Coors Field isn’t the Eighth Wonder of the World. Maybe it ought to be.
Because the ballpark’s ability to attract fans is truly a phenomenon.
The Rockies entered the weekend with a 37-59 record, including a losing mark at Coors (23-26). And yet a recent tidal wave of fans has the Rockies — or rather, the ballpark — averaging 32,313 fans per game, ranking 12th in the majors.
Despite a slow start at the turnstiles, Coors’ attendance is now almost on par with last season’s average (32,467).
I started thinking about the phenomena the other day when I took Bonnie and Peaches for a hike at Red Rocks. We were climbing the stairs at the famed amphitheater when a family of six wanted me to stop so they could pet my golden retrievers. People always want to pet Bonnie and Peaches. I’m just background noise.
The family members, from Dubuque, Iowa, were big Cubs fans.
“We went to Coors Field the other night for the Astros game,” the mom said. “What a great ballpark! Great energy, perfect night. We had a blast.”
One of the boys chimed in: “I got to see Kris Bryant, too. He was my favorite player with the Cubs. Man, there sure were a lot of Astros fans.”
Coors Field — not the Rockies — is on some kind of roll:
• The ballpark drew 143,708 fans for a three-game series against the Yankees on July 14-16, the highest paid attendance for a three-game series since June 22-24, 2010 vs. Boston. The “Let’s Go Yankees!” chants engulfed the ballpark, even though the Rockies won two of three games.
• Coors has drawn at least 36,000 fans in 14 consecutive games since June 23. The last time the ballpark drew 36,000 fans or more in 14 straight games was in 2001 when it drew at least 36,000 in 23 straight.
• The Rockies wisely scheduled the mostly anonymous Tigers for the fireworks nights at Coors on June 30 and July 1. Good marketing.
At the beginning of the season, when the Rockies were 9-20 in March and April, hard-core fans consistently emailed me suggesting that I advocate for fans to boycott the team. I’m never going to do that. First, it’s not my place to tell fans how to spend their hard-earned money. Second, I would much rather cover games with fans in the stands than cover games in a mostly empty ballpark. Third, for the good of LoDo and the businesses around Coors, I want the ballpark to remain a vital attraction.
That being said, if I were a Rockies fan who paid my hard-earned money to watch the home team, it would rankle me to see Coors Field invaded by Yankees, Dodgers, Angels and Phillies fans. Much of the energy at Coors is generated by fans rooting for the out-of-town team.
But, as Nolan Arenado was always so fond of saying, “It is what it is.”
I fully anticipated that this season, Coors would draw fewer than 30,000 fans per game for the first time in a full season since 2007. I figured the ballpark would average about 28,000 a game. Turns out I was way off base.
Coors Field on a summer night remains a magical place. Owner Dick Monfort and his crew have done a wonderful job of making the ballpark a fan-friendly place for baseball fans and tourists.
Plus, I think this year’s team, featuring rookies Ezequiel Tovar, Nolan Jones and Brenton Doyle, is a tad more exciting than last year’s team.
But the ballpark remains the main draw.
I hope Mr. Monfort and Co. remember that Coors Field was built on the backs of local voters. In 1990, voters in the six counties that make up metropolitan Denver approved a 0.01 percent sales tax for funding the new ballpark. The tax eventually provided $168 million, or 78% of the cost of the ballpark. The remaining $47 million (22%) came from the original ownership group.
Monfort owns the Rockies, but he doesn’t own the ballpark. The Metropolitan Baseball Stadium District owns Coors Field, the Rockies lease it. The ballpark has helped make Monfort a very rich man. The Rockies are now valued at $1.475 billion, according to Forbes.
The Rockies have won one playoff game in the last 14 seasons — a wild-card game at Wrigley Field in 2018. The fans who have put their money and heart behind the team deserve a better product at the ballpark. They deserve games where chants of “Let’s Go Rockies” aren’t drowned out by fans of opposing teams.
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