MLB Draws Over 1.6 Million For Weekend's Games
CHICAGO (CBS) Leading up the last weekend's Cubs-Yankees series it seemed as if demand for tickets was lacking, but Wrigley Field saw the biggest crowd for a three-game series in it's 97-year history.
And it wasn't just Wrigley Field that was more crowded than usual. Major League Baseball drew 1,646,000 fans for the 45 games over the weekend, the highest weekend attendance since 1,683,763 fans attended the games in the final weekend of the 2008 regular season.
"Fans coming out in these remarkable numbers demonstrate the popularity of Interleague Play, especially given that many of our intra-city rivalries did not occur this weekend," commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "I remain optimistic that our attendance numbers will continue to climb with summer beginning tomorrow and five of the six Divisions separated by 1.5 games or less."
The 126,283 fans that watched the Cubs lose two of three to the Yankees was the most for a three-game series, breaking the previous record of 124,810 for a Brewers series from June 29 to July 1, 2007.
Other notable attendance figures:
-The Cleveland Indians drew 30,023 on Sunday, for their series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Progressive Field saw 100,437 fans for the three-game series, the first weekend crowd over 100,000 since 2008.
-The Boston Red Sox drew 38,175 fans on Saturday, and sold out their 666th straight game on Sunday during the team's series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
-The Oakland Athletics sold out all three games of their series agaisnt the San Fransisco Giants, marking the first time since May 18-20, 2007 that they've sold out every game of a three-game series. The 2007 series was also agaisnt the Giants.
