Rule changes and multi-million dollar renovations are drawing fans to the ballpark again

With changes to America’s oldest game and multi-million dollar renovations, fans aren’t coming to watch the game anymore, but to socialize. 

In an effort to draw more younger fans and to raise attendance to America’s ballparks, many MLB teams have found a successful solution to catch their eyes: vibrant open social spaces. 

After the 2017 regular season, the overall season attendance records for the league were decreasing, going from over 72.6 million people to barely over 68.4 million in 2019. 

When the pandemic happened in 2020, where fans couldn’t be at attendance to games, this gave many teams the time to come up with strategies to bring fans back home to the stands. 

The Minnesota Twins, who had been struggling to keep game attendance records steady, knew in order to attract fans back to the ballpark they were going to have to make significant changes to how the ballpark operated. 

Since 2021, the average game and season attendance records at Target Field have increased by 50.7%. 

The attendance records in a post-pandemic world have only gone up for the rest of the league. 

After the 2023 MLB regular season, the league saw overall attendance records surge past 70.75 million people, the league’s largest since 2017. 

Out of 30 teams, 26 of them posted overall attendance increases in 2023. 

Did the numerous rule and ballpark changes have anything to do with this? Will the increase continue into the 2024 season?  

Twins President Dave St. Peter said he’s certain the changes have attracted more fans and projects that the 2024 regular season will see more than two million fans at Target Field. 

“We’re coming off a really interesting, exciting 2023,” St. Peter said. “We’ve had a really nice offseason with season ticket renewals and general ticket sales. I think there’s been so much focus on payroll that it’s kind of muted the fan excitement a little bit.” 

With a bullish attitude toward attendance for the Twins’ 2024 regular season. Here are the renovations and changes the Twins and other teams have made in order to keep the fan experience alive. 

MLB teams want fans at the game, but not to watch

The MLB has been around for almost two centuries, so renovations to the game of play are common. 

But what about the way fans experience the game? 

For the past several years, many MLB teams have been investing money into remodels and add-ons to their fields to create more social spaces for people to hang around at. 

When Target Field was completed in 2010, St. Peter said it was deliberately built to fit standing room only areas. 

“We thought we had enough, but realized that we didn’t have enough of these [social spaces]” St. Peter said. “We need to create more.” 

Since Target Field’s completion, the Twins have not shied from adding onto the ballpark to improve fan experience and create more welcoming social spaces. 

In 2023, Target Field upgraded to the “Scoreboard 2.0,” which included new video boards, an updated Minnie and Paul celebration sign and a rotating baseball medallion. 

Renovations like these aren’t so cheap. The entire project cost the Twins $29.5 million, but St. Peter said it was needed in order to improve and evolve the game. 

“We keep finding ways to reinvent the ballpark.” St. Peter said. “But, this doesn’t work on every fan.” 

St. Peter brought up the recent renovations to the Cleveland Guardians’ Progressive Field. 

The Progressive Field renovations were also not very cheap. In its first phase of improvements and add-ons to the ballpark, it’ll cost the Guardians $202.5 million. 

The overall renovation? $435 million with hopes of it being completed by Opening Day 2025. 

The renovations include a terrace garden that will serve as an outdoor patio similar to a restaurant or brewery. 

Another team, the Toronto Blue Jays plan to complete renovations to Rogers Centre’s newly completed Outfield District between 2024 and 2025, which will include five neighborhoods and social spaces accessible to anyone with a ticket. 

“We have to create more of those great unique custom experiences,” St. Peter said. “If we do, it’ll resonate with the right demographic.” 

MLB teams are doing these multi-million dollar renovations with a purpose: to bring in a younger set of fans, which of course can bring in more revenue for the league. 

St. Peter said their goal at the Twins is to find the right brand, have great food and create an atmosphere as though you’re walking into a party in the middle of the ballpark. 

“It’s to create more of an experience,” St. Peter said. 

Creating more of these social spaces seems to be paying off for the league. 

The MLB collected data from around the league and found that their fan base, much like their rosters, is decreasing in average age. 

The Cleveland Guardians saw their average attendee age drop from 50 in 2017 to 42 in 2022, likely due to Progressive Field’s renovations. 

The Atlanta Braves’ saw the average age of attendees decrease by 10% since the team moved to Truist Park in 2017. 

Even switching from more traditional marketing to mainly all digital seems to be working for the league to attract a younger audience. 

The Boston Red Sox increased their digital advertisements from 85 to almost 300 in the 2021 season where the majority of them were targeted toward a younger audience, according to the MLB. 

Single-game tickets, which are more common with younger fans, rose from 8,000 to 13,000 per game in the 2021 season, according to the MLB.

So, what’s next?

The MLB hopes that the trend of younger fans continues and grows for the 2024 season. 

St. Peter said the Twins, just like the Red Sox, have switched to a more online, digital marketing approach to intentionally target the younger demographic. 

“It’s almost virtually one-hundred percent digital marketing that’s very targeted at a younger demographic or others,” St. Peter said. “It helps keep pushing the needle on attendance.”

Some teams are using AI to improve fan engagement. The San Francisco Giants uses AI-driven experiences, which includes virtual reality zones that allows fans to experience what it is like to be a player on the field, according to Forbes. 

The incorporation of sports betting could play a major role in fan experience and engagement for the near future. 

Even though sports betting is illegal in Minnesota and 11 other states at the moment, the likely chance of its legality might soon become reality in the next couple of years. 

St. Peter said the league’s views on sports betting has changed over the years because of the changing demographics of the sport. 

Since more young people are coming to the game and participating in sports betting, St. Peter said it’s like people’s views on marijuana. 

“It’s only a matter of time,” St. Peter said.