Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Attendance Pumped Up All Around the Majors
Murray Chass responds to Dean Bonham's handwaving:
"The fans are really showing them, those baseball players and club owners. You don't want to do everything you can to rid the game of steroids? Well, we'll show you. Not only won't we stop buying tickets and start boycotting your games, but we'll also buy tickets in record numbers and show up in record crowds."
Through three weeks of the regular season, attendance is up 14.4%, to an average of 29,718/game. That's the second highest ever, trailing only the 1994 season. 22 of the 30 clubs are ahead of last year's pace. The Cubs could draw 3.2 million; the Yankees could approach 4,000,000. In Florida, the Marlins are up 86%, the Devil Rays, 72%.
So can the steroid-obsessed sportswriters stop pretending that the fans share their panic?
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Murray Chass responds to Dean Bonham's handwaving:
"The fans are really showing them, those baseball players and club owners. You don't want to do everything you can to rid the game of steroids? Well, we'll show you. Not only won't we stop buying tickets and start boycotting your games, but we'll also buy tickets in record numbers and show up in record crowds."
Through three weeks of the regular season, attendance is up 14.4%, to an average of 29,718/game. That's the second highest ever, trailing only the 1994 season. 22 of the 30 clubs are ahead of last year's pace. The Cubs could draw 3.2 million; the Yankees could approach 4,000,000. In Florida, the Marlins are up 86%, the Devil Rays, 72%.
So can the steroid-obsessed sportswriters stop pretending that the fans share their panic?
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