Padres Broadcasters Don Orsillo and Mark Grant describe the current state of Busch Stadium and the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals:
— Cardinals Talk (@theredbird_way)
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“NOT the Busch Stadium I’m used toâ€
“Usually it’s packedâ€
“Not used to this EVERâ€
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As the Cardinals welcomed the playoff-contending Padres, one of baseball's hottest teams, attendance at Busch Stadium this week has continued to plummet.
The sight of a mostly empty Busch Stadium for a non-pandemic game was something never seen before by many, including Padres television and radio announcers. It became a big topic of conversation on the team's broadcasts of the games this week.
UPDATE: Thursday's announced attendance of 26,553 set the record for the smallest crowd to watch a ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals game in their current stadium.
The announced attendance of 26,553 set the record for the smallest crowd to watch a ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals game in their current stadium as they …
It started Monday night with the first at-bat of the series, when Padres television broadcasters Don Orsillo and Mark Grant started the game talking about the dearth of fans.
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"I wanted to get this right out of the way. … This is not the Busch Stadium I am used to," Grant said. "Late August, early September, usually it's packed, the Redbirds are in the race. It is a different vibe here."
"It's shocking," Orsillo added.
"It is shocking," agreed Grant.
"Not used to this, ever," Orsillo said.
In the first two games of the series, the announced attendance numbers were the smallest (27,224 on Tuesday) and third-smallest (28,697 on Monday) non-pandemic announced crowds in the history of Busch Stadium III, which dates to 2006.
But the number of fans in seats was far below those numbers, reportedly reaching a turnstile count of fewer than 13,000 Tuesday, according to a Post-Dispatch report from baseball writer Lynn Worthy.
Those swaths of empty seats were a big point of conversation on Padres broadcasts.
"This used to be one (a hostile environment)," Orsillo said Monday. "This was a tough place to play ... not the case right now. Not sure why that is. The Cardinals are not out of it."
The Padres radio crew was equally stunned by the scene at the start of the series.
"Looking around Busch Stadium right now, remarkable at how few people are in the building," play-by-play man Jesse Agler said on the broadcast. "The Cardinals not on their greatest run ever. Throw in the weather, and I don't know that any of us who have ever been around the Padres have seen this few people in this ballpark."
"Really is jarring to see the amount of empty seats in the stadium," analyst Tony Gwynn Jr. concurred. "Those of us who've been in this ballpark for many years, you've never seen anything like it. At least we've never seen anything like it."
Later in the game, Agler noted that although the crowd had filled in a bit, it was "still a remarkably small crowd here in ºüÀêÊÓƵ."
The ºüÀêÊÓƵ region has been under a heat advisory this week, but the record-low crowds began a week ago, when weather here was well below average and what many would consider ideal August temperatures.
Again Tuesday, Agler and Gwynn commented on the sparse crowd early in the broadcast.
"As was the case yesterday, not a lot of people in the seats," Agler said early on. "Stunningly, shockingly empty for a team that is, theoretically at least, in the playoff conversation."
Later, Agler revisited the topic.
"Whether it is because of the corn sweat or the sub-.500 baseball, a stunningly empty Busch Stadium," Agler said. "This was once a baseball oasis, and it certainly can and will be again. Right now, not the case."
"Tough times, for sure," Gwynn concurred.
After Tuesday's announced record-low crowd, Orsillo and Grant on Padres television.
"Another low in stadium history. Again the heat factor has been a big deal here, perhaps... no roof," Orsillo said.
"Or bad Cardinal baseball," Grant chimed in.
"Could be that, too," Orsillo replied.
Heat or not, two games against Milwaukee last week with among the smallest crowds in stadium history each began with temperatures in the 70s, about as perfect as August weather in ºüÀêÊÓƵ can be.
Through Tuesday's games, the Cardinals have seen the biggest decline in baseball, with 4,061 fewer tickets sold per game.
Last year's full-season average attendance at Busch Stadium was 40,013, while this year it's 35,952.
The team's five smallest announced crowds have all come in the latter half of August. As a result, attendance at Busch, as measured using a five-game rolling average, is far lower than it's ever been outside of the pandemic.
The five-game average is 28,831 through Tuesday's game, about 4,500 fewer fans than at any time before 2024.
Before Wednesday's game, the ticket resale site StubHub displayed numerous tickets with a listed price of $0, though a pair came out to $8 total with fees.
Another record-low crowd at Busch Stadium
Date | Attendance | Opponent |
---|---|---|
8/29/2024 | 26,553 | SDP |
8/27/2024 | 27,224 | SDP |
8/22/2024 | 28,630 | MIL |
8/26/2024 | 28,697 | SDP |
8/21/2024 | 29,580 | MIL |
8/20/2024 | 30,022 | MIL |
9/5/2012 | 30,090 | NYM |
8/23/2012 | 30,343 | HOU |
8/28/2024 | 30,999 | SDP |
6/14/2022 | 31,193 | PIT |