NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Major League Baseball attendance experienced its largest growth in 30 years in 2023, the league announced in a statement. Total attendance of 70,747,365 was up 9.6 percent over 2022 (64,556,636) and the average attendance of 29,295 was up 9.1 percent.
Seventeen of the 30 teams drew more than 2.5 million fans, matching the most in MLB history, and eight attracted more than 3 million.
Eleven weekends drew more than 1.5 million fans, compared to a total of five such weekends over the previous four full seasons (2018-19, 2021-22) combined.
Spectators also set streaming records this season with 12.7 billion minutes watched on MLB.TV, a 9 percent boost from last season’s total of 11.7 billion.
The number of users watching MLB.TV increased by 14 percent from 2022 and fans watched 17 percent more games than last season.
Factoring into the sport’s increased watchability was the marked decrease in the average length of the games, thanks in part to pitch clocks. Games in 2023 averaged 2 hours, 39 minutes and 49 seconds, the shortest since 1985 and a decrease of 24 minutes from last season. Only nine games lasted 3 1/2 hours or longer, down from 390 such games back in 2021.
–Field Level Media