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The story
In the broadcast of Game 1 of the Dodgers-Braves NLDS in Los Angeles (October 3 local time), noticeable empty seats stood out despite an announced attendance of over 50,000, prompting questions on 5ch like “what’s going on.” In the thread, eyewitness accounts said a heat warning was in effect locally with temperatures reaching 39°C, leading spectators to avoid the outdoor seats and watch from the concourse instead; discussion also touched on MLB’s unique counting method, where announced figures differ from actual ticket sales, and comparisons to past reports of empty seats at World Cup matches. Opinion split between those blaming the heat and those arguing the sport’s popularity itself is declining.
Questions raised during Dodgers broadcast: “Isn’t this pretty empty?” — Despite being Division Series Game 1, announced attendance tops 50,000 but “what’s going on”
[MLB] Dodgers 5-3 Braves (October 4, Japan time, Los Angeles)
An unexpected situation unfolded in Game 1 of the popular Dodgers’ division series. In the Braves game on the 3rd (4th Japan time), despite how much the game mattered, empty seats stood out in the stands.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
No Americans care anymore (except a few old folks).
Young people won't even play it.
It hasn't spread globally.
It'll disappear from TV eventually too.
warning that going outside could be life-threatening.
Even so, they stubbornly went ahead with the 1pm first pitch.
Temps hit 39°C locally during the game.
Also, saying people bought tickets but skipped the game because of the heat isn't quite right — local reports say everyone was watching from the concourse or inside the stadium instead.
Dodger Stadium's facilities are absurdly huge, after all.
For what it's worth, there's another heat warning out today too.
Seems like men's soccer had the highest attendance of any sport at the Asian Games.
For reference, the women's final drew 6,243 — still beat baseball.
The media was mocking soccer specifically over its attendance, and it turns out men's soccer had the most after all?
Was it empty, I wonder?
Yesterday in LA it wasn't even 35°C — it was 39°C.
Whether you like it or not, you basically need to set aside about ¥50,000.
Infield seats run around ¥150,000 normally.
Just insanely expensive all around.
Kind of get the sense this is the same feeling people in Southeast Asia had a while back, you know?
During the World Cup, LA and Miami were packed even at 40°C though. Weird, huh~
Meanwhile there's a ton of NFL and NBA videos even before their seasons start — MLB's just way too unpopular.
There's a massive popularity gap among young people between football/basketball and baseball, after all~
Tickets are so insanely overpriced that even with demand, they don't actually sell.
But that means the tickets did sell, though
Are you seriously comparing a World Cup that only happens once every 32 years to playoffs that happen every single year lol
They're way too far off from the real figures.
The Premier League and World Cup don't report real attendance either though?
It's ticket sales figures.
That's exactly why there were articles about the World Cup being "empty" despite being sold out, remember?
Want me to link it?
Every World Cup match held in the US was completely full.
The group stage matches held in Canada and Mexico did have empty seats though.
MLB
Actual attendance: 300,000?
Tickets sold: 820,000
Announced: 1,650,000
Apr 12, 2018
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23134000/miami-mhttpsarlins-outdrawn-double-affiliate-jacksonville-jumbo-shrimp-wednesday-games
Last season, the Marlins reported a home attendance of 1.65 million fans.
However, the Miami Herald later reported that the number of fans who actually paid for tickets was about 820,000.
Japanese baseball fans basically treat it like a religion, so it's hopeless, right?
They've been brainwashed since childhood.
For the past decade or so, all you hear from MLB insiders, local media, and fans is negativity, yet Japanese baseball fans stay so wonderfully positive about it.
The "empty seats problem" broke out right at the opening of the North/Central America World Cup.
Brazilian outlet Globo reported that "during the Korea vs. Czech Republic match, internet users were outraged that the stadium was nearly empty. Fans are criticizing the stands for having far too many empty seats."
The outlet reported: "In the Korea-Czech Republic match, Korea won 2-1, but it also caused a stir off the pitch. Footage shown during the broadcast clearly showed multiple sections of empty seats in the stands, and the situation drew criticism from internet users."
The World Cup was supposed to have become a hot-ticket, platinum event, but it turned out to be surprisingly empty. This is an unusual situation for the World Cup, the world's biggest sporting stage. The outlet quoted fan reactions like this:
Soccer fanboy: "Well, the World Cup is—"
Already forgotten? Getting senile? Soccer fanboy. ("sakabuta" is derogatory slang mocking diehard soccer fans, mirroring "yakibuta" for baseball fans)
That was a match held in Mexico, though
That match's venue was in Mexico.
Every match held in the US was completely full.
Baseball fanboy embarrasses himself again lol
Baseball fanboy: "Mine has been a life of shame." (a riff on the famous opening line of Dazai Osamu's novel No Longer Human)
Background and Key Points of This Topic
MLB’s official attendance figures are based on tickets actually sold, and are considered separate from the actual number of people who show up. There have been past cases of major discrepancies, such as the Marlins reportedly drawing only around 300,000 actual attendees despite an announced 1.65 million. This time in Los Angeles, temperatures reached a scorching 39°C locally — severe enough to trigger a heat warning — and since the day game went ahead as scheduled anyway, it’s likely that spectators avoided the outdoor seats and watched from inside the concourse instead. On the other hand, attendance figures for events like the World Cup and the Asian Games are also based on ticket sales, so reports of empty seats can happen regardless of the sport. In the thread, both the “it was the heat” theory and the “MLB’s popularity itself is declining” theory were discussed side by side, but neither goes beyond speculation, and no official explanation had been given by the team as of this article.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[MLB] Questions raised during Dodgers game broadcast: “Isn’t this pretty empty?” — Despite being Division Series Game 1, announced attendance tops 50,000 but “what’s going on”“.
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