Darren Rovell, ESPN Senior Writer 12y

Mets attendance continues downward spiral

The New York Mets luckily built Citi Field with 15,000 fewer seats than its predecessor, Shea Stadium.

For the third straight season, attendance has declined. In fact, the team only sold 2.2 million tickets, meaning if everyone showed up, the smaller, 4-year-old ballpark would only be filled to 67 percent capacity. And that's with R.A. Dickey's 20 wins that surely boosted the attendance when he pitched.

In 2009, the first year in the new ballpark, the Mets drew 3.1 million fans. But when the Shake Shack novelty wore off for fans and the team didn't respond, attendance dropped to 2.5 million in 2010 to 2.3 million in 2011. And this year, the team sold about 11,000 fewer tickets per game versus their inaugural year in Citi Field.

The Mets will finish this year 17th in the league in attendance, which ties them for the worst ranking they've had in more than a decade. In 2004, the team also finished the season ranked 17th in league attendance.

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