Here's  a thought -- maybe it is because when you have to pay $60 per person to sit in the nosebleed section and then another $20 for something to drink and a hotdog people finally go "Hey, you know, this is unaffordable."

good riddence ,,,,,fk the owners and players.

Attending a ballgame is a great way to spend an afternoon. But the same outfield seat I paid $12.50 for 10 years-ago is now $30.00. 10 years-ago I used to attend 10-15 games a year, but not now, not one game.

So MLB owners; is it better to fill a seat for 10-15 games a year at $12.50, or have unfilled seats at $30 per game? That's the bottom line problem.

As a person who grew up a sports junkie, I can honestly say that professional sports in general have become virtually unwatchable. The arrogance of both the players and owners has gotten to be out of control...throw in that baseball is about as exciting as watching grass grow 90% of the time and it just doesn't appeal to many people in this instant gratification age. Too slow, too boring, and too damn expensive! I guess the only thing going for it is that it hasn't become "ghetto" like the NBA and the NFL.

The Phillies had ANOTHER sellout tonight, 46th consecutive sellout....just sayin'......

The writer could add another factor - big league baseball is no longer the "national pastime". If there is one, it is NFL football. Compare the hype and interest for the Super Bowl to the World Series.

The excruciatingly long season does not help. Cut the season to 60% of the current length - cut salaries and ticket prices the same. Interest in the game would increase. Ridiculously long seasons do not make the fans more likely to watch - it burns them out.

10 years ago me and my four brothers along with seven of our cousins would go to about 10 baseball games per year. Now, we don't got to any baseball games. The time and effort of driving, peak traffic, finding paying the prices to park our cars, the admission price, the price of hot dogs and such - it's just too much. Now we do a lot more things in the same amount of time we used to spend going to baseball games. Technology has really changed our lives. From the comfort of our homes we can watch whatever games, teams or sports we want whenever we want with replay to boot and still have time left over in the same day to do other things together instead of spending the whole day fighting traffic, fighting for parking, standing in line, waiting in line and paying high prices at the ball park.

Yankees still packin' them in huh, I was just watching the Yanks game and there was lots of empty seats ! Hmmmm, good reporting? I don't think so

Other than the obvious fact of the ecomomy sucking wind, it's rather hard to figure out. A lot of these teams sit at ground zero for high unemployment. They also sit in towns with either an NBA franchise and/or an NHL team. (Research opportunities for some aspiring sports writers pehaps?) As for Toronto, I have seen games there with a full house and the fans all napping until an altercation breaks out. Solution = add a penalty box! (2 innings for fighting!)

Over-expansion in all professional sports renders most teams and games AAA rather than major league, as regards the product they are selling. I mean, when the Nashvilles and Columbus' and Sacramento's of the world have major sports franchises, it has gone too damn far off the chart. Expansion is a disease. TV rating are not everything in the world, but in sports, you would think so.

i'm sure the new stadium in minneapolis is only crowded because it's a new stadium. It'll be empty too before long.