ESPN.com reported yesterday that the Florida Marlins are closing off the upper bowl of their ballpark in a cost cutting move for the rest of the season. At the present time, the upper deck was only open for Friday and Saturday games.
Currently, Florida is ranked last in MLB in home attendance. According to the latest attendance statistics, Florida has played 50 home games so far this year and averages 17,101 fans per game.
One of the reasons for closing the upper deck is to create a better atmosphere. Certainly that is understandable given the large size of the stadium and low attendance. However by closing the “cheap seats”, the team is also forcing consumers to purchase the more expensive tickets to attend the event. I do not think this will have any impact on Friday and Saturday night attendance for the rest of the season, but it is certainly an opportunity to generate a bit of extra revenue before moving into a brand new stadium in 2012.
