33,702 for Opening Day 2005

What’s the significance of that figure? It marks the only game in the past two seasons (2004 and 2005) where the Boston Red Sox drew less than 34,000 to Fenway Park. Can you imagine drawing your worst crowd of the year on Opening Day?

Granted, the Red Sox had to close a section of the centerfield bleacher since the opener took place in the afternoon. Still, the 2005 Fenway Park had the benefit of the new right field rooftop seats. That makes the 2004 attendance figures even more impressive because it achieved better than 34k per game without the extra seating, including two nine-game streaks of 35,000 or better. Those were not playoff games either, folks.

For those of you praying for a new ballpark some time in your life, these numbers do not bode well. Why on earth would you spend a billion dollars on a new ballpark to squeeze in maybe another 7,000? Particularly if you already get top dollar for those seats now. Other than some structural issue that makes the park unsafe, Fenway is here to stay for quite some time.