ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rays have the lowest regular season home attendance in MLB for a third consecutive season.
An average of 15,633 fans per game attended the team’s 78 home games at Tropicana Field during the 2017 season. The stadium holds a capacity of about 31,042 fans.
The Rays (80-82) had a total home attendance of 1,253,619 fans (some 1,188,091 fans attended the 78 games at Tropicana Field) during the 2017 regular season, according to Baseball Reference.
Editor's Note: The Rays played three fewer home games at Tropicana Field in 2017. Hurricane Irma forced the Rays to move their three-game series against the New York Yankees on Sept. 11-13. The two teams played at Citi Field, which is the home stadium of the New York Mets. An average of 15,477 fans per game attended the team's 81 home games overall, including the three played at Citi Field.
Ahead of Hurricane Irma, the Rays also had their lowest single-game home attendance in Tropicana Field’s 20-year history. Some 6,509 fans attended the team’s 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 5.
During their home games in previous seasons, the Rays averaged 15,879 fans per game (1,286,163 total home attendance) in 2016, and 15,322 fans per game (1,287,054 total home attendance) in 2015.
The team has finished last in home stadium attendance for four of the past five seasons. The Rays missed the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.
Mark Bergin is a digital journalist with 10News WTSP. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter and Instagram. You can also email him at mbergin@wtsp.com.
