The Dodgers will reach 4-million attendance mark

The holy grail is upon them.

For the first time in franchise historical past, and in the yr after a global famous person led them to a World Series championship, the Dodgers will hit 4 million in attendance this season.

The Dodgers have led the major league in attendance every yr since 2013, the first full season under the Guggenheim possession group chaired by Mark Walter. In press releases, the Dodgers repeatedly be aware the workforce has “the highest cumulative fan attendance in Major League Baseball history.”

Yet the 4 million barrier has been an elusive milestone. Lon Rosen, the Dodgers’ govt vice president and chief advertising and marketing officer, said the workforce would formally cross 4 million tickets offered on Sunday, in the common season finale.

“We’re proud of the accomplishment,” Rosen said.

No major league workforce has hit 4 million since the New York Mets and Yankees in 2008, the ultimate season of Shea Stadium and the previous Yankee Stadium, respectively. The Yankees also offered 4 million in 2005-07. The only other groups to do it: the Toronto Blue Jays (1991-93) and Colorado Rockies (1993).

No workforce apart from the Dodgers can hit 4 million any more. The Mets, Yankees and Rockies all moved into smaller stadiums; the Blue Jays downsized theirs.

A workforce that hits 4 million must average 49,383 tickets offered per recreation. The Arizona Diamondbacks play in the stadium with the second-largest capability in the majors: 48,330. The Dodgers’ average coming into play Thursday: 49,589.

The Dodgers offered 3.97 million tickets in 2019, coming off back-to-back World Series appearances, and 3.94 million last yr. They haven’t offered fewer than 3.7 million under Guggenheim possession, apart from the 2 seasons with pandemic-related attendance restrictions.

“We’re a very successful franchise, and I attribute it all to the players,” Rosen said. “We have incredible players. We have very popular players.”

Technically, the Dodgers offered 4 million tickets in 1982, former Dodgers vice president of advertising and marketing Barry Stockhamer told The Times in 2010. Under National League guidelines at the time, groups had been required to announce how many followers truly confirmed up, not how many tickets had been offered. The Dodgers’ attendance that yr was reported as 3.6 million.

The Dodgers’ dominance on the sphere under Walter and his companions — two World Series titles, 4 World Series appearances and 13 consecutive playoff berths — has been accompanied by dominance on the business aspect.

In essence, at a time when cable and satellite tv for pc revenues are collapsing, the Dodgers can finance their participant payroll either from ticket income or from local tv income. The Dodgers’ payroll is about $340 million this season.

The Dodgers’ SportsWeb LA contract with Charter Communications, the mum or dad company of Spectrum, pays an average of $334 million per season. However, the contract began in 2014 and extends through 2038, with the annual fee rising each yr — to more than $500 million by the end of the deal, according to people acquainted with the deal but not licensed to disclose its phrases.

The Dodgers generated $4.29 million in ticket income last season for each regular-season home recreation, according to an inside league doc first reported by Sportico and confirmed by The Times. That totaled $343.2 million for 80 home video games last season, at an average ticket price of about $80.

As the Dodgers compete with the San Diego Padres for the National League West title, the Dodgers’ SportsWeb LA contract exacerbates the financial disparity. The Padres have offered out 66 of 75 home video games this season and have offered more tickets than any workforce apart from the Dodgers and Yankees, but the Padres have cut payroll over the past two years, following the chapter and subsequent implosion of the mum or dad company of what was then called Bally Sports.

In August, the Padres told season ticket holders their average price increase for 2026 can be 7% — the fifth consecutive season with an increase, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Padres raised costs by an average of 20% for the 2022 season and 18% for the 2023 season, the Union-Tribune reported.

Rosen declined to talk about how a lot the Dodgers had raised the price of season tickets for 2026, although a number of followers told The Times their seats had elevated in the vary of 20%. Rosen said the Dodgers’ renewals had been “going well.”

The Dodgers still have payments to pay past participant payroll, of course: a strong workers in both baseball operations and business operations, Dodger Stadium operations and upkeep, minor league operations, income sharing, and more than $100 millon in luxurious taxes among them.

They also make money in methods apart from tickets and SportsWeb LA, among them national broadcast income, national and local merchandise income, company sponsorships, and stadium parking and concessions.

“We put the money back into the team,” Rosen said. “Our owners have done that from day one.”

With Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers already had a star-studded roster. The addition of Shohei Ohtani, and the vacationers that observe him from Japan, supercharged the Dodgers’ business and finally vaulted the workforce over the magic 4 million mark.

It will not be just that the followers come out to see a winner, Kershaw said. It is that the followers present an edge that helps keep the workforce a winner.

“Without question,” Kershaw said. Any time you play in entrance of a packed home at home, it’s important. We play every day. It’s onerous to create vitality sometimes, just because you play so a lot. I feel having the followers behind us every day and seeing that packed home offers you that little bit of added vitality.

“You play a day game on the road somewhere, and there’s nobody there, it’s hard to mimic. Even though it is a big league game, there are levels to this. Playing at home in front of our fans is definitely a home-field advantage.”