Drastic Attendance Decline Is Consequential For St. Louis Cardinals

Historically, the St. Louis Cardinals have been an iconic Major League Baseball franchise.

From 1882-2025, St. Louis has been home to a big league franchise.

Many of those teams were very good.

The team was known as the St. Louis Browns, until the team name changed to the Cardinals in 1900.

The Cardinals have won ten World Series Championships, with the most recent being 2011, when they defeated the Texas Rangers in seven games.

Hall of Fame Manager Tony La Russa led his Cardinals to World Series victories in both 2006, and 2011.

Busch Stadium I was the home of the St. Louis franchise until it closed in 1966. Busch Memorial Stadium II has been in operation since.

Since the year 2000, Busch Memorial Stadium II has had attendance of more than three million fans 20 times.

That incredible attendance record was realized due to very competitive Cardinals teams.

It seemed that in recent memory, National League teams had to be wary of the Cardinals.

In some years, the Cardinals may not have been favored to win the National League Central Division. Analysts may not have felt the teams were competitive.

Many times those analysts were incorrect.

Many time, the Cardinals would be counted out at the All Star break, and then, like clockwork, they would come roaring back.

Since 2000, the Cardinals have been in the playoffs 16 times.

That success ended when St. Louis lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 2-0 in the 2022 National League Wild Card Series.

Fans have responded by staying away from Busch Memorial Stadium. In droves.

This season, the Cardinals saw the largest year-to-year drop in Major League Baseball attendance.

The team drew 2,250,007 fans this year.

That was a decline of 628,108 fans from the 2024 attendance of 2,878,115.

Of course, the decline in attendance has far reaching financial ramifications.

Fewer fans mean a huge decline in ticket sale revenue. A decline in team clothing and novelties, a decline in concession sales, and a decline in parking revenue.

Here are the St. Louis Cardinals attendance figures for the last three seasons:

In 2023, 3,241,091 fans attended. The team’s record was 71-91, or 5th in the division

In 2024, 2,878,115 fans attended. The team’s record was 83-79, or 2nd in the division

In 20205, 2,250,007 fans attended. The team’s record was 79-84, or 4th in the division

This season, the average game attendance at Busch Memorial Stadium was 27,581 fans.

In 2024, the average game attendance at Busch Memorial Stadium was 3,241,091 fans.

The drop in attendance is dramatic.

It can be argued the Cardinals did not have a star player on their roster.

Here is the most common Cardinals lineup, as noted by Fangraphs.com:

Lars Nootbar-LF

Ivan Herrera -DH

Alec Burleson-1B

Nolan Arenado-3B

Nolan Gorman-2B

Thomas Saggese-SS

Pedro Pages-C

Jordan Walker-RF

Victor Scott II-CF

There is no Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, or high profile player in the lineup to help put fans in the seats. Frankly, the Cardinals lineup is rather MEH!

Often, a starting pitcher can attract fans on his day on the mound.

Here is the most common Cardinals rotation, as noted by Fangraphs.com:

Sonny Gray-RHP

Miles Mikolas-RHP

Michael McGreevy-RHP

Matthew Liberatore-LHP

Andre Pallante-RHP

There is no Tarik Skubal. No Max Fried, and nobody in the rotation that offers fans games fans don’t want to miss.

What’s Next?

The Cardinals payroll was listed at $144M this year by Fangraphs.com.

The 2024 Cardinals payroll was $183M.

To this writer, the Cardinals need an infusion of higher profile veteran players to offer greater production and run production.

To this observer, the Cardinals must revamp their pitching staff.

The Cardinals will have to improve their first year player drafts.

The Cardinals will have to spend money.

The Cardinals have introduced long-time MLB baseball operations executive, Chaim Bloom, 42, as a replacement for John Mozeliak as the individual responsible for putting the players on the field.

It seems Bloom is concentrating on upgrading his organizational roster with several offseason transactions.

Bloom has not used the word “rebuild” when discussing his plans for the Cardinals.

But…he clearly seems like a man on a mission to energize a dormant franchise.

Here is what Bloom told MLB.com, “People will call (the upcoming process) different things, and that’s OK, but to me it’s just about staying focused on the goal of trying to make move after move that pushes us toward it.”

For this old scout, the Mozeliak years were a wasted opportunity for the iconic Cardinals franchise.

The Cardinals have not induced fear in an opponent for a few years.

The challenge now clearly belongs to Chaim Bloom.