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NY Mets attendance drop isn’t a serious concern, at least not yet

It's a bit blown out of proportion when you look at the team's history.
ByTim Boyle
Apr 21, 2026; New York City, New York, USA;  A fan wears a bag in the eighth inning during a game between the Minnesota Twins and the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Apr 21, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; A fan wears a bag in the eighth inning during a game between the Minnesota Twins and the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

No more home games left in 2026 and only three to go altogether, weather permitting, New York Mets home attendance numbers were a part of the story this week. A 14.8% drop of butts in seats doesn’t look so good.

Should this have Steve Cohen reconsidering the decision to give David Stearns more time? That’s knee-jerk reactionary. The Mets attendance numbers in 2025 were always bound to drop.

When 3,184,570 fans showed up in year one of Juan Soto, it was the fourth-highest of any Mets season and the most of the Citi Field era. It beat out year one by nearly 20,000 fans.

With many things, it’s not a problem until it becomes a trend.

The Mets should start to worry about attendance numbers when they continually go down

Post-COVID, the 2026 season is the highest the Mets have had. The full 2022 and 2023 seasons each had 2.5 million. An extra 200K in 2026 isn’t such a catastrophic fall. Vibes were just so good at the start of 2025 after an NLCS appearance and the signing of Soto that tickets were easier to sell.

The Mets definitely shot themselves in the foot by not selling tickets in the second-half right away. This left the stadium less packed in the final months not only because fans weren’t showing up but also because they weren’t accounted for. An attempt to dynamically price tickets by assuming the team would be good became a costly mistake they wouldn’t recover from.

The 2026 attendance numbers are the 17th highest in Mets history. As unimpressive as that may be, it’s the third-highest of the Citi Field era. Only 2025 and the 2016 season off of their World Series run have it beat.

Mets fans made a statement this year by showing up less. Another thing that was declared is the fans will come around after a winning campaign. The fact the Mets were still able to put 2.7 million in the ballpark after not making the playoffs is the start of a possible downswing. You’d have to imagine after any sort of labor dispute, even with a 162-game schedule to follow, there’s very little the Mets can do to pack the ballpark early. Somewhere in the 2.4-2.5 million range is a reasonable expectation for 2027.

More important than the Mets seeing their number drop is that they suffered the biggest drop of any team. Almost 6,000 fewer fans per game and 472K+ total for the season, only two other teams had 200K fewer tickets sold this year. Second to the Mets are the Houston Astros at 255K and they might still make the playoffs.

The Mets are bound to see another decrease in ticket sales after this season. If the team plays well, the narrative becomes how the fans didn’t show up enough. It’s the year after that matters most. A large number of fans decide in December how many games they’re going to go to the following summer. Let those takes simmer. In December 2025, all the Mets did was lose Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso while signing Jorge Polanco.

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