Bordow: D-Backs are winning, but no one's watching

Where are you? It’s a Monday night in late June, the Diamondbacks are playing the Dodgers for first place in the National League West, and only 24,966 fans are at Chase Field.

Where are you?

The Diamondbacks woke up Monday morning with the best record in the NL, yet they rank 12th in the NL in attendance, with 26,204 fans per game. Only Cincinnati, Washington, Pittsburgh and Florida play to smaller crowds. The combined record of those clubs: 129-174.

Where are you?

Exclude the three-game set with Boston earlier this month that drew 136,883 — thanks to Red Sox fans filling the ballpark — and Arizona’s average attendance would plummet to 24,671, the lowest total in franchise history.

Amazingly, the Diamondbacks are averaging nearly 5,000 fewer fans per game than they did in 2004, when the team finished 51-111.

It doesn’t make any sense, and it’s made for some frustrated folks in Arizona’s front office.

“It’s about time fans realize the team is for real,” president Derrick Hall said.

It’s unusual for a team executive to call out fans, but Hall is right on in this case.

Just where are all the Diamondbacks’ fans?

Arizona has had a terrific season by any measure. Few people thought the Diamondbacks would be this good this soon.

Yet there have been only eight games this season — including the aforementioned Red Sox series and the home opener — in which Arizona drew 30,000 fans or more.

The club’s new marketing slogan: Plenty of good seats are always available.

“I think when fans believe in the team they’ll start showing up,” Hall said. “I think we’re right about there, but I thought it would have happened sooner. It’s a shame.”

The fans’ skepticism in April was understandable. Arizona has had false starts the last couple of seasons. But with the season 77 games old, isn’t some belief warranted?

“Sometimes it doesn’t turn around that quick,” outfielder Chris Young said. “Hopefully we’ll keep winning and doing our thing, more people will come out, and by the end of the year we’ll have a packed house.”

The sparse crowds are costing the Diamondbacks a fortune. Arizona’s average ticket price is about $13. If the D-Backs were averaging 5,000 more fans per game, that would mean an additional $5.2 million — not including merchandise and concession sales — in the team’s coffers over the course of the season.

That could buy a pretty nice free agent.

What’s particularly exasperating for the Diamondbacks is that they feel like they’ve made Chase Field as fan friendly as possible, including taking the unprecedented step of opening the roof on summer nights. Their $13 average ticket price is the lowest in major league baseball.

Yet fans are still staying home.

“Based on what’s happened the last couple of years (Arizona hasn’t had a winning season since 2003), you’ve got to show them,” manager Bob Melvin said.

The Diamondbacks’ skid marks aren’t the only reason fans are staying away in droves. The other excuses offered:

It’s too hot outside to get in the car and drive to the ballpark.

Uh, Chase Field has air conditioning.

People go on vacation in the summer to get away from the heat.

Nearly 4 million people live in Maricopa County. Not all of them are on the beach in San Diego.

Fans aren’t interested in seeing the Baltimore Orioles or Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Hold on. The franchise is 10 years old. Shouldn’t there be enough home-grown Diamondbacks fans who want to see the Diamondbacks?

One factor that is hurting Arizona is its paltry season ticket base. Hall said Arizona sold between 13,000 and 14,000 season tickets for the 2007 season. By comparison, the Los Angeles Dodgers have 26,000 season-ticket holders.

“When you have to rely on single-game ticket buyers (for large crowds), that’s hard to do,” Hall said. “We need to get our season ticket base back to around 20,000.”

The biggest reason for the attendance woes?

This isn’t a baseball town.

Fans will go to the ballpark to see a championship team, but unlike the faithful in St. Louis, San Francisco or Los Angeles, they won’t go just to see a baseball game.

Even if it’s the start of a four-game series against the hated Dodgers, with the NL West lead on the line.

“I think it’s definitely a baseball city,” Hall said.

The empty seats prove otherwise.

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Listen to Scott Bordow every Monday at 1:05 p.m. on The Fan AM 1060 with Bob Kemp.