While perusing some Baseball-Reference leaderboards this morning (as one does), I noticed a funny dichotomy in the Cubs’ per-game attendance figures from 2025. In the span of about five weeks early in the season, the Cubs played one game in front of 53,933 fans at Dodger Stadium and another game in front of just 7,482 fans at loanDepot Park, where the Marlins play.
The former was one of only three Cubs games played in front of 50K+ fans this season (all against the Dodgers in LA). The latter was the only Cubs game played in front of fewer than 8K fans. In any case, it got me curious about the Cubs’ overall attendance numbers this season, including the playoffs, given the outsized importance that can have on the internal budget projections for the following season(s).
And generally speaking, the Cubs cleaned up this year, once you account for the playoffs.
When you rank the last 25 Cubs seasons in terms of total attendance at Wrigley Field during the regular season, the 2025 campaign is mostly in the middle of the pack. Not great, but not terrible. And in terms of their raw distance from the top, it was still quite strong (over 3M for the 13th time in franchise history).
Now, the Cubs also played two “home” games in Tokyo, which count towards this total and muddies the waters a bit. But MLB compensates teams for revenue lost by playing internationally, AND they don’t have to share that revenue with the rest of the league (per the CBA):
Article XV(D)(4)(a): “The Office of the Commissioner shall compensate Clubs that have one or more home games replaced by an International Play Event for lost revenue.”
Article XV(D)(4)(b): Replacement costs that Clubs receive for participating in an Event shall be excluded from Net Local Revenue under Article XXIV.”
Teams also reportedly receive an additional “participation fee” to cover the logistics of traveling to Japan. (And all of this is setting aside the likely significant long-term value of playing in front of that market, in particular.)
Bottom line there, the two Tokyo games not only did not hurt the Cubs’ bottom line, it likely made up for their lost revenue and then some.
In any case, here’s the thing: The Cubs played a particularly large number of home games in the playoffs (for them) this season. Five games, to be exact, which is behind only 2003 (6) and 2016 (9) in terms of total number of home playoff games in a single season. That’s a pretty significant outcome given that this season ended in the NLDS. Thank you, home-field advantage in the three-game Wild Card round.
And when you include the attendance for those games, which were pricier in both ticket cost and concessions, you start to see a very different picture being painted about where the 2025 season stands:
Last season, the Cubs had their fifth-best overall attendance in a quarter-century. And when you consider that one of the years ahead of them on this list was a most magical and lengthy journey (literally extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series), it becomes even more impressive. And, hey, 2017 went to Game 5 of the NLCS.
Cubs fans are showing up. We are doing “our part.” And it’s time for the Cubs to hold up their end of the bargain, no?
How Could a Decline in Cubs Payroll Be Justified?
With attendance numbers like this, I have a hard time understanding how the business side of the organization could justify any decline in payroll from 2025, and, frankly, justify the payrolls overall we’ve seen lately relative to the rest of the big and medium-sized market teams across the league.
The Cubs’ business side often points to the idiosyncratic expenses of owning the Chicago Cubs relative to other teams. And while I don’t doubt the legitimacy of the claims they make, they never seem to mention the idiosyncratic REVENUES of owning a team like the Cubs or a ballpark like Wrigley Field.
Likewise, I guarantee every single president of business operations could go on their local radio station and list a bunch of expenses that are unique to their team. Weird how we never hear about those, either.
Oh, and all of this is against the backdrop of exploding organizational valuations. For example, the Ricketts family bought the Cubs for not much more than the Mets committed to Juan Soto last winter, just for reference. Now, the organization is worth over $4.5 billion.
Sorry. I started ranting. Back to the actual point at hand: shouldn’t the attendance this past season beef up the organization’s internal financial projections, and, thus, their baseball budget for 2026? Didn’t they close the books on 2025 with more revenue generated than they might’ve otherwise projected, given the volume of postseason games and added playoff revenue? If so, shouldn’t we expect the uptick in revenue to be redirected to 2026+ payroll?
If not, why not? How are the internal financial projections crafted so that the Cubs can keep saying “every dollar in the door, after expenses, is spent on baseball operations”? And even if there aren’t any shenanigans there (for example, are they excluding gobs of revenue from Cubs-adjacent, but not technically team-revenues?), then are they monetizing the team efficiently?
They’ve already tried raising prices over and over – attending a Cubs game is among the most expensive in baseball. Maybe improving the product on the field would, you know, improve revenues right along with it. Maybe that’ll get even more fans in the doors, more subscribers to their network, and, hey, who knows … maybe even a few more playoff games to monetize. After all, it sure seems like they could use the money.
***
I know, there’s still a lot of offseason left, with plenty of free agents unsigned. But guess what? Nothing would make me happier than all of this looking very stupid by the time Spring Training rolls around. So … go on, Cubs. Make my day. Prove me wrong.
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