The St. Louis Cardinals have an attendance problem.
On Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres, the Cardinals announced an all-time low attendance at Busch Stadium since moving in back in 2006. The team sold a record-low 27,224 tickets for the game, but it gets worse. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports slightly less than 13,000 fans actually went through the turnstiles.
It wasn't just a one-game problem, either. Tickets for Wednesday's matchup with the Padres can be found for as little as $6 on the Cardinals' website, while ticket broker sites have them for even less. A keen-eyed X (formerly Twitter) user noticed that tickets are being offered for $0 and $1.
Not sure if it’s a glitch but you can go to the Cardinals vs Padres game in St Louis tomorrow for 0 dollars pic.twitter.com/633Szvmx6k
— Kevin Charity (@madfriarskevin) August 28, 2024
Some investigation showed that on Ticketmaster, seats in the fourth row of Section 103 are going for $7 each. On SeatGeek, there are dozens of tickets available for $2 and $1. And for context, the game starts at 6:45 p.m., so this isn't an afternoon tilt fans will have to miss due to work.
This is a pretty staggering development. St. Louis has always been one of MLB's most reliable cities for attendance. Now it seems the Cardinals can't get fans to come out. Even Padres broadcasters Don Orsillo and Mark Grant noticed it.
Padres Broadcasters Don Orsillo and Mark Grant describe the current state of Busch Stadium and the St. Louis Cardinals:
— Cardinals Talk (@theredbird_way) August 26, 2024
“Shocking”
“NOT the Busch Stadium I’m used to”
“Usually it’s packed”
“Not used to this EVER”
☠️😭 pic.twitter.com/gRKNkJTBGP
There are a number of reasons why this is happening. First is the fact that the Cardinals are having a rough season. Entering Wednesday's action, they are 65-67 and sit 10 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the National League Central. They're also seven games out of the final playoff spot. Fans could just be checked out on this year's team.
Additionally, the weather is terrible in St. Louis right now. A heat advisory is in effect on Wednesday, with a projected high of 93 degrees plus humidity above 50 percent. That's not a comfortable climate to watch a baseball game in.
It will be fascinating to see if this lasts as the season continues.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Cardinals Tickets Available for Comically Low Prices Amid Historic Attendance Dip.
