The Padres open a potentially season-defining, four-game series tonight against the San Francisco Giants in the one place where it’s difficult to tell the team is in the midst of a pennant race.
Petco Park.
Attendance for the past 12 home games — including attractive draws against the Philadelphia Phillies , Colorado Rockies and Dodgers — was 25,086, several hundred below the season average.
“This is ridiculous,” said Isaac de la Fuente, a Dodgers fan who attended Tuesday’s 2-1 Padres win against L.A. “You’re in a pennant race, (playing) against your most hated rival and you can’t come close to filling your stadium.”
The average crowd for this week’s three-game series against the Dodgers was 21,499. The previous six games between the teams at Petco Park averaged nearly twice that amount — 41,252.
Fans, a San Diego State sports marketing professor and pro sports executives cited multiple factors for the Padres’ sluggish turnstile count at a time when interest in the first-place team would seem to be rising:
•the struggling economy;
•belief that the team will break their hearts;
•too many entertainment options;
•lack of passionate fans;
•why pay for tickets that cost as much as $61, plus $8 beers, $5 hot dogs and $10 for parking when you can watch the games on your big-screen, high-definition TV with your feet propped up in the comfort of your living room?
Full story: Turnstiles show Padres fans seem immune to pennant fever – SignOnSanDiego.com