| 30 June 2010
Every once in a while, we here at NYYSI like to check in with a Yankee Stadium attendance update (courtesy of our handy attendance tracker). These numbers obviously fluctuate based on competition, weather, etc, but our comparison is a straight game to game comparison vs. 2009. Nothing more.
Through 36 games in 2010, the Yankees have drawn 1,643,170 fans through the gates at the new Yankee Stadium. Through the same number of games in 2009, the Yankees had drawn 1,624,329 fans, so it looks like the addition of standing room only seats and the newly created "Championship Suite" have paid off to the tune of 18,141 fans, or a 1.15% increase in attendance.
That 1.15% looks like a paltry increase, but considering how close the Yankees are to capacity for every home game, its impressive to even squeeze that out. Most interesting is that we're probably looking at the peak of Yankees attendance numbers for the current Yankee Stadium. The team is in the second year of a new stadium, coming off a championship and is in first place - when will cumulative attendance be any higher?
Our conclusion? Even with increased capacity due to standing room only and cafe seating at Yankee Stadium, the team is unlikely to ever reach the four million fan plateau again - something that was a given at the old Yankee Stadium. "Four million" might just be a nice round number, but the fact remains: significantly more fans were able to see the Yankees in person at the old Yankee Stadium than the new one. We're saddened by this.
