Major League Baseball (MLB) has reported its highest average attendance per game for a regular season in three decades, with the organisation pointing to the impact of rule changes for other positive ballpark statistics.
The recently completed 2023 regular season featured a comprehensive set of new rules resulting in increased action on the field and a quicker pace of play. Indeed, games in 2023 averaged two hours, 39 minutes and 49 seconds, the shortest since 1985 and a reduction of 24 minutes from last season. Only nine games extended beyond three-and-a-half hours, down from 390 back in 2021.
MLB finished the 2023 season with attendance of 70,747,365, which is up 9.6% over last year’s total (64,556,636), surpassing the 70 million mark for the first time since 2017. MLB had projected a 6% to 8% uplift back in June.
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