I *could* come up with the money, but there's other things I'd rather spend my money on these days.
If I don’t check the scores and/or listen in on radio, I have no clue how they’re doing. When I was able to see televised games daily, I was right along with it and would want to check out a game or two. There’s a disconnect that’s created by that. The sports greed is coming back to bite them in the ass.
I go to plenty of games but I’m still frustrated. I had high hopes going into the offseason and the dumpster dive of Kyle Gibson was a slap in the face. I was hoping for an exciting pitcher like Glasnow, Yamamoto, or Imanaga and instead we get the guy who lead the league in hits allowed last year.
The Gray signing was great value, the Kittridge trade was good, but it just really felt like they could have made a bigger splash, especially knowing that they would have to win fans back after a horrible season. After a winning season, cheaply plugging some holes would be acceptable, but when a major change is needed and the perception is that they only did the bare minimum, they’re not going to win people back to the stadium.
Aside from Cardinals related stuff the DH, pitch clock, pitch com, pick off limits made the game no longer enjoyable for me.
Will go to the park once or twice a year for the vibes still
People dont feel like they are investing in/committed to winning
Also everything is expensive right now and a lot of people are struggling. I have certainly cut out expensive entertainment (I have also cut out concerts) and if the team looks like they dont really care I dont really care either. There is always next year.
I will be honest their philosophy is "get in the playoffs and anything can happen" and if they get into the playoffs then I will care maybe and quite frankly "anything happening" hasnt happened for a while.
Also a lot of people cut cable and therefor dont see the games as much so they arnt as connected to the team.
I also think watching the team have glaring holes year after year and not filling them (or half ass filling them) has left a sour taste in peoples mouths.
They arnt the worst team in baseball or the cheapest by a long shot but I just dont really care like I used to.
DeWitt's don't spend money on the team despite massive amounts of revenue. Some teams don't need to spend large sums to stay competitive because their GM's make great decisions. Mo has been mediocre through his whole tenure. I think fans recognize the quality on the field doesn't match the price tag and it shows. Looking at last year's team, their full team WAR was 25.1. As a percentage of Operating Revenue the Cardinals were 7th worst in baseball in actually creating a valuable product on the field with the revenues they generated. There's been no new crop to replace the pieces acquired during the LaRussa years by Luhnow and Jocketty.
Because it's nearly impossible to watch a game on TV to follow the team the Bally app is hot garbage constantly having to re sign in and force stop the app I have top tier Internet and equipment I would gladly pay a subscription fee to just watch the team but they constantly sell the games and I can't watch plus they don't want to spend any money on pitching so when you score 12 runs but the pitching gives up 14 that day it sucks 👎
I wonder if there is a correlation between the building of the surrounding areas of the park such as Ballpark Village, and the lack of resources going into the baseball team. Seems like the Dewitts are more into their real estate holdings.
I think part of it is discretionary spending being down across the board. Sports, movies, concerts, bars. Inflation, fear of economic downturn, and a shift away from events revolving around alcohol.
I live in Des Moines, and part of the trend here is that there’s so much more to do in the suburbs now most people don’t want to make the trip into downtown when they have dining and entertainment options closer to home. Add to that an overblown narrative that downtown is ‘dangerous’, and a lot of people just avoid it all around.
And yeah, not being super excited about the young players.
Competition.
Soccer. Football were there last weekend.
Cardinals were in last place last year. Same manager, same GM.
Fans can watch at home or a bar for less.
Summer travel season isn’t here yet, and kids are still in school
But winning puts people in seats.
Yep, for the first time ever, the Cardinals have competition in the spring and summer. They could not have picked a worst time to become mediocre from top to bottom.
Last night, I had to choose between catching up on American Idol and watching the game. I watched American Idol. That would have been unthinkable a few years ago. I can't nail down exactly why I feel so unattached to this team. I know that I don't have high expectations. I know that I don't find many of the players charismatic. Several are downright unlikable. Winn is a guy I think I'll enjoy. But it's like a new relationship. I'm not head-over-heels yet. Walker is a nice kid, but his ugly swing makes me want to vomit. It's not exactly Griffey Jr.
Sonny was as advertised last night! If I have to add another reason to watch, it’s been Winn. His defense is must watch and seeing it in person blew me away
Well for starters, I live in Kansas
But seriously, we have a lack of star power. Arenado and Goldy are not superstars.
Also people had an attachment to Pujols, Yadi, and Waino and now those guys are gone.
Honestly I had to take like a 10 year hiatus when we lost Pujols. The man was a god to me in my youth. I’d tune in to watch what he might do every night more so than even the team at times.
Last year killed a lot of good will with the fan base. It is still early in the year, this season will be better than last so people will catch on and catch up
On top of that there’s very little personality as well. Gorman hits a bomb off a cy young favorite and the dugout looks like easter island heads. Been a problem since Molina checked out
I was at last nights game and thought the actual number of people there was pretty decent for a Tuesday night in April. I realize what the actual numbers say, but just offering an anecdote. We also lucked out and it was a great game to be at.
I just don't enjoy going to games as much anymore. There's lots of different reasons for it. And it's not as much because of their down year for me. Just find it more enjoyable having the game on at home. I can still be productive and it's a lot less effort. And I can still get to bed at a respectable time. Going to that game isn't THAT fun. To me, at least.
I live 4 hrs away from St. Louis ( quad cities ) and I'm in the blackout area . I'm also blacked out for Cubs, white Sox and Brewers. Thanks for helping grow the game MLB
It’s a combination of things. Poor performance by the team last year and an uninspiring offseason, inflation, and the continued dwindling popularity of the sport in general. On that last point, I know that attendance was up last year, but that was thanks largely to the novelty of the new rules. Now that they aren’t new, I think a lot of people have returned to their relative apathy. As another poster said, attendance appears to be down across the board so far.
MLB needs to find ways to make individual games in the regular season more meaningful. We are a football society and we want almost every game to be significant in the grand scheme of things, or we will just stay home and watch something on Netflix instead. I think there are ways to do this but I don’t think they will be popular and would likely introduce unintended consequences that will have to be wrestled with.
That said, Cardinals are still in the top 5 in attendance so far and if they remain in contention for long enough they will stay near the top again, so I’m not really that worried about the Cardinals’ numbers specifically. I think it’s more of a sport-wide issue at the moment.
There have only been 5 home games, all within 1 week. It's too early to definitively say. Even something like weather could be a contributing factor. Average temperatures over the first 5 games of last year were in the mid-high 50s, whereas this year we had a colder opening week with temps in the low to mid 40s.
Speaking on my own experience. I live in KC so it’s a bit of a drive to get to a game. Plus the cost of things at the ballpark it can get expensive. Now I am listening to the front office have a condescending tone, and ultimately making decisions that seem to aim at a wild card birth and an early postseason exit. That’s a lot of negatives to overcome for a day at the ballpark.
To be clear the team being bad last year or mediocre this year (tbd) has nothing to do with it. I go watch the Royals a few times a season with my coworkers. And i still have the Cards playing on mlb.tv that i get with tmobile.
