Total MLB attendance for the 2023 season was 70,747,365, marking the first time since 2017 the the sum from all 30 clubs reached 70 million.
MLB saw a 9.6% increase in attendance from their 2022 total (64,556,636), and average attendance per game (29,295) was up by 9.1%. That represented the highest percentage growth in 30 years — not including COVID-impacted seasons in 2020 and 2021.
MLB attendance was spearheaded by eight teams surpassing 3 million, along with an additional 17 drawing at least 2.5 million fans. For the first time in 10 years, 80% (24 of 30 teams) registered attendance increases from the year prior.
Widespread interest throughout the sport was fueled by the likes of Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers All-Stars Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr., who is the presumptive favorite for the 2023 National League MVP Award.
MLB also benefitted from new rules that were implemented at the start of the 2023 season, which encouraged more offensive production and improved pace of play. Another factor was the implementation of a balanced schedule that had all teams play one another.
“I like it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said earlier this year asked for his opinion of the MLB balanced schedule. “On the coaching side, there’s more travel, more preparation. But that’s our job.
“From the fans’ perspective, I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s good. I think playing a division team 18, 19 times gets a little redundant. So I think in that sense, overall, it’s been really good.
“I still think the balance is balance. I think a lot of times in baseball it’s been skewed as far as whether it’s a strong division or weaker division. You get a lot of games and it kind of gives you a false sense of what a particular ballclub is. But now there’s more consistency, which I think is good.”
MLB’s balanced schedule reduced divisional games from 18 to 13 per opponent throughout the year. Overall, divisional games are now reduced from 72 to 52 per season.
Meanwhile, MLB.TV recorded its most-streamed season in its 21-year history with 12.7 billion minutes. That surpassed the 2022 record total of 11.7 billion. Users watching MLB.TV increased 14% from 2022 and fans watched 17% more games than last season.
Dodgers lead MLB attendance
Dodgers attendance for the 2023 season finished at 3,837,079, the highest in baseball and their fifth-largest total in franchise history. The Dodgers had 19 sellouts at Dodger Stadium this season and averaged 47,371 fans per game.
The Dodgers exceed 3 million in home attendance for the 11th time in the past 13 seasons. The only exceptions were the pandemic-impacted 2020 season when fans were not permitted, and in 2021 because of limited attendance being allowed for a portion of the schedule.
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