By Zachary Baru
While the Boston Red Sox suffered problems on the field for much of the 2014 season, the franchise's performance off the field was somewhat of a different story. The Red Sox finished 6th out of 30 Major League Baseball franchises in attendance during 2014, the highest ranking for the team during the John Henry ownership-era.
During the 2014 season, the Red Sox averaged 36,494 fans per home game, a capacity of 98.5 percent. The Los Angeles Dodgers claimed the top attendance ranking during 2014 with an average of 46,695. The Cardinals, Yankees, Giants and Angels finished out the top 5 respectfully.
In terms of percent of capacity, the Red Sox ranked even higher, finishing 3rd overall. The Red Sox also fell just short of the 3 million mark in total attendance, finishing with 2,956,089, also good for 6th in the league.
What does all of the this mean? Despite a season which fell short of expectations, this market can still fill the ballpark night after night. The number of seats filled with fans versus the number of seats filled with corporations entertaining their clients is irrelevant - they are still seats sold. And for the bottom line of the Red Sox, seats sold is ultimately what matters. Sure, demand in the secondary markets has decreased, but fans are still coming out, and doing so in near-capacity numbers.
Source: ESPN.com
Zach Baru can be followed on Twitter @zbaru and reached at zachbaru@gmail.com.