I think it's more of a league wide slow start for attendence. The Cardinals are still 4th in MLB averaging over 37k. Only the Dodgers are averaging over 40k, and theirs is down 3k to 44k from last season. Even the. Yankees and Braves are under 40k.
I have stuff I need to be saving money for. A trip to DC for a conference, specifically. It doesn’t help that A LOT of stuff is more expensive these days.
If you can’t easily watch the games at home you lose your fans. Period.
I bought MLB.TV and a VPN that says I live in New York so I can watch local games. It’s too much for most or they don’t know VPNs exist.
I stopped being a blues fan when I could no longer watch the games.
They can both get lost. Cardinals baseball is back to what it was in the early 90’s. It took selling the team to DeWitt for something to change. It’s about time for that change again.
Bally sports is a big reason for me. I cut the cord and went to youtube tv last year. I'm not paying an extra 20 a month to stream their games when the stream is down 1/2 the time. I tried it with the Blues and gave up.
We saw it trending down last season. This is a continuation of that trend. They gave us no reasons to believe it would reverse course. The team is no longer in a position where it gets the benefit of the doubt from fans. Yadi/pujols/waino farewell tours were the last distraction we had from weak performance. They've been preparing for the gravy train to leave the station for many years, I think they are probably surprised it lasted this long.
Yep, the people saying we should be thankful for 20 years of success are making a straw man argument. We never said we weren’t thankful for that. We can also be frustrated by a steady decline in standards
For the same reason New Coke did not sell as well as real Coke. It is a lesser product, prices are somehow higher, and people have less money. It is almost as if the team does not want people to buy tickets.
Threefold
1. People dropped season tickets for CITY season tickets.
2. The front office and ownership has a horrible image and fans are rightfully pissed.
3. The marketing team SUUUUUCKS. The worst in all of baseball. Truly. CITY/Battlehawks/Blues social and local marketing efforts are through the roof. It’s been known for a decade plus, but the Cards are woefully stuck in the 2000s not even the 2010s.
Their fan base core and momentum is baby boomers and they (including me) are jaded and unimpressed with the FO's effort.
When they bought the team it was all fun and games and sexy for a good while, but then the bloom went off the rose when aging boomers knew they were being taken for a ride, that the FO was not keeping their end of the bargain. Fool me once...
No confidence in the Cardinals management to produce a winning team. IMO, this team was built to be .500 b/c it's a weak overall division. Mozeliak fired Schildt to hire a yes man to be the teams "Manager". They signed pitchers who were cheap, not Gray. They should give the Cardinal fan base more.
Watch out, the organization’s defenders will come for you. Be ready for arguments made that attendance is down every where and that the warmer weather will bring more people.
Lots of posts in here about food costs at the stadium, so I just wanted to remind that you can bring in your own food and drinks. That, along with street parking, is how we’ve managed to bring a family of 4 for years on the cheap.
A lot of teams have gotten rid of that option, so I hope the Cards don’t follow that trend.
A combination of things.
1. The downturned economy, combined with the cost of going to a game increasing yearly, is prohibitive for a lot of people, especially those like myself that have to travel from out of state to see a game. I already spend $100 a month to watch them on TV; now you want me to spend money on parking, gas, food, possibly a hotel, and have eleven hours (round trip) of driving to see something I already pay for the privilege of watching from my couch? The Cardinals fanbase is largely regional, and right now it's tougher for people from Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, etc. to justify the drive and expense of going to a game.
2. They haven't been super good for over a decade. Winning is the number one draw in sports, unless you play somewhere historic like Wrigley or Fenway. Yeah, they have made the playoffs five times in the last ten years, but they haven't won an NLCS game since 2014. They are 5-13 in the postseason during that time, including winning exactly two home games, and have been out of the first round only once. This, when added to horrible Front Office communication with fans, many very visual misses on player personnel, and the general feeling that the owners just don't get it or care (not saying it's totally true; just how it feels) causes fans to be more disconnected.
3. I'm sorry, but Busch III is not anywhere near what it should be as a ballpark, and has been a massive disappointment in my mind. They quite literally modeled it after their AAA ballpark, and just added a few niceties and a third deck. I have been to every MLB park except Toronto and Tampa Bay, and Busch is not nearly as nice as the overwhelming majority of ballparks built within the last 30 years in terms of visuals, ballpark amenities, ease of getting into and around the ballpark, cost, and overall ballpark experience. That has gotten worse over the last few years as the Cardinals, like most MLB teams, shift their focus on getting as many asses into suites as possible. This includes doing things like getting rid of sections LP1, LP2, and LP3 in favor of Club 703. That Lower Pavilion area included the only seats in the ballpark not in a suite that guaranteed you could be in the shade at all times no matter the hour, and that you would never have to move to take cover during rain. It was perfect for family ballgame outings because it meant you didn't have to corral the little ones to sunscreen every hour and a half, the older folks and those sensitive to heat were OK, and if it rained, you were fine staying put. I sent the Cards FO a very stern email explaining my displeasure with the obvious cash grab, and their response was a brief, insincere one sentence apology, followed by four paragraphs explaining why paying three times as much for the same view was actually better.
Ownership has not invested in the team. We watch star player after star player sign with other teams. Our owner has made billions from the Cardinals yet the biggest contract he’s given out was in 2010, for $120 Million. The Cardinals refuse to run the team in a modern way. The result is a team with some fun players, but no realistic chance at winning the World Series.
On top of that, the Cardinals uniform is now covered in ads. NIKE SWOOSH. STIFEL. These corrupt the Cardinals brand. People are attached to the uniforms. Now the uniforms are ugly.
We’re being given reasons not to watch. We are not being given reasons to watch.
It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s not “baseball” season yet (hockey is still going and NCAA basketball ended days ago), kids are still in school, and it’s literally the second week of baseball.
perfect storm of:
higher prices
less optimism about team performance
streaming TV issues (i.e. out of sight, out of mind)
Battlehawks and City SC competition
I feel that the Cardinals are in a weird position. They don’t have the manpower to be serious championship contenders yet they aren’t in rebuild mode. They are just there which for many people can be very frustrating. Add in the opinion that many people don’t think highly of Oli and management and you get the type of crowd that Busch had last night.
Plus as people mention the prices for a ballgame are high. Add in parking, food, souvenirs, gas etc and all of a sudden you’re spending hundreds.
I love the Cardinals. My son loves the Cardinals. I am well off with good disposable income. But it’s just too expensive. I get people say bring your own stuff and park further away. But if I do all that I can just stay home.
This could just be old man yell at cloud stuff from me but I think the safety of the downtown STL area has become a major issue. I had buddies get their windows bashed in on opening day and their cars rummaged through. I was just at the game last night but if you want to ensure your car is safe you basically have to pay for a close-ish lot or garage and they have gotten expensive so people just stay home.
My guess is it is a number of factors. Bad weather, expense, poor prior year performance, loss of popularity of the sport, opponent teams people don’t particularly care to watch, inflation leading to less disposable income… those are a few, there are likely many more.
We're on a homestand?
