Phillies attendance, NBCSP ratings up big as team resumes play

The Phillies have been a hot ticket this season.

Through Sunday, Phillies games at Citizens Bank Park have averaged 39,588 fans, up more than 11,000 compared to this time last season. Across MLB, that 41% jump is second only to the Cleveland Guardians, who have seen attendance at Progressive Field rise by 43% so far this season.

Overall, attendance is up nearly 9% across the league. Seven teams have seen declines: the Milwaukee Brewers, Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Colorado Rockies, and Chicago White Sox.

The Phillies rank fifth in attendance per game, trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, and New York Yankees.

It’s easy to see why the Phillies were a popular draw during the first half of the season. Despite the team’s slow start, they were coming off an unexpected World Series run and had added All-Star shortstop Trea Turner during the offseason.

“Excitement for this season was very evident from April,” said John Weber, the Phillies’ senior vice president for ticket operations and projects. “Coming off the World Series run, fans have really gravitated toward this team. We’re very, very fortunate.”

Numbers via Baseball Reference

Weber said the lack of long homestands helped attendance this season — the Phillies were typically home a week, then gone a week.

“I don’t like 10-game stretches because it’s a lot of games in a row,” Weber said. “How many games are people going to come to?”

MLB’s scheduling format also changed: Instead of the Phillies playing National League East opponents 19 times, they face them just 14 times. The Phillies are also scheduled for 46 interleague games, up from 20 last season.

Weber attributes at least some of the growth to MLB’s rule changes, which include adding a pitching clock and banning the infield shift. As a result, the average length of an nine-inning MLB game is 2 hours, 38 minutes, down from 3:03 last season. Some players, including Bryce Harper, have grumbled about the changes, but Weber said they’ve made games more fun to watch for fans.

“Everybody I’ve talked to has loved it. I haven’t heard one negative thing about it,” Weber said. “It’s just a more enjoyable, fun game to watch with more action. We got rid of the dead time.”

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More fans also are tuning in to watch and stream Phillies games on TV.

The Phillies are averaging a 4.8 household rating (more than 148,000 households) in the Philadelphia market through the first 81 games of the season on NBC Sports Philadelphia and NBC10, according to Nielsen data obtained from the network — an increase of 11% vs. the same period last season.

In terms of audience across TV and streaming, Phillies games are averaging nearly 242,000 viewers, an increase of 13% compared to this time last season, according to the network. This year’s most-watched game was the Phillies’ win over the Cincinnati Reds on April 7, which drew a 7.2 household rating on NBC10.

Nationally, ESPN is averaging 1.52 million viewers for Sunday Night Baseball, essentially flat compared to the viewership numbers at the same time last season. Those numbers include a handful of “KayRod” telecasts on ESPN2, which feature Alex Rodriguez and Yankees announcer Michael Kay and draw about 131,000 viewers per broadcast.

TBS, which has aired three Phillies games this season, is averaging 338,000 viewers for its nonexclusive Tuesday night baseball package (which usually is blacked out in local markets). That’s a 41% jump compared to this time last season.

Over at Fox, it’s more of a mixed bag. Fox and FS1 combined are averaging 889,000 viewers, which is up 22% compared to last season, according to network figures. But FS1 is averaging just 267,000 viewers, a 12% drop compared to last year. And the All-Star Game on Fox drew just 7.01 million viewers, its lowest TV audience on record.

Austin Karp, who covers ratings for the Sports Business Journal, told The Inquirer that TBS has benefited by moving from Sunday afternoons to Tuesdays, becoming the only consistent midweek national MLB broadcast. TBS also has bet heavy on the first-place Atlanta Braves, who have been popular.

Meanwhile, Karp said that FS1′s schedule this season “wasn’t kind” and that the focus on Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani did not deliver high ratings. Just one game — the Phillies’ 2-1 win against the Braves on May 27 — topped 500,000 viewers this season.

Neither NBC nor Apple release viewership numbers for their exclusive streaming packages on Peacock and Apple TV+, respectively.

The Phillies will resume action Friday against the San Diego Padres at Citizens Bank Park, where they’ll also face Brewers as part of a six-game homestand before hitting the road to take on the Guardians.

Here’s the Phillies’ upcoming schedule:

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