St. Louis Cardinals fans are a proud bunch, but the crowds at Busch Stadium of late don't reflect that. The Cardinals were able to defeat the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night thanks to a walk-off hit from Nolan Arenado. Unfortunately for them, St. Louis remains far behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, with just a slim shot of making an NL Wild Card spot thanks to the Atlanta Braves recent surge.
For now, the Cards are playing for pride, and to win their fanbase back. St. Louis has seen a year-over-year decrease of 4,000 fans per game at Busch Stadium. John Mozeliak's team went from one of the top in average annual attendance to middle of the pack in 2024.
Despite facing what could've been a backbreaking series against the Padres and former Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, there were a lot of empty seats around Busch Stadium this week. On Tuesday, they had their lowest attendance of the season at just over 27,000 tickets sold.
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St. Louis Cardinals tickets are available at record low prices
To make matters worse, the national media has taken note. Prior to Wednesday's game, there were tickets available on Stubhub for literally $0. Now, that doesn't include fees from a private seller, but fans themselves were giving away tickets for no profit.
Excluding the COVID-19 pandemic, 2024 has been the Cardinals least-attended season in over two decades. Despite maintaining a semblance of postseason hopes for most of the season, fans are tired of the act. Ownership sheds money at every turn, and the front office talks down the fans, as John Mozeliak routinely asks St. Louis to stay patient.
Has he met Cardinals fans? That's not how this works. These days, they're letting their wallets do the talking.