Washington Nationals See Attendance Increase in Developmental 2024 Season
The Washington Nationals entered the 2024 season with low expectations and their mind set on further developing their young talent for the future.
In a division that includes three playoff teams, the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, and New York Mets, with the Phillies being a potential World Series contender, the organization knew that there would not be much success on the field.
What they did not expect, however, was the fans buying into the product more in 2024 than they did in 2023.
And buy into the product they did, with an average attendance of 24,287, a 5.2 percent increase in attendance over the 2023 campaign.
While this is a favorable trend for the club, it is also a trend seen across the MLB landscape.
For the second consecutive season, MLB as a whole has seen an increase in attendance, with an average attendance of 29,374 in 2024 compared to 29,114 in 2023.
The new rules that have increased the amount of action on the field and shortened the length of games could be the driving factors in the increasing attendance, or it could be the better effort that MLB has made of late to market the product.
There was a time not long ago when the average person could not name any players in the league outside of the biggest names if they did not watch baseball.
Now, with more players involved in more commercials and promotions, the sport is finally being brought to new eyes.
The Nationals have benefitted from the increase in attendance, as it is not very often that a team that has finished each of the last four seasons with a record below .500 sees an attendance increase.
But the young core the Nationals have introduced this year has contributed, despite finishing a fifth-consecutive season below .500.
With CJ Abrams developing into a key piece of the offense, James Wood debuting and being just as good as advertised, and Dylan Crews exciting everyone with his exceptional speed and range in the outfield, another increase in attendance year-over-year could be in the cards for Washington.
Everyone has seen what not showing up to games will do for an organization, winning or not, in the Oakland A's saga that has transpired over the last decade, but Nationals fans will have none of the relocating nonsense.
The club finished the 2024 campaign with a 71-91 record, the same record they finished with in 2023.
They can only go up from here, and the attendance is sure to follow suit.
