There are any number of ways to look at recent Wrigley Field attendance history to appreciate how bad Monday's game was.We've decided to look at the nice even number of 30,000 paid fans, and how many times over the last 14 seasons it has dipped below that number. To be clear, by "attendance" they mean the number of paid customers; which including season ticket holders. They are part of the total even if they don't go attend. Now, back 10 years ago, the number of season ticket holders was less than 18,000, and the number of games that dipped below 30K was directly linked to the weather and winning. When either went south so did the totals. Take a gander:
Games With and Attendance Below 30,000
1998 - 28 (all earlier in the year, before Sammy and the Cubs got hot)
1999 - 12 (bad team, but Sammy still hitting homers)
2000 - 17 (more homers)
2001 - 15 (an decent, 88 win season)
2002 - 18 (not a great team, but Prior joins Wood and Sammy)
2003 - 5 (all from first cold homestand, then came winning, and filled seats)
2004 - 0
2005 - 0
After the 2005 season two things happened: The bleachers were renovated - adding 1,800 seats, and the number of season ticket holders climbed to beyond 25,000. From that point on, the only thing that prevented 30,000 fans from paying for a ticket was a horrible team.
2006 - 1 (in September, with the Cubs 28 games under .500)
2007 - 0
2008 - 0
2009 - 0
2010 - 1 (in August, with the Cubs 20 games under .500)
That brings us to this year. Only 4 games into the season, we had ourselves the first sub-30K game, and it was a doozy. Monday's attendance was 26,292; the lowest total since 2002. But, like we said - in 2011, Wrigley Field has 1,800 more bleacher seats available and 8,000 more guarenteed paid season ticket holders than in 2002. That's what makes this total so dang disturbing, and unless this team starts playing lights-out, we reckon it's gonna start happening a lot more often.
1999 - 12 (bad team, but Sammy still hitting homers)
2000 - 17 (more homers)
2001 - 15 (an decent, 88 win season)
2002 - 18 (not a great team, but Prior joins Wood and Sammy)
2003 - 5 (all from first cold homestand, then came winning, and filled seats)
2004 - 0
2005 - 0
After the 2005 season two things happened: The bleachers were renovated - adding 1,800 seats, and the number of season ticket holders climbed to beyond 25,000. From that point on, the only thing that prevented 30,000 fans from paying for a ticket was a horrible team.
2006 - 1 (in September, with the Cubs 28 games under .500)
2007 - 0
2008 - 0
2009 - 0
2010 - 1 (in August, with the Cubs 20 games under .500)
That brings us to this year. Only 4 games into the season, we had ourselves the first sub-30K game, and it was a doozy. Monday's attendance was 26,292; the lowest total since 2002. But, like we said - in 2011, Wrigley Field has 1,800 more bleacher seats available and 8,000 more guarenteed paid season ticket holders than in 2002. That's what makes this total so dang disturbing, and unless this team starts playing lights-out, we reckon it's gonna start happening a lot more often.
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