St. Louis Cardinals take home disappointing attendance honor

The 2025 season was a disappointment for the St. Louis Cardinals, and that feeling may have started early for some fans of the team. After an offseason of failed promises, fans on social media talked about how they would be avoiding the ballpark this season to keep money out of Bill DeWitt III's pockets. In what was initially seen as an empty threat, fans committed to the idea, and the Cardinals felt it at the turnstiles.

The Cardinals saw the largest decrease in average attendance during the 2025 season

I admit, I was skeptical if this would really happen, especially because I got to experience my first Opening Day in St. Louis and the city was buzzing despite the bad weather. More than 47,000 fans were in attendance for the first game of the year, but the subsequent two games saw a massive decrease in fans in a trend that would actually continue throughout the season.

Even as the Cardinals flirted with the top of the division and then the Wild Card, fans were not convinced that the team would be able to sustain their success when management clearly preferred profits over team performance. As the team finally spiraled towards the bottom of the division, as many anticipated coming into the year, there was little reason for fans to head out to Busch Stadium and spend their hard-earned money on overpriced tickets and concessions.

Things went from bad to worse as the season wound down. After failing to sell out the stadium with the Yankees, Cubs, and Brewers in town, the Cardinals could not convince fans to come see the Athletics in St. Louis. During that series, the organization saw just how bad things could be as they brought in just over 17,000 fans, the lowest announced attendance in the stadium's history. Other teams noted how different Busch felt this season as the red they saw in the crowd was from the empty seats and not from fans supporting their hometown team. In total, the Cardinals averaged a total of 27,778 fans per game, down drastically from the 35,000-plus from last season.

By the end of the season, the Cardinals were still able to surpass 2 million fans for the 40th consecutive season, but that streak is less impressive when the organization has been used to seeing well over 3 million fans coming through the gates. That massive decrease resulted in the Cardinals seeing the largest drop in attendance from last season. Next year, there is plenty of change taking place with the organization, but it may not be enough to convince fans to get back to the park. At the press conference with Chaim Bloom, DeWitt noted that the "message was received" when discussing the 2025 attendance. However, in a moment of what seemed like blind ignorance, DeWitt was quick to mention that they would look at ticket prices, concessions, and parking rates, rather than investing into the major league talent that will be taking the field.