Last Sunday the image went viral: the Santos fan had to ask security personnel for support to display the team’s shield in the stands. Yes, there were so few people at TSM Corona that for every follower there were four empty spots. And in the game against Juárez the worst entry so far this year was recorded for TSM with only seven thousand 341 fans, a figure that only covered 25 percent of the capacity of a stadium that can hold 29,101 people.
And yes, in 2024 in the Comarca Lagunera region people have stopped going to Santos games, which between the Clausura and Apertura 2024 tournaments barely has 192,471 followers in the 14 games it has had at home, well below the 332,273 fans who accompanied Unión Laguna during the regular season Mexican Baseball League, which is a sign that in some places in the country people have stopped attending the Liga Mx and have turned to other sports such as baseball.
Even in terms of attendance, the LMB regular season, with a cumulative four million 32 thousand 870 fans, had better numbers than the regular phase of the Closing 2024 of the Liga Mx, which registered three million 566 thousand 969 people in the stadiums, and it also aims to leave the Apertura far behind where there is a drop in this area; Yes, with the nuance that its calendar consists of 864 games, almost five times more than those in soccer, although the vast majority are played during the week and in smaller stadiums.
Diablos dominate CdMx
Mexico City is one of the places where the drop in attendance at soccer stadiums has been most noticeable, as well as the increase in baseball. Here, Diablos Rojos del México achieved a historic season with a record at the Harp Helú by receiving 505,726 followers in the regular phase -not counting playoffs or the Serie del Rey-, reaching up to 59 percent occupancy on average during the 43 games it played at home.
Hardly any of the three capital soccer teams will reach that figure. For example, America, which had a good first semester at the Azteca with an average of 42,000 fans per game, has now had very bad entrances at the Ciudad de los Deportes Stadium, adding so far 376,788 followers, with 50 percent occupancy .
Contrary to that of Cruz Azul, that in the property of the Colonia Noche Buena has maintained assistance above 69 percent between Clausura and Apertura 2024, but due to the capacity of the stadium it barely accumulates 382,547 fans in total. And until the last one is Pumas, which with 313 thousand 782 In 2024 it has barely managed to occupy 36 percent of the University Olympic.
Cotton farmers, at the head
The case of Cotton farmers of Unión Laguna, that in the last season of the Mexican Baseball League reached up to 92 percent occupancy of the Revolución Stadium during the 47 games it had at home. And yes, a lot can be said that the capacity of its property helps it by only being 7,689 fans, but maintaining all these commitments an average attendance of 7,700 people It is something more than meritorious, especially with midweek matches, which are often difficult for fans.
It is clear that Unión Laguna knew how to attract the fans who stopped going from one tournament to another at TSM Corona. For example, in Clausura 2024, Santos averaged an attendance of 16,603 fans per game, and now in this Opening they only go nine thousand 942 followers, a drop of more than six thousand people.
The case of La Franja
Another example is the situation that Puebla is going through in the Liga Mx. The Strip is the club with the worst average attendance, barely reaching eight thousand 164 per gameand with the worst occupancy percentage at 17 percent. It even has the poorest entry of this Apertura 2024, of five thousand 147 fans on Matchday 10 that faced Juárez.
In contrast, the Pericos of Puebla –who were LMB champions only in 2023– had an acceptable season, with tickets that occupied 53 percent of the capacity of the Hermanos Serdán stadium, cWith a total of 210,570 fans. And yes, it is true that between the Clausura and Apertura 2024, Puebla has already exceeded that figure with 214 thousand 406 followersbut the real contrast is seen on game days, because it is not the same to have a stadium above 50 percent of its capacity, at only 27 percent, as has happened in Cuauhtémoc, than from a tournament to another has received nine thousand fewer people.
Experience, essential for the fan
If something has differentiated the Mexican Baseball League from the Liga Mx, has been the experience they offer within their stadiums. The gastronomic offer, with the activations and music at all times, causes people to repeat several times throughout a season regardless of the pace of their teams.
A clear example of this is the team Braves of Leon, that although he is not usually a protagonist in the LMB, year after year he has improved his entries and Now in 2024 it reached 62 percent capacityalready very close to what he has had The Fair in the Liga Mx, which between the two tournaments has 64 percent.
The key to Bravos, in the words of its president Mauricio Martínez, is the spectacle they offer.
“We, the owners of the Mexican Baseball League teams, have talked about the phenomenon that has happened, but I believe that behind a phenomenon there is also a job; New owners have arrived in the League and I think we have a common front which is part of the show. I think we agreed to create a spectacle and that starts when you arrive at the stadium and you have to feel a difference between baseball and another sport. We as owners set ourselves a goal which is to have more people inside the facilities. And apart from that we also have an exhibition outside the venues. For example, this year we managed to have around 20 television stations that broadcast baseball and that did not exist five years ago,” he said in an interview.
⚫️THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!?????????.
To each and every one of those who were part of the “Bravo Fest 2024????”
We once again demonstrate that at Bravos we are a family passionate about our city and our team. Here we are and will continue nephews????.
????2025…. pic.twitter.com/3r0RmvvVIG
— Bravos de León (@NacimientosBravos) September 18, 2024
Of course, the manager affirms that it is a constant job, since maintaining an attendance percentage greater than 60 percent implies thinking about activities for the more than 40 games they have per season.
“The paradigm has been broken that if you do well, people will go. We have reached a point where baseball converges, the show, with the people who go, with what is around, with the screen. We have achieved something that maybe people don’t pay much attention to, but they leave happy. And we, as Bravos, from the marketing side, work very hard to get closer to people,” he concluded.
Thus, little by little the fan has found another option in other sports and competitions, such as the Mexican Baseball League, and that is why – perhaps – he has moved away from soccer stadiums at the end of the year.
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