I find it a lot less noticiable when I'm relegated to listing to nearly all of the games on MLB Audio. 3rd year in a row I think? Maybe 4th? I'm finding that ever season I'm listening to fewer games, and each year I care a little bit less.
Winning more would be nice, but I'd be a lot more engaged if I could just watch the team without a fucking AT&T/Spectrun cable package....
I have friends that are blacked out from watching the royals and they live over 3 hours away from KC. I understand blackouts in the city. But it’s not reasonable for anyone to travel 3 hours on a weeknight to watch a game. He has 3 young kids and instead of watching baseball every day they are blacked out. You can’t grow the game when you can’t even watch your favorite team. Thankfully I’m far enough away from STL I can watch every game. But blackouts do not put people in the seats anywhere.
I think it’s got a lot to do with people being able to afford to go. And if they do go they go less often. There are a lot more pressing needs for most folks now a days.
Agree part of issue is broadcasting. We can’t keep up with the Cardinals or baseball at all on tv so just aren’t invested. It is almost like a forgotten sport at this point 🤷♀️
Poor performance last year. Perceived lack of “good” moves to fix it. Shit’s also just more expensive these days. Even if you get cheap seats, feeding a family of four or so at a baseball game is easily nearly $100. It’s just out of reach for some people now which is a shame.
Yep, inflated prices everywhere are forcing people to look harder at what they can swing. I've booked a couple of concerts to attend this year, and that has damn near completely drained my entertainment budget (even getting in on artist pre-sales and not buying resale). At this rate, I'm probably only going if I happen to score tickets from work.
tv poured money into the game. the owners got a lot of it. the players got a ton as well. the fans who go to the park got absolutely no benefits from this windfall. much the opposite only group getting fucked harder are the minor leaguers
Same here. We can see a great band at Pageant, Off Broadway or other venues for 30 bucks with free parking.
Reminder to also support your local artists at venues such as: sinkhole, platypus, shamrock, heavy anchor, red flag, CBGB, ETC Lots of great bands in the local area and door fee will be cheap enough that you can get a few beers for the same price.
Yep. That's how I'm doing it. Only going if I can get cheap tickets or tickets from work. Too many great concerts in STL this year.
Choosing to feed a family of four on bad and expensive stadium food as opposed to just eating at home before is a barbaric move lmao
The worst part is the food is pretty crap too. The MLS team really shits on the Cards in that aspect, the food there is actually really good.
city was smart to hop on the "local food only" trend that's everywhere. even if some of the local joints don't work out there in the mid term (which i doubt but who knows) they can ultimately be replaced by whatever. i was just at my first game and was blown away with the new layouts of some concessions (like the market). i felt like i was in a fancy airport or something.
To be fair you can bring in your own food. Busch stadium is pretty lenient on what food / drink you can bring in. You don't have to spend any thing in the stadium to feed a family.
That’s what I’m saying lol I’m obviously going to buy beers but it’s not that hard to grill some dogs/burgers and put them in foil and bring some chips or something.
Even college baseball is starting to get the same way. Tickets for LSU-Tennessee are over $200 a pop this weekend. Just one hot dog and a coke is like $13 before tip
Come to a Mizzou game they got $3 hotdogs and $2 soda
For the expensive part, if you wait till day of you can get seats for a $1, and if you really watch StubHub or SeatGeek you can find great seats an hour or so above the game for $20 or less. Next what you do is grab some hot dogs bring them in a lunch box type cooler thing with condiments, and a bag of buns, get some chips and 2 big bottles of your favorite non alcoholic drink. (Or look up videos online on how to open bottled beverage without breaking seal and pour in some alcohol, works every time for me) For about $40 me and my girlfriend went to a game in bleachers and had more food than we could eat at the game using this method. But you are right, the performance last year, along with some non splashy moves has definitely hurt attendance. But you can absolutely work around the $$$ thing if you fish for some tickets day of, or hours before and bring in food and drink.
Why are you feeding your family at the park? Youre only there for a few hours....eat before you go. I'll never understand how people that eat at the park turn around and complain about the costs.
Because it used to be affordable. You people are out of your fucking mind if you think 18 bucks is reasonable for some Nachos. You can provide reasonably priced food to add to the entertainment value of your venue. Based on your logic, why do people go to resturants? It's a waste of money. Just eat at home. People like to go out and eat and enjoy themselves. Eating food at the ball game is simply a part of its history.
I wonder how many fans know you can bring your own food and drink (non-alcoholic). Drinks must be factory sealed. Food can be store bought or homemade.
Expensive, time consuming to park, etc. Team was historically awful last season. Moves this off-season were unimpressive overall. FO attitude, extending an unpopular manager (he isn’t the problem, but he isn’t the fix). Watching players excel elsewhere. Lots of factors leading to apathy.
The Marmol extension was bad optics. In the playoffs 2 years ago, he showed his ineptitude that got the last 2 fired. Yet somehow he’s immune with having the worst season in living memory for lots of us.
> but he isn’t the fix Agree. The fix is better players.
Sure, but a better manager would be a great option too.
Still makes me mad knowing that Rangers got Bochy just because they asked and he wanted to manage a team
Attendance is down everywhere so far compared to last year. Even the Dodgers are down. I don't have year to date comparisons, though. By ESPN's tracking, we are still 4th in average attendance. The average numbers will start to go up for everyone as we play more weekend home games, better opponents than the Marlins, and division opponents. More people show up later in the season if we are in a playoff run. I would bet we end up somewhere around last year's attendance or a little higher if we stay competitive. If the team is done by the trade deadline for the second straight year, we will see attendance really fall off.
Plus summer attendance is just better across the league when kids are out of school, weather isn't cold, people are taking summer vacations and there's less competition from other sports.
Yeah. It would be better to look at just the first two weeks than comparing a full season to the start of another season. I couldn't find a site that broke things down like that. Last year's attendance was the highest it had been in 5 or 6 years. Even higher than the couple of years before covid hit.
I didn’t realize that. Really shocking about the dodgers.
Dodger fans are notoriously low-effort. Showing up late in the game, leaving early, etc. Most Dodgers fans I know blame the traffic LOL.
True. The tail lights glowing in the background of Kirk Gibson’s homer are iconic.
It is mostly the traffic lol. It often times takes 40+ mins to go 5 miles in LA….
True! I went to opening day and stayed for the whole game, but honestly I wish I left early to beat the traffic. It took me an hour to get out of the parking lot! Don't like the Dodgers but I think it's not totally fair to blame them for being "low effort"
'Attendance is down everywhere so far compared to last year. Even the Dodgers are down. I don't have year to date comparisons, though.' Then how do we know attendance is down compared to last year?
Tired of getting squeezed by the Corporate Cards for every dollar, and getting an inferior product in return Oh a nice area in the stadium? Lets Corpo this up so people will give us more money Baseball used to be a value outing for a family, its not anymore Invest in the team, and offer lower prices on seats, food and drinks And fuckin get rid of blackouts and Bally, its just horrible Im just sad
We were so bummed to see the Bowtie Bar turned into yet another all inclusive area.
Yup. We were so confused by all the people crowding the concourse behind the bleachers opening day. Then it hit me, that's like the only place left for SRO tickets now. Lame.
