The Mets picked up their eighth win in their last 11 games on Monday night, but only 18,200 fans were in attendance to see it.
In fact, outside of Opening Day and Dwight Gooden’s number retirement celebration, that attendance number is close to the norm so far in 2024.
With those lower-than-normal attendance numbers in mind, the Evan and Tiki crew pondered what could be behind the dropoff in attendance. Is it poor April weather? The 0-5 start to the season?
Tiki believes it was the lack of excitement coming into the year after the Mets traded away several big names in 2023, then had a lackluster winter compared to the spending spree of a year before.
“The enthusiasm was just not there coming into this season,” Tiki said. “I would get that presales and the Sunday packages, the weekend packages, whatever they’re selling, it didn’t go well…because there weren’t high expectations.
“Unfortunately, the Mets are gonna have to play the way they have over the last 11 for the next month to get fans to start coming…they’re gonna have to prove it.”
Morash added that the Mets don’t have the big-name pitcher they usually do that commands a crowd whenever they take the mound, from Matt Harvey to Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. Whatever the reason, Evan says winning will help the cause, though sometimes the real benefits of success aren’t seen until a season after.
“Sometimes the best attendance years are the year after you have success,” Evan said. “The Yankees attendance in 1997 was better than it was in 1996, the year after they won the World Series.”