The Tampa Bay Rays have been the recipient of a meager audience always! In this playoff, however, the crowd was so underwhelming that it went on to break records. What’s surprising is that in spite of making a record of 99-63 and standing as the fourth-best team this season in MLB, they have failed to see bleacher bums at Tropicana Field. What is wrong with this ballpark? 

Is it the quirkiness? Or cavernous build? Well, to solve the problem of low attendance for the Tampa Bay Rays, they announced a new $1.2 billion stadium in St. Petersburg. While the execution of that is still in process, the abnormally low turnout on Tuesday has fans had their minds blown over the once-in-a-century event. 

Will the Tampa Bay Rays fans show up even after the new stadium comes up?

It was game 1 of the AL Wild Card series and the Tampa Bay Rays played against the Texas Rangers. The Rays lost to the Rangers, 4-0, amidst a crowd of a measly 19,704 fans. As stunning as that number is, it accounts for the lowest attendance for a playoff game since 1919 (excluding COVID). 104 years later the embarrassing history repeated itself and makes one wonder what happened in 1919?

In game 7 of the World Series of 1919 in Cincinnati, the White Sox were allegedly bribed to lose the World Series. But the reason for low attendance was not the scandal itself. After clinching the National League position that year, the Cincinnati Reds demanded that fans buy tickets in sets of three barely selling singles to watch the World Series game. Owing to what, the Reds’ fans did not show up on their home ground. That being said, there is an expectation for more fans to turn up in game 2 of 20.

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After their defeat to the Rangers in the best-of-three series, the Rays are only a game away from elimination. It is expected that the fan count would increase in support of their team. But given what happened in game 1, the internet space has gone bonkers over the all-time low. 

All-time low attendance figures sparks concern among fans about unsolvable problem

Here’s what the fans had to say about the once-in-a-century event. 

Announcing the “Official attendance” Front Office Sports tweeted

Highlighting the astoundingly low turn-up at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, one fan said

Codify tweeted, that this was the lowest barring 2020 when fans were not allowed to visit the ballpark.

One might wonder if the new stadium would solve the problem. But the 1.2 billion stadium is set to open in St. Petersburg itself, a few minutes away from the doomed Tropicana Field. 

Fans even poured in their humorous sarcasm. 

Needless to say, the team and the MLB have to come up with potential solutions to a seemingly temporary problem before it escalates into disarray after the emergence of the new stadium.

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Will the new stadium coming up in 2028 solve the problem that the Tropicana Field has been grappling with? How will the Rays deal with 4 more years of low-show? Only time will tell. 

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