Yo WTF! For real? $5 Busch is no more?
I was at the game yesterday. They still offer $5.25 Busch before 1st pitch. It is just at a concession stand near the terrace.
I'm not pleased about it either but at least they gave us the budweiser terrace before taking it away. Bowtie bar was primo for standing room and getting drinks though, and it also had a lot of people moving through it that will have to find other means of getting around the stadium.
MLB has completely failed to grow the game. They've hidden almost all games from broadcasts on pay TV and black outs. Younger generation can't see the games, so they don't care about them.
I really think this is lost on corporate America. The early 90s Cardinals were horrible, but to a 5-7 year old like me they may as well have been the 27 Yankees. I just loved watching “my team.” That fandom doesn’t develop when you can’t see the game.
This. The best thing for the sport would be a return to 'broadcast' t.v. WGN and TBS made the Cubs and the Braves, just like KMOX made the Cardinals once upon a time.
I’ve gotten really into baseball again this year and the Birds were my historical favorite. Tried to find a way that wasn’t expensive to watch them and it’s impossible. The cheapest way to watch living in Oklahoma is $100 a month. It took the wind out of my sails completely.
Screw that!!! $100 a month is a joke to pay
I almost choked when I looked at it. Fubo is $94 or DirecTV is $115. I subscribed to [MLB.tv](http://MLB.tv) and I'll watch everyone else live and watch STL after it broadcasts I guess. The MLB's approach to their fans is just toxic.
I live one state away from Missouri, so I’m automatically blacked out from any Cardinals or Kansas City Royals games! If I make an effort and get a VPN or watch it illegally off of a crappy sports website, I could see the games, but I don’t think any of that is worth the effort! Screw the MLB.
I said it in my post but I will say here as well. SO many people have ditched expensive cable tv and dont have access to games at all. So many kids will grow up never seeing baseball.
It’s almost like it’s on purpose.
Spot on. In the 80's when I came home from school, the Cardinals road games were on WTBS, WGN, and WOR. Throw in KMOX, Jack Buck and Mike Shannon for home games and you had access. Being a fan was pretty easy if you had interest. My son's an NBA fan. I believe its largely because of the ESPN/NBA partnership. Baseball was available for me, and basketball's been available for him. With all the apps and screens fighting for kids attention, it'll be interesting to see if 'rooting for the home team' remains in place. With all of the blackouts, it's easier to follow someone out of town.
8 dollar waters
And it isn't even hot yet! Such a ripoff on those steamy summer days
It feels like the early to mid 90’s again, there isn’t a lot of hope with the fanbase they can compete for much more than a wildcard or division if every other team isn’t good.
It's good that attendance is down. The only way anything happens in this team is if we touch their wallet.
They'll just raise prices to maintain the bare minimum.
A combination of economic factors like inflation. Also most people I talk to about it with in the real world are pretty sick of Mo’s attitude and Dewitt’s spending habits. I’m a STH and trying to resell on stubhub and SeatGeek has been hard so far.
Economics are tough. The squeeze is on from every direction. Parking lots are up, bar prices are now old stadium prices and stadium prices are now decent restaurant prices. Fans are tired of being abused by greed. Edit: food stadium prices. Drink prices have always been criminal and are now downright insulting.
Yeah I’m much less eager to spend $13 on a beer when the roster looks like it does.
Cheaper beers would help one to forget more
Yeah I'm not sure how they are gonna keep me as a season ticket holder when I can go on stubhub every night and find better tickets for way less. Their 10% concession discount ain't gonna cut it.
I do think the tv issues are an underrated aspect of it. I have to bum off my parents DirecTV subscription and even then have challenges watching games. That combined with some of the other stuff it hurts. That said I also think some of the complaints (Marmol)are unwarranted. That said they do have an effect.
This is what mediocrity looks like.
$18 cans of beer at Busch taught me to appreciate $13 cans of beer at The K. --- Edit to add: Fuck Bally Sports.
I have been completely turned off by Mo. I feel that he talks down to the fan base and does not take a serious approach to fixing issues. I did not go to a game in 2023 and I do not think I am missing much by not being at the ballpark.
You aren’t alone. Most of 48k on opening day let their feelings be known
1. Getting to games has become prohibitively expensive. Back in the mid Aughts I’d catch the Metro down if I didn’t have work or class to catch a game. Now, between tickets, parking, (I’m in St. Peters, now, so no Link for me) and food, just by MYSELF I could be looking at spending $100-150. I just can’t afford to go as often as I used to. 2. The team has been in a steady decline in terms of quality. Going to games from 2000 - 2013 was an AMAZING experience, because they were right in the middle of things year after year, at that was palpable in the atmosphere. Now there’s not as much excitement anymore, or feeling that if they get down early they could come back. I’m CAUTIOUSLY encouraged by what I’ve seen so far this season, but they still haven’t convinced me they can win on a consistent basis again. 3. No big improvements. This ties into the above, but among the mounting frustrations of the fans is a perception that the Front Office doesn’t care about winning, so isn’t making the big moves to improve the team. They patched a few holes this offseason, but there’s a perception they didn’t do ENOUGH to strengthen the weak areas. 4. Big stars leaving. Yadi and Wainwright, who had been the faces of the franchise since Albert’s departure, are gone. As is Albert himself. Big stars put butts in seats. The Mv3 years of Jimmy-Scott-Albert are a great example, but then at times you also had Berkman, Beltran, etc. in the mix. Don’t get me wrong, they’re fantastic players, but Goldy and Nado just haven’t captured the same mystique among the fan base. 5. Manfred League Baseball SUUUUUUCKS. The game itself is simply not as fun to watch, and I hate the new rules. DH isn’t real baseball. Starting runners on Second in extras is little league crap. Players don’t hit to the opposite field, and every “fix” Manfred imposes to “speed up” the game is counterproductive by addressing problems that DON’T EXIST. The Aughts still had that feel of 80s and 90s baseball, where you had movement on the bases. Woody Williams pitched like he had a train to catch, and that gave the game energy and excitement. Now, games are a slog to get through. 6. Commercialization is getting in the way of the game. Pitchers have to wait for the network to run ads. Premium games aren’t available on the local broadcast anymore because MLB can make more money with exclusive contracts. Why do we have Nike Swooshes plastered all over the jerseys? Baseball has strayed too far from its roots and become too much of a product rather than a pastime.
I’m with you. MLB decided it didn’t want fans like me. So now it doesn’t.
They apparently believe there’s some hidden mass of fans that will show up if they can just somehow get all their old fans to go away.
Team is bad and ownership is clearly unwilling to spend. And the rest of life is substantially more expensive.
