Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
An Oracle Park populated by so few fans was nearly as jarring as a park with no fans at all.
After a pandemic-stricken year in which no Giants supporter entered Oracle Park, 7,390 were on hand for Friday’s home opener to celebrate the return of Giants baseball and a slight sense of normalcy. A capacity crowd, at 22 percent, would be about 8,900, but it is difficult to reach that number because if smaller parties occupy the socially distanced pods, the number naturally falls.
After the buzz for opening weekend wore off, though, the fans fell off. About half of that total was announced for Monday night’s game against the Reds, a noticeably sparser 3,662 to see the Giants fall.
“I don’t think there’s one answer,” Shana Daum, the club’s senior vice president of community relations & public affairs, said on a Tuesday phone call. But there are plenty.
First, it’s not totally unique: There historically have been smaller crowds during the week, especially following a momentous weekend and Monday being a typically chilly April night in San Francisco.
What is unique is the circumstances surrounding buying tickets this season. Season-ticket holders were allowed to buy tickets to one-third of the games in April, and many picked weekend tilts.
The customers, by a city health order, must be able to show proof of a full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test that is less than 3 days old. The stipulation removes a lot of the spur-of-the-moment fans who might have come in past years. The Giants can only welcome fans who have planned ahead, and Daum said no one has been turned away because of a lack of proof of a test or vaccination.
“And even if you can buy a ticket last minute,” Daum said, “You can’t just walk up to the ticket window and buy one. There’s no on-site sale.”
There also is no group sale that would juice up ticket numbers. The Chinese Heritage Nights, Bike to the Park Nights and Metallica Nights, which often are timed for days on the schedule on which attendance would be lower, are not possible yet as the pandemic continues. The Giants hope eventually they can return to hosting theme nights, but they are going month to month in gauging what is allowable and advisable. Only April tickets are on sale right now.
The experience for the fans who do go is getting better after starting with some complications. There were glitches with the mobile ordering in Friday’s opener — all concessions are sold and purchased through an app — and originally, there were issues with fans not being directed to where they could pick up their food (or alcohol, most problematically). There were far fewer frustrated fans leaving the park Saturday than Friday, Daum said, after they ironed out the problems.
Apart from that, they have not received many complaints. The hope is that as more and more of the Bay gets vaccinated, there will be more people eligible to go to the park.
Attendance was low again Tuesday night (3,673) against the Reds, though Wednesday’s ticket sales are better for the matinee.
“I think probably the most important measure is people’s comfort level in coming out to baseball games right now,” Gabe Kapler said before Tuesday’s matchup with Cincinnati. “I think we have the expectation that people are just going to flock once we open up the doors, but I think there’s still a significant amount of trepidation. I think last night was an example of that.”