Phillies: Despite disappointment, fans more invested in success
By John Town
Phillies fans are watching and reading about the Phillies more than they ever have in the last few years, even if they aren’t entirely happy with the team.
In the last few years, the Phillies struggled to keep up with other teams in town as they wallowed in the depths of the National League East. They started to turn a corner last year with the fourth-largest growth in attendance per game among all MLB teams, but still ranked in the bottom half of the league in total attendance.
With the Sixers and Eagles both in prime eras of contention, the Phils needed a way to catch up with their neighbors. They did that with a bevy of offseason moves headlined by the signing of Bryce Harper.
Halfway through the season, the team is getting the fan interaction they desire with both attendance and TV ratings up significantly over last year. This comes despite the team failing to meet some of the lofty expectations placed on them due to the moves they made with a 47-43 record heading into the All-Star Break.
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Forty-four games into last year, Philadelphia had 1.17 million fans attend their games, an average of 26,611 fans per game. With that many games under their belt this year, they have the most substantial increase in attendance league-wide by a considerable margin. Their total attendance is up by 378,884, an average of 8,611 per game.
The next-closest team, the White Sox, have a total attendance increase of 177,761 fans.
As a whole, league attendance is down with 482 fewer fans attending games on average. This trend hasn’t affected Philadelphia, though.
In addition to more fans going to games, more are tuning in both on the TV and online. A press release from NBC Sports Philadelphia stated that the team is on pace for their highest-rated season since 2012.
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Heading into the All-Star Break, ratings for games on NBC channels are up 23% compared to last year. 93% of games this year are among the highest three ranked in the market time period compared to 84% last year. This year’s Opening Day game was the highest-rated since 2013, while Harper’s spring training debut was the highest-rated spring game since 2012.
More fans are streaming games as well with 40 of the 50 most-streamed games occurring this year, including the top four. Unique viewers and total minutes streamed are up 144% and 102% compared to last year. 2019 is expected to be the highest-streamed season yet.
Plus, more fans are reading about the team. Phillies traffic is up 59% on NBC Sports Philadelphia compared to this time last year. Our traffic is up nearly 50% through June of this year compared to the first six months of last year, primarily driven by the Harper and Manny Machado offseason bonanza.
Next. Phillies prospect Bryson Stott homers in GCL debut. dark
Even though the team isn’t quite where everyone hoped they would be heading into the season, more fans are engaged with the team, which is precisely what they were hoping for by making all their offseason moves.