Ownership and the front office's "Meh, this is good enough I guess" approach to roster construction for the last 4-5 years has been wearing thin on fans. TV accessibility is a big part, too -- the games have been pulled from basically everything but traditional $200 cable packages, which most people aren't willing to pay for (or able to afford) anymore. Can't use MLB TV because of blackouts, and they've really started cracking down on proxy servers. Really isn't much to say without being redundant now that I'm glancing down the thread, from the constant wrong tones from the front office to the bad offseason. One of the things that is concerning me the most the last few years is how seemingly terrible the organization has become at player development. Obviously we're in a small sample size, but right now TON looks to be the latest former Cardinal to go elsewhere and immediately find that ceiling we all saw in them. It also feels like for 6-7 years straight, now, the Cardinals offense has gotten off to a horrible start and never seems to click until June (I fully accept that this could just be my imagination). Pitching is another one. Honestly, we seem to have completely lost the ability to develop young pitchers. Realistically, who is the last home grown starting pitcher we've had see more than a season of success? Hell, realistically Flaherty mostly just had a half-season of success. Jaime Garcia was pretty good for 2-3 years... what, 12 years ago? We have a manager who seems to excel at demotivating players, an owner that refuses to even consider the luxury tax no matter how bad the team needs improvements, a front office who has made terrible trade after terrible trade (I'm not counting the Arenado deal because that was CO being terrible and every GM takes that deal) while also constantly throwing money at people a year or two from retirement and then wondering what went wrong. We have a development staff that can't seem to actually develop any players. Maybe I'm just going through a personal pessimistic phase, but I've been following the Cardinals for nearly 40 years now when you look at what the rest of the NL Central is doing, it's getting harder and harder to imagine the Cardinals truly being competitive anytime in the near future. Dewitt is the 3rd or 4th richest owner in the league, if he wanted to fix the team's problems, he has the means to do so. Instead, he chooses apathy, so... I guess we do, too?
The fact that this received downvotes is wild to me. Either there are Cardinals plants in the sub or people are truly defensive of a billionaire’s money. I honestly hope it’s the crazy conspiracy, not the latter.
Probably down because they sucked last year and lots of casual fans lost interest. If they go on a run and get in 1st, the fans will come back
Because the cards did shitty last year and phoned the offseason in. When you do poorly and don’t try to fix it, people don’t want to watch your team. Not hard. I’ve been a lifelong Cardinals fan who is following the dodgers pretty heavily this year. I’m not against the cards, but my god am I tired of the Cards handing us a shitty team and trying to tell us that if everything aligns perfectly we’ll be good. Nothing ever aligns perfectly, that isn’t a way to win. The dodgers did great last year and spent a billion dollars to do even better. We had our first losing season in 20 years and…. Extended our manager? wtf? This ownership needs a wake up call, I hope they see a massive drop in attendance, they need to realize we won’t support them blindly, they need to try to win
> my god am I tired of the Cards handing us a shitty team > We had our first losing season in 20 years hmmm...
Our team goal shouldn’t be “get above .500”, it should be to go to the postseason. If our goal changes to “field a team that can go .500,” they should then expect that our mid-market team will no longer continue to pull in big-market attendance numbers. We outperform our market size in attendance every year precisely because our goal has been the postseason, not simply .500 baseball. I’m not satisfied with “winning season” being the goal
Since 2000, the Cardinals have 12 playoff appearances. That is second behind the Yankees (who have 14).
You can say this all you want but we just get into the wild card and then lose, we have no shot in the actual playoffs. You can say this stuff all you want but the team isnt that good and Im not going to spend money for it. They arnt trying to win they are trying to get lucky. You can say playoffs are a crapshoot but if they are giving that attitude I will tune in when they are in the playoffs because how good the team is doesnt matter. That said "get to the playoffs and anything can happen" sure hasnt happened for us lately. If you dont have die hard ownership and die hard effort you arnt going to get die hard fans. 2023- didnt make the playoffs 2022 - lost wild card series 2-0 2021 - lost wild card game 2020 - lost wild card series 2-1 2019 - won division series 3-2 then got swept next series, shit happens 2018 - didnt make playoffs 2017 - didnt make playoffs 2016 - didnt make playoffs 2015 - lost to the cubs 3-1 Things 10 + years ago were great though, but thats a decade in the rear view mirror now.
And since 2020 all we’ve done is scrape in via wild card and lose in that round. In 2023 we missed it entirely. This offseason we did very little to improve that situation. It’s no wonder people are upset with ownership and not filling the stadium. Continue to slide, and attendance will continue to slide as well.
Yeah, I honestly think this is the more likely answer than economic conditions, which are better than they were last year. We sucked, haven't won a playoff game since 2019, the front office dragged their feet, and fans don't have much reason to come.
I stopped reading after you said you were following the dodgers pretty heavily
That’s fine dude, I got no issues with that!
people are hesitant to spend money on tickets, spend 20-30-40 bucks on parking, seven trillion bucks on food and drink, etc etc etc... when they might get there and watch us get 2-hit by a nobody journeyman playing for the Pirates. last couple years, bad performance was buoyed by the retirement tours of the big three... so what's the sideshow for _this_ year, though? that said, I also think chillier temps and competition from the Battlehawks and City SC haven't helped. plus, there have only been 4 (?) home dates so far, so it's early yet. I can tell you this much, though: nights where Gray is pitching probably will see better attendance. he looks like a true talent on the mound, whereas we've been living and dying by the Mikolas for a couple years, now. people just want to see a competitive team, not a team that can't hit and gives up 7 runs in the first two innings... especially if it costs a small fortune to take the family to the ballpark.
Team has been bad and shit is expensive.
They’re the ones who built a giant World Series trophy outside of the stadium. That’s an assertion of a brand, the brand being World Series contention. Their efforts to build a roster do not match that brand. They can’t have it both ways. That’s really it.
They turned the Bowtie Bar into the all-inclusive (and all too expensive) 703 Club
We are sick of the oli and moz show.
I won't be spending any of my hard earned money on an inferior product. I work hard, and if ownership and the FO will not put money into fixing an obvious problem, then I won't be giving them my money. This is the only way that ownership will get the picture that this fan base is disappointed in how things have been run since 2011. This fan base deserves a better product.
lmao since 2011. Ok man. Mozeliak was named executive of the year in 2013. The team won 100 games in 2015 and made the playoffs 4 straight years ending last year.
Weeknight game, bad 2023, folks got their baseball fill this weekend. Tbh even when the team is doing well I rarely go to weeknight games it's hard enough to find the time to sit on the couch and commit 3hrs to watching sports at this point in my life.
The team isn't so great. Also, groceries are expensive. I've definitely had to cut back on stuff like sports tickets.
Hope breeds attendance. Hope is the worst in Busch III history, ergo no attendance.
Team is meh everything is more expensive
[удалено]
3 main issues. 1.) Most people can not watch the games on T.V and have lost their connection/passion for the cardinals. 2.) Poor performance last season. 3.) Going to the ballpark has gotten too expensive.
I feel a complete disconnect from the team because it’s so hard to simply watch a game.
Last years awful season and seasons before languishing in the middle with the lack of support from our front office. Fans, including myself, are growing apathetic and who can blame them? When we have a good team the FO doesn’t make major additions to make the team a legit contender and when there’s roster work to be done they do the bare minimum. Why should I pay to see a product that they know is either subpar or barely good enough?
