Mets Official Cites Bad Weather, Economy And Low Expectations For Attendance Drop

Despite a 14-8 home record and a gleaning new stadium in only its second year of operation, the Mets have witnessed the highest decline in home attendance, down 17 percent from 2009 through 20 games. ↵

↵↵League-wide, the attendance decrease has been about five perfect since last season. While commissioner Bud Selig does his best to explain it away as not a big deal, Dave Howard, the Mets executive vice president of business operations offered a litany of theories to explain why the Mets have plunged from 7th to 11th in overall attendance.↵

↵↵⇥“The weather hasn’t been great and that definitely impacts walk-up sales and the no-show factor,” Howard said. “We’re also not into the peak selling season and I think we’ll make up ground as we continue to play well.”↵⇥↵⇥“I think the economy had a lot to do with it,” Howard said. “We heard that from a lot of customers that didn’t come back. It’s also due to the way last season unfolded, especially in the second half.”↵⇥

↵↵↵The supposedly dour weather conditions and horrible economy haven’t affected the crosstown Yankees, however, nearly as adversely. While they have seen the average attendance dip slightly (from 45,364 per game last year to 44,268 this year), it’s not as precipitous a fall as the Mets. Also, the Yankees have maintained their rank of second highest per-game attendance average in MLB. Then again, they are the reigning World Series champions, so perhaps the effect of dashed expectations is as great as Howard describes. Unless there are a few more excuses he’d like to try out.↵

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