Pirates Have Bold Excuse for Low Attendance
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have had low attendance at PNC Park throughout their start to 2025, one that is quite noticeable for fans and the front office.
The Pirates, prior to the start of their series against the Cleveland Guardians, averaged 15,355 fans per game through their first 10 games of the season, ranking fourth-worst in MLB.
The only teams with worse attendance are the Miami Marlins at 13,093 fans, who finished 62-100 the season prior and are 8-11 so far, the Athletics at 10,047 fans and the Tampa Bay Rays at 10,046 fans.
Both the Athletics and the Rays are currently playing in minor league stadiums. The Athletics moved to Sacramento before their expected move to Las Vegas, and the Rays saw a hurricane destroy the roof of their stadium, Tropicana Field.
The Pirates saw solid numbers for their first home series vs. the New York Yankees, including 36,893 for the home opener on April 4, 30,570 for the second game on April 5 and 22,898 for the series finale on April 6.
Attendance dropped drastically the following series, as the Pirates failed to get more than nine thousand fans for any game vs. the St. Louis Cardinals and only had more than 10,000 fans twice in their last series vs. the Washington Nationals.
Pirates president Travis Williams spoke after the installation of a tribute to Roberto Clemente's 3000th hit at Three Rivers Stadium and isn't concerned with attendance numbers so far.
"No, I'm not concerned," Williams said. "Obviously the weather has not been our friend and we'll bet team performance has had some impact on that as well, both of which I'm confident will get better. I'm looking forward to better weather days, like we have this afternoon, and I'm looking forward to better performances on the field as well."
The Pirates did get 27,900 fans for their series opener vs. the Guardians on April 18, but that was also Zambelli Fireworks night and weather may have played a role, with temperatures reaching the low 80s.
PNC Park will likely also see a lot of fans in the second game of the series vs. the Guardians, where they'll give out a Paul Skenes bobblehead before he makes his fifth start of the season.
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.