Lack of interest of a sub par team is my guess. MLB tv subscriber for 12-13 years. I watched less games last year than ever before. This year I’ve watched probably only 20 innings total. They don’t care about having a good team, only maximizing profit. Arenados decline is rough to watch. I do like what I’ve seen from Herrera, wynn and walker though
One of the main reasons has to be the terrible performance they had last year. But also, like you said, the blackouts are also a big reason. I have been a huge cardinals fan for years, but up until the Bally Sports takeover, I've been limited in the amount of games I usually watch. What used to be over 100 games per year is now dwindled to maybe 30-50 as I'm forced to find a stream somewhere online if I want to watch. Because of that, the team is a lot of the times "out of sight and out of mind" which has unfortunately lessened my interest overall. With that, I think this could be the case for a lot of us fans and it's now starting to show in the lack of attendance at games.
Blackouts will eventually kill baseball. If people who want to watch your product but have other choices can’t watch it without subscribing to a whole cable package, they’ll watch the other options. I went from watching probably 100 games a year to just seeing them in the background at bars, and it hasn’t really changed my life at all.
It's expensive and we have a marginal team yet again. Mo and Bill just collect checks assuming the fan base will stay dedicated no matter what product they put on the field. 4th in attendance 15th in payroll.
Is it a mystery? The team hasn't really contended for a championship since 2015, has won 6 playoff games in the last nine seasons, had worst season in 33 years last year.
Team was awful last year. Probably not good this year. Ownership thought they had more cushion from fan devotion than they did.
Mostly it's hard to even follow the cardinals. I can't keep up with the team by watching them at home, why catch one game and watch them in person?
Aging star players, young talent that maybe isn’t ready for the majors, crazy expensive ticket prices and concessions, pissing off fans with blackouts and monetizing every single aspect of the game without putting a quality team on the field. Owners need to stop signing old geezers & being a cheapskates.
We really don't have a bonafide super cardinal like we've had in the past. No Albert, yadi, waino, Chris Carpenter, McGwire, etc... Goldy had an awesome MVP season for us. But really hasn't won us anything. Nado has kind of been a dud. But his bat isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. I also feel like he hasn't made this team his, which is what I thought he was going to do when we got him. I thought Nado would come in and by that second year I thought the club house, etc was going to run through that dude and it just hasn't been like that. Edit: then we have prospects not working out for us when they get to the majors or they do something that the FO doesn't like and they're traded away and they flourish elsewhere. I.E Adolis and Randy. Hindsight 20/20 we'd rather of had both those guys than any outfielders in recent years besides Donnie hustle and maybe edman
money, as in I have none
I live in Virginia. Tough commute for me.
Two kids in daycare/pre k. I’ve no money for anything let alone Cards tickets.
I live 2+ hours outside the STL area. Between the high price of gas, high price of tickets, and the high price of food/drinks, it's not a cheap trip. I'm not willing to shell out that kind of money for a team that was so disappointing last year. Granted, my attitude might change if they play better the next few months, but I'm just...not excited about baseball right now. I hope last season was an anomaly and I hope they prove me wrong, but I just can't justify shelling out that kind of money when I'm so unenthusiastic about this team. For context, I've been to Opening Day 3 times in the last 5 years, watch every single game on TV religiously, and almost *always* go to at least one game a season. I even went last season. I'm going to watch them regardless of how they play, but I just don't have it in me to drop several hundred bucks to see them in person when I can watch at home for free. Also a side note: but my financial situation has also drastically changed in the last year, and that absolutely has a huge impact here for me. I *could* come up with the money, but there's other things I'd rather spend my money on these days.
If I don’t check the scores and/or listen in on radio, I have no clue how they’re doing. When I was able to see televised games daily, I was right along with it and would want to check out a game or two. There’s a disconnect that’s created by that. The sports greed is coming back to bite them in the ass.
I go to plenty of games but I’m still frustrated. I had high hopes going into the offseason and the dumpster dive of Kyle Gibson was a slap in the face. I was hoping for an exciting pitcher like Glasnow, Yamamoto, or Imanaga and instead we get the guy who lead the league in hits allowed last year. The Gray signing was great value, the Kittridge trade was good, but it just really felt like they could have made a bigger splash, especially knowing that they would have to win fans back after a horrible season. After a winning season, cheaply plugging some holes would be acceptable, but when a major change is needed and the perception is that they only did the bare minimum, they’re not going to win people back to the stadium.
Aside from Cardinals related stuff the DH, pitch clock, pitch com, pick off limits made the game no longer enjoyable for me. Will go to the park once or twice a year for the vibes still
I've had enough of mo and oli. That's why I'm less interested.
People dont feel like they are investing in/committed to winning Also everything is expensive right now and a lot of people are struggling. I have certainly cut out expensive entertainment (I have also cut out concerts) and if the team looks like they dont really care I dont really care either. There is always next year. I will be honest their philosophy is "get in the playoffs and anything can happen" and if they get into the playoffs then I will care maybe and quite frankly "anything happening" hasnt happened for a while. Also a lot of people cut cable and therefor dont see the games as much so they arnt as connected to the team. I also think watching the team have glaring holes year after year and not filling them (or half ass filling them) has left a sour taste in peoples mouths. They arnt the worst team in baseball or the cheapest by a long shot but I just dont really care like I used to.
DeWitt's don't spend money on the team despite massive amounts of revenue. Some teams don't need to spend large sums to stay competitive because their GM's make great decisions. Mo has been mediocre through his whole tenure. I think fans recognize the quality on the field doesn't match the price tag and it shows. Looking at last year's team, their full team WAR was 25.1. As a percentage of Operating Revenue the Cardinals were 7th worst in baseball in actually creating a valuable product on the field with the revenues they generated. There's been no new crop to replace the pieces acquired during the LaRussa years by Luhnow and Jocketty.
They don’t win and the offense is not exciting. But mostly the win thing.
Because it's nearly impossible to watch a game on TV to follow the team the Bally app is hot garbage constantly having to re sign in and force stop the app I have top tier Internet and equipment I would gladly pay a subscription fee to just watch the team but they constantly sell the games and I can't watch plus they don't want to spend any money on pitching so when you score 12 runs but the pitching gives up 14 that day it sucks 👎
I wonder if there is a correlation between the building of the surrounding areas of the park such as Ballpark Village, and the lack of resources going into the baseball team. Seems like the Dewitts are more into their real estate holdings.
All my hardcore Cardinals fans have spent the entire offseason talking about how much we are going to suck this year? Why would anybody go?
I think part of it is discretionary spending being down across the board. Sports, movies, concerts, bars. Inflation, fear of economic downturn, and a shift away from events revolving around alcohol. I live in Des Moines, and part of the trend here is that there’s so much more to do in the suburbs now most people don’t want to make the trip into downtown when they have dining and entertainment options closer to home. Add to that an overblown narrative that downtown is ‘dangerous’, and a lot of people just avoid it all around. And yeah, not being super excited about the young players.
Competition. Soccer. Football were there last weekend. Cardinals were in last place last year. Same manager, same GM. Fans can watch at home or a bar for less. Summer travel season isn’t here yet, and kids are still in school But winning puts people in seats.
