Welcome to our fourth monthly review of the Tampa Rays 2016 attendance. This post will look at attendance in games played at Tropicana Field from July 1, 2016 to July 31, 2016.
- Total July 2016 Tampa Bay Rays home attendance: 214,114
- Average attendance per game: 16,470
- Highest attendance: 25,883 on Saturday, July 30th
- Lowest attendance: 11,267 on Wednesday, July 6th
- Average July game time: 3 hours, 01 minute
- Highest attended series: 61,848 vs Yankees, July 29-31
- Lowest attended series: 44,524 vs Tigers, July 1-3
- Competing events:
- July 1: Warped Tour @ Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg
- July 2: Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer @ Al Lang Field (attendance: 7,690)
- July 3, 4: Fireworks events throughout Tampa Bay
- July 17: Dierks Bentley concert @ MidFlorida Amphitheater
- July 17: Tampa Bay Storm Arena Football @ Amalie Arena (attendance: 8,406)
- Total Tampa Bay Minor League July attendance: 86,933
- Tampa Bay Minor League attendance per game: 1,581 (55 games)
Comparing July 2016 with previous years
The following chart compares July 2016 average attendance to other recent years.
The average July 2016 attendance was
8.6% less (1,559 fans per game) than the July 2015 per game average. July 2016 was the lowest average July attendance since 2005. In the last 10 years, July attendance has decreased 7 times.
Weekdays vs Weekends
Let’s now look at the Rays July attendance on weekdays (Mon-Thurs) and weekends (Fri-Sun). As I have pointed out many times, the Rays usually have one of the biggest differences in Major League Baseball in regards to weekday versus weekend attendance.
This chart shows the Rays average weekday attendance in July since 2007.
In 2016, Rays average weekday attendance was lower than it has been in 9 years.The Rays only played 4 weekday games in July in 2016 compared to 9 weekend games, so the effect of these games should be less than in years past.
The following chart shows Rays average weekend attendance in July since 2007.
In 2016, Rays average weekend attendance was lower than it has been in 10 years. This despite the Rays hosting the Detroit Tigers and Anaheim Angels over July 4th weekend. This might be a perfect example of the drawback of Tropicana Field. Dome baseball struggles to host fireworks. People want to see fireworks on July 4th weekend. Hence, they are not going to go to a dome to see baseball, especially if local Minor League options have fireworks and baseball.
- Rays attendance over 4th of July weekend 2016: 59,056
- Tampa Bay area Minor League attendance, 4th of July weekend 2016: 31,863
The Rays saw a 27.7% increase in weekend attendance over weekday attendance in 2016.
- 2016 July weekend games (average attendance): 9 games (17,649)
- 2016 July weekday games (average attendance): 4 games (13,818)
- Percentage increase on weekends: 27.7%
Conclusion
July 2016 was a very rough month for Rays attendance. A July 4th weekend and a home series against the Yankees should have been positives for Rays attendance. It is possible a general malaise in fan attitudes towards the team and their below .500 record is hampering attendance.
According to a chart by twitter follower Patrice Derome, the Rays entered July with an average attendance 16.3% above 2015's attendance. The Rays ended July only 12.5% above. That's not good considering July has traditionally been the Rays best month for attendance since 2007.
Since 2007, May and June average attendances have never been higher than July's average attendance. That happened this year.
What to expect in August? Hard to expect anything different than what has happened thus far this year. The Rays have a home series against the Red Sox in late August that might draw well being David Ortiz's last series at Tropicana Field. Red Sox visiting attendance has also been a bit higher than the last few years, but is still drastically lower than 2007-2012.
Fridays continue to be a problem for the Rays and if attendance doesn't increase during weekend attendance, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rays attendance increase over 2015's attendance slowly disappear. And with the Rays far out of contention, even if the team starts to play better, August attendance isn't likely to be much better than 2015's 18,000 average.
