The Oakland Athletics are bad. Like really bad. So much so that fewer people are going to watch their games now than early in the 20th century, when the club was located in the City of Brotherly Love as the Philadelphia A’s.
According to a post by DraftKings on X, Oakland’s average attendance was almost 200 people fewer than it was through 66 games in 1911 for the Philadelphia version of the franchise.
The math checks out after consulting official sources. Per ESPN data, Oakland’s average attendance this season is 9,823 fans per game.
However, Oakland’s front office has a sliver of hope for the last month of the season as the 1911 Philadelphia team’s average attendance finished at 8,077 fans per game according to Baseball Reference.
So, if the current rate holds, Oakland’s 2024 season won’t be the worst attended — at least since prior to World War I.
According to Boston University, Philadelphia’s population in 1910 was just over 1.5 million people. Today, Oakland’s population is estimated at a little over 435,000 people.
If fans want to split hairs with comparisons, it’s not a far shout to say Oakland’s 2024 attendance (or lack thereof) is better now with fewer people available to put in seats than Philadelphia had with more living in the city at the time.
The Athletics’ lease with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum expires after this season and the club will spend the next three years in Sacramento before its move to Las Vegas in 2028.