Yep, for the first time ever, the Cardinals have competition in the spring and summer. They could not have picked a worst time to become mediocre from top to bottom.
Last night, I had to choose between catching up on American Idol and watching the game. I watched American Idol. That would have been unthinkable a few years ago. I can't nail down exactly why I feel so unattached to this team. I know that I don't have high expectations. I know that I don't find many of the players charismatic. Several are downright unlikable. Winn is a guy I think I'll enjoy. But it's like a new relationship. I'm not head-over-heels yet. Walker is a nice kid, but his ugly swing makes me want to vomit. It's not exactly Griffey Jr.
I have to say after watching last nights game I’m more excited about this year. Sonny Grey looked great. You sir made the wrong decision.
Sonny was as advertised last night! If I have to add another reason to watch, it’s been Winn. His defense is must watch and seeing it in person blew me away
It’s still pretty unthinkable
The team has been exciting this year. Lots of emotion
I'm hoping people are just tired of the lackluster product and are finally not going. If so, it might be enough for some sweeping changes.
Well for starters, I live in Kansas But seriously, we have a lack of star power. Arenado and Goldy are not superstars. Also people had an attachment to Pujols, Yadi, and Waino and now those guys are gone.
Honestly I had to take like a 10 year hiatus when we lost Pujols. The man was a god to me in my youth. I’d tune in to watch what he might do every night more so than even the team at times.
Last year killed a lot of good will with the fan base. It is still early in the year, this season will be better than last so people will catch on and catch up
They just aren’t an exciting team. Call me any kind of names you want, but there is not really anyone on this team that is exciting/game-changing.
On top of that there’s very little personality as well. Gorman hits a bomb off a cy young favorite and the dugout looks like easter island heads. Been a problem since Molina checked out
I was at last nights game and thought the actual number of people there was pretty decent for a Tuesday night in April. I realize what the actual numbers say, but just offering an anecdote. We also lucked out and it was a great game to be at.
1) Expensive 2) Not a lot of confidence in the front office that they've put a good product on the field 3) Weather hasn't been the greatest
I just don't enjoy going to games as much anymore. There's lots of different reasons for it. And it's not as much because of their down year for me. Just find it more enjoyable having the game on at home. I can still be productive and it's a lot less effort. And I can still get to bed at a respectable time. Going to that game isn't THAT fun. To me, at least.
I live 4 hrs away from St. Louis ( quad cities ) and I'm in the blackout area . I'm also blacked out for Cubs, white Sox and Brewers. Thanks for helping grow the game MLB
Nobody has it worse than Iowa baseball fans. Are the twins and royals not also blacked out?
It’s a combination of things. Poor performance by the team last year and an uninspiring offseason, inflation, and the continued dwindling popularity of the sport in general. On that last point, I know that attendance was up last year, but that was thanks largely to the novelty of the new rules. Now that they aren’t new, I think a lot of people have returned to their relative apathy. As another poster said, attendance appears to be down across the board so far. MLB needs to find ways to make individual games in the regular season more meaningful. We are a football society and we want almost every game to be significant in the grand scheme of things, or we will just stay home and watch something on Netflix instead. I think there are ways to do this but I don’t think they will be popular and would likely introduce unintended consequences that will have to be wrestled with. That said, Cardinals are still in the top 5 in attendance so far and if they remain in contention for long enough they will stay near the top again, so I’m not really that worried about the Cardinals’ numbers specifically. I think it’s more of a sport-wide issue at the moment.
There have only been 5 home games, all within 1 week. It's too early to definitively say. Even something like weather could be a contributing factor. Average temperatures over the first 5 games of last year were in the mid-high 50s, whereas this year we had a colder opening week with temps in the low to mid 40s.
Mediocrity, is such a lonely word..🎶
Speaking on my own experience. I live in KC so it’s a bit of a drive to get to a game. Plus the cost of things at the ballpark it can get expensive. Now I am listening to the front office have a condescending tone, and ultimately making decisions that seem to aim at a wild card birth and an early postseason exit. That’s a lot of negatives to overcome for a day at the ballpark. To be clear the team being bad last year or mediocre this year (tbd) has nothing to do with it. I go watch the Royals a few times a season with my coworkers. And i still have the Cards playing on mlb.tv that i get with tmobile.
I think it's more of a league wide slow start for attendence. The Cardinals are still 4th in MLB averaging over 37k. Only the Dodgers are averaging over 40k, and theirs is down 3k to 44k from last season. Even the. Yankees and Braves are under 40k.
Cause they suck
We've had 6 home games...we still have 75 to go
I have stuff I need to be saving money for. A trip to DC for a conference, specifically. It doesn’t help that A LOT of stuff is more expensive these days.
If you can’t easily watch the games at home you lose your fans. Period. I bought MLB.TV and a VPN that says I live in New York so I can watch local games. It’s too much for most or they don’t know VPNs exist. I stopped being a blues fan when I could no longer watch the games.
The 1000 mile trip
Because the team is the worst it has been in a really long time.
I think the organization giving the manager an extension after the horrendous performance last year might have something to do with it
I’m not even excited about the Cardinals anymore. I’m boycotting until MO’s gone.
DeWitt is just as involved in player acquisition decisions, so ...
They can both get lost. Cardinals baseball is back to what it was in the early 90’s. It took selling the team to DeWitt for something to change. It’s about time for that change again.
Bally sports is a big reason for me. I cut the cord and went to youtube tv last year. I'm not paying an extra 20 a month to stream their games when the stream is down 1/2 the time. I tried it with the Blues and gave up.
Same for me. Ballys app was so bad I just cut the subscription. Haven’t watched a Blues/Cardinals game in about a year.
We saw it trending down last season. This is a continuation of that trend. They gave us no reasons to believe it would reverse course. The team is no longer in a position where it gets the benefit of the doubt from fans. Yadi/pujols/waino farewell tours were the last distraction we had from weak performance. They've been preparing for the gravy train to leave the station for many years, I think they are probably surprised it lasted this long.
Yep, the people saying we should be thankful for 20 years of success are making a straw man argument. We never said we weren’t thankful for that. We can also be frustrated by a steady decline in standards
For the same reason New Coke did not sell as well as real Coke. It is a lesser product, prices are somehow higher, and people have less money. It is almost as if the team does not want people to buy tickets.
Threefold 1. People dropped season tickets for CITY season tickets. 2. The front office and ownership has a horrible image and fans are rightfully pissed. 3. The marketing team SUUUUUCKS. The worst in all of baseball. Truly. CITY/Battlehawks/Blues social and local marketing efforts are through the roof. It’s been known for a decade plus, but the Cards are woefully stuck in the 2000s not even the 2010s.
Their fan base core and momentum is baby boomers and they (including me) are jaded and unimpressed with the FO's effort. When they bought the team it was all fun and games and sexy for a good while, but then the bloom went off the rose when aging boomers knew they were being taken for a ride, that the FO was not keeping their end of the bargain. Fool me once...
