MLB's rising attendance reaches new milestone

With the regular season drawing to a close, Major League Baseball is set to achieve its second consecutive year of rising attendance.

On the year, MLB games have drawn a total of 68,440,732 fans, up 0.7% compared to the same point in 2023, the first season after a number of rule changes were instituted to improve pace of play and increase in-game action. This will be the first time MLB has had consecutive years of attendance gains since 2011-12.

Compared to 2022, the last year before the rule changes, attendance is up approximately 10%, with a 12% increase in weekday attendance and a 7% increase at weekend games.

MLB drew a total of 1,553,235 fans this past weekend across 45 games for an average of 34,516 per game, the largest September non-final weekend in any season since 2015, both by total and average.

When all is said and done, MLB is expecting to have its highest attendance since 2017, again surpassing 70 million for the season and continuing its run as the most attended sports league in the world by far.