The Rays hosted their annual Fan Fest on Saturday and by all accounts everybody had a great time and the Rays raised nearly $70,000 for the Rays Baseball Foundation and ALS research. Unfortunately, it also gave us our first hint about attendance this season and it is not good.
According to the Rays, 16,000 fans attended Fan Fest. This is significant because there appears to be a loose correlation between how many fans attend Fan Fest and how many fans buy tickets during the regular season.
Here is estimated Fan Fest attendance the last five years:
- 2012: 25,000
- 2013: 25,000
- 2014: 20,000
- 2015: 16,000
- 2016: 16,000
Now here is regular season attendance per game the last five years:
- 2012: 19,255
- 2013: 18,645
- 2014: 17,857
- 2015: 15,403
- 2016: ?