[Mick]

And no wonder...San Francisco is a cesspool. Businesses downtown are closing. Larry Baer announced a reduction in beer prices from $14 to $9. And tickets are CHEAP, relative to prior years.  So much for inflation.

SoMa has become substantially nicer since 2000, led largely by the Giants (and now Warriors) new homes and UCSF, which has built a substantial research campus and a women, children, and cancer hospital.  Plus, it probably has the City’s only new housing stock.  Maybe SF’s reputation as a whole is affecting the Giants, but the city’s problems are not especially prominent around the stadium.

BC

I didn't mean to indicate that the specific area around the ballpark was in poor shape, though I've been aggressively accosted by unhoused and/or deranged people immediately after two of the last three games that I attended. I was referring to broader, SF-based demographic forces that are concerning to the Giants, that have resulted in an attendance free-fall over the last seven years. In fact, the Giants really struggled with ticket pricing on the secondary market in early 2019, and it accelerated during the latter half of 2019.:

1) The pandemic clearly had an effect on the volume of businesses and employees in the city. In fact, the Giants noted as much, even in the 107 win season, that they had much more difficulty during the week than on weekends.

2) After one year without the Giants and another year with limited capacity, the collective "muscle memory" relaxed, so to speak. People found other things to do.

3) I was referring more to the downtown/Financial District than the Chase Center/UCSF area. They aren't all that far apart, and it's that area that suffers. It feels like it's emptying out. My son left that area to live in North Beach. (and yes, I know the Giants finished 12th in overall MLB attendance last year at just under 2.5 mms).

4) Secondary market tickets, as I've mentioned, are CHEAP compared to what you can get on www.sfgiants.com. 

5) Collective attendance at regular season games peaked at 79.6 million in 2007, then broadly declined until 2019, zero in 2020, 45.28 mms. in 2021, and fell to 64.49 million in 2022.

6) Last year's 99 day lockout certainly didn't help. MLB missed its "selling season". Management and players were particularly vicious to each other. I know that it took me a long time to want to attend games after the 1981 strike, when I was 18.

Small market and non-competitive MLB clubs will be strapped (inflation, gas price surge, Russia v. Ukraine, etc.). It wasn't all that long ago that SFG was in that category.

In two days, I've received two e-mails touting $10 tickets and "extending the $10 ticket sale" for their first three home series including the Dodgers.  Their Opening Day spring training game in 70 degree sunshine was half full.

I wonder how worried they are about attendance this year?

[Mick]

And no wonder...San Francisco is a cesspool. Businesses downtown are closing. Larry Baer announced a reduction in beer prices from $14 to $9. And tickets are CHEAP, relative to prior years.  So much for inflation.

SoMa has become substantially nicer since 2000, led largely by the Giants (and now Warriors) new homes and UCSF, which has built a substantial research campus and a women, children, and cancer hospital.  Plus, it probably has the City’s only new housing stock.  Maybe SF’s reputation as a whole is affecting the Giants, but the city’s problems are not especially prominent around the stadium.

BC

I didn't mean to indicate that the specific area around the ballpark was in poor shape, though I've been aggressively accosted by unhoused and/or deranged people immediately after two of the last three games that I attended. I was referring to broader, SF-based demographic forces that are concerning to the Giants, that have resulted in an attendance free-fall over the last seven years. In fact, the Giants really struggled with ticket pricing on the secondary market in early 2019, and it accelerated during the latter half of 2019.:

1) The pandemic clearly had an effect on the volume of businesses and employees in the city. In fact, the Giants noted as much, even in the 107 win season, that they had much more difficulty during the week than on weekends.

2) After one year without the Giants and another year with limited capacity, the collective "muscle memory" relaxed, so to speak. People found other things to do.

3) I was referring more to the downtown/Financial District than the Chase Center/UCSF area. They aren't all that far apart, and it's that area that suffers. It feels like it's emptying out. My son left that area to live in North Beach. (and yes, I know the Giants finished 12th in overall MLB attendance last year at just under 2.5 mms).

4) Secondary market tickets, as I've mentioned, are CHEAP compared to what you can get on www.sfgiants.com. 

5) Collective attendance at regular season games peaked at 79.6 million in 2007, then broadly declined until 2019, zero in 2020, 45.28 mms. in 2021, and fell to 64.49 million in 2022.

6) Last year's 99 day lockout certainly didn't help. MLB missed its "selling season". Management and players were particularly vicious to each other. I know that it took me a long time to want to attend games after the 1981 strike, when I was 18.

Small market and non-competitive MLB clubs will be strapped (inflation, gas price surge, Russia v. Ukraine, etc.). It wasn't all that long ago that SFG was in that category.

In two days, I've received two e-mails touting $10 tickets and "extending the $10 ticket sale" for their first three home series including the Dodgers.  Their Opening Day spring training game in 70 degree sunshine was half full.

I wonder how worried they are about attendance this year?