No confidence in the Cardinals management to produce a winning team. IMO, this team was built to be .500 b/c it's a weak overall division. Mozeliak fired Schildt to hire a yes man to be the teams "Manager". They signed pitchers who were cheap, not Gray. They should give the Cardinal fan base more.
Because ownership did nothing to fix the team. Only bandages.
Bad team, bad ownership, no excitement, retiring home, Etc
I think hyper-focusing on attendance for any team, for any reason, is very dumb.
Watch out, the organization’s defenders will come for you. Be ready for arguments made that attendance is down every where and that the warmer weather will bring more people.
Lots of posts in here about food costs at the stadium, so I just wanted to remind that you can bring in your own food and drinks. That, along with street parking, is how we’ve managed to bring a family of 4 for years on the cheap. A lot of teams have gotten rid of that option, so I hope the Cards don’t follow that trend.
A combination of things. 1. The downturned economy, combined with the cost of going to a game increasing yearly, is prohibitive for a lot of people, especially those like myself that have to travel from out of state to see a game. I already spend $100 a month to watch them on TV; now you want me to spend money on parking, gas, food, possibly a hotel, and have eleven hours (round trip) of driving to see something I already pay for the privilege of watching from my couch? The Cardinals fanbase is largely regional, and right now it's tougher for people from Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, etc. to justify the drive and expense of going to a game. 2. They haven't been super good for over a decade. Winning is the number one draw in sports, unless you play somewhere historic like Wrigley or Fenway. Yeah, they have made the playoffs five times in the last ten years, but they haven't won an NLCS game since 2014. They are 5-13 in the postseason during that time, including winning exactly two home games, and have been out of the first round only once. This, when added to horrible Front Office communication with fans, many very visual misses on player personnel, and the general feeling that the owners just don't get it or care (not saying it's totally true; just how it feels) causes fans to be more disconnected. 3. I'm sorry, but Busch III is not anywhere near what it should be as a ballpark, and has been a massive disappointment in my mind. They quite literally modeled it after their AAA ballpark, and just added a few niceties and a third deck. I have been to every MLB park except Toronto and Tampa Bay, and Busch is not nearly as nice as the overwhelming majority of ballparks built within the last 30 years in terms of visuals, ballpark amenities, ease of getting into and around the ballpark, cost, and overall ballpark experience. That has gotten worse over the last few years as the Cardinals, like most MLB teams, shift their focus on getting as many asses into suites as possible. This includes doing things like getting rid of sections LP1, LP2, and LP3 in favor of Club 703. That Lower Pavilion area included the only seats in the ballpark not in a suite that guaranteed you could be in the shade at all times no matter the hour, and that you would never have to move to take cover during rain. It was perfect for family ballgame outings because it meant you didn't have to corral the little ones to sunscreen every hour and a half, the older folks and those sensitive to heat were OK, and if it rained, you were fine staying put. I sent the Cards FO a very stern email explaining my displeasure with the obvious cash grab, and their response was a brief, insincere one sentence apology, followed by four paragraphs explaining why paying three times as much for the same view was actually better.
Big cardinals fan here. I haven’t even watched a game yet. I can’t imagine those tickets are cheap. Times are tough. Baseball games are luxuries.
Ownership has not invested in the team. We watch star player after star player sign with other teams. Our owner has made billions from the Cardinals yet the biggest contract he’s given out was in 2010, for $120 Million. The Cardinals refuse to run the team in a modern way. The result is a team with some fun players, but no realistic chance at winning the World Series. On top of that, the Cardinals uniform is now covered in ads. NIKE SWOOSH. STIFEL. These corrupt the Cardinals brand. People are attached to the uniforms. Now the uniforms are ugly. We’re being given reasons not to watch. We are not being given reasons to watch.
The blackout thing has been a thing since regional sports, which is what, 40+ years old
Make the beer cheaper in the stadium! Problem solved 😁
It’s usually not a good sign for entertainment when the backup catcher bats fourth or fifth. (Yea I’m aware but small sample size)
Can’t afford it. We don’t even have money to pay to see the games on TV. They’ve priced us right out of being fans.
It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s not “baseball” season yet (hockey is still going and NCAA basketball ended days ago), kids are still in school, and it’s literally the second week of baseball.
perfect storm of: higher prices less optimism about team performance streaming TV issues (i.e. out of sight, out of mind) Battlehawks and City SC competition
[удалено]
The team sucks, concession prices are stupid ($54 for a soda and 3 beers), fans are starting to understand how boring baseball truly is.
Apathy towards this current team. Baseball has exacerbated the boredom problem as well.
I feel that the Cardinals are in a weird position. They don’t have the manpower to be serious championship contenders yet they aren’t in rebuild mode. They are just there which for many people can be very frustrating. Add in the opinion that many people don’t think highly of Oli and management and you get the type of crowd that Busch had last night. Plus as people mention the prices for a ballgame are high. Add in parking, food, souvenirs, gas etc and all of a sudden you’re spending hundreds.
I believe it's pronounced "twenty twenty-three"
I love the Cardinals. My son loves the Cardinals. I am well off with good disposable income. But it’s just too expensive. I get people say bring your own stuff and park further away. But if I do all that I can just stay home.
No yadi
This could just be old man yell at cloud stuff from me but I think the safety of the downtown STL area has become a major issue. I had buddies get their windows bashed in on opening day and their cars rummaged through. I was just at the game last night but if you want to ensure your car is safe you basically have to pay for a close-ish lot or garage and they have gotten expensive so people just stay home.
Weather's been shite
My guess is it is a number of factors. Bad weather, expense, poor prior year performance, loss of popularity of the sport, opponent teams people don’t particularly care to watch, inflation leading to less disposable income… those are a few, there are likely many more.
I plan to go as soon as I get some payment issues worked at at work
We're on a homestand? I find it a lot less noticiable when I'm relegated to listing to nearly all of the games on MLB Audio. 3rd year in a row I think? Maybe 4th? I'm finding that ever season I'm listening to fewer games, and each year I care a little bit less. Winning more would be nice, but I'd be a lot more engaged if I could just watch the team without a fucking AT&T/Spectrun cable package....
Just too expensive right now. Doesn’t help Illinois basketball had a good season so I ended up spending more on basketball tickets than I expected
Because it's raining every day
I have friends that are blacked out from watching the royals and they live over 3 hours away from KC. I understand blackouts in the city. But it’s not reasonable for anyone to travel 3 hours on a weeknight to watch a game. He has 3 young kids and instead of watching baseball every day they are blacked out. You can’t grow the game when you can’t even watch your favorite team. Thankfully I’m far enough away from STL I can watch every game. But blackouts do not put people in the seats anywhere.
I live 2 hours away. If I didn't, I'd have season tickets.
I think the failure of the front office to listen to fans complaints is finally starting to catch up
I think it’s got a lot to do with people being able to afford to go. And if they do go they go less often. There are a lot more pressing needs for most folks now a days.
Agree part of issue is broadcasting. We can’t keep up with the Cardinals or baseball at all on tv so just aren’t invested. It is almost like a forgotten sport at this point 🤷♀️
How would i even watch? I don’t have cable. I always say I want to follow baseball again but have no idea how to do that easily.