Diamondbacks attendance mirrors team’s on-field struggles

Just 15,556 fans showed up to the Diamondbacks most recent home game against the Astros, which was just about 500 higher than the lowest-attended game in Diamondbacks history back in 2010.

This isn’t an isolated incident, either. With the team marred by poor play and even some relocation rumors, the Diamondbacks have not been drawing too many fans to the ballpark in 2016. Arizona is averaging just 26,058 fans per game at Chase Field this year, good for 19th in the big leagues and tenth of 15 National League teams.

This is nothing new for the Diamondbacks, who have struggled mightily with attendance in recent years. The Diamondbacks have not finished in the top half of National League attendance since 2003, and have finished no higher than 11th in any year since 2005.

Despite the dreary news this is somewhat of an uptick from the last two seasons, where the team averaged about 25,000 fans per game. But many were expecting this uptick to be much bigger with the acquisitions of Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller.

The Diamondbacks’ average attendance number will likely plummet even further once the team starts to drift farther out of contention as the summer rages on. This is something Diamondbacks fans have known all too well over the last couple of years.

This is a far cry from the early days of Arizona baseball. The Diamondbacks ranked in the top third of National League attendance in five of their first six years of play.

The Diamondbacks’ lowest total attendance came in 2010, when the team averaged just 25,391 fans per game.