ST. LOUIS—The St. Louis Cardinals front office and ownership group acknowledged last fall that the team’s 2025 payroll would be lower than in previous years, due to reduced returns from a renegotiated television contract and the expectation of lower attendance, given the fact that fans knew the club was putting emphasis on long-term player development over near-term quick fixes via free agency.
A year later the results on the field and off are in.
On the field, the club finished 78-83, good for fourth in the National League Central, but surprisingly was in contention for the playoffs until the final week of the season.
On the business side, attendance dropped from 2.87 million fans in 2024, to a new Busch Stadium III low of 2.25 million in 2025, excluding pandemic impacted seasons in 2020 and 2021.
“I understand their frustration,” CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. said. “They love their Cardinals. They love their Cardinals winning. We’re going to make every effort to get back to that.”
“Obviously we’ve all seen it, the numbers are down and it’s something that we’re not happy about. To the extent that that’s a message, the message has been received,” team president Bill DeWitt III said.
Improving the on-field product may be the fastest way to getting more fans to come back, but it’s not the only way.
“We’ve listened to our fans and they want value, you know. I mean, prices for tickets, concessions and parking is something that they’ve expressed,” DeWitt III said. The team tries to price its own parking lower than surrounding lots, and there are discussions with Delaware North about more affordable concession options next season. Efforts this past season to give a different vibe on a Friday night as opposed to a Sunday game were a first step, he added.
What’s impossible to know is how much of a factor safety downtown have played into the attendance drop. While violent crime and homicides are down citywide, perception can easily lag reality.
“With the investments that our happening downtown I think everybody should be excited about where this city is headed,” outgoing president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Monday. “If we can get people to feel safe and wanting to come back down here and re-engage I think that’s where the Cardinals will take that step forward.”
The Cardinals are part of new entertainment district that includes the core of downtown and extends to Downtown West and Energizer Park. A new state law that authorized it allows the district to hire its own private security that can serve as a permanent presence and not be shifted away to other parts of the city because of other needs by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
It’s too soon to know the size of the district’s security team, which will have law enforcement ability. It will be paid for by state funding appropriated through the General Assembly, with an initial cap of up to $2.5 million. Because the funds will have to wait for the state budget process to play out, the security component may not be in place until the second half of 2026.