Being a sports fan means unending tweets and news about attendance. Evidence can point to the numbers being pumped up to meet certain standards. While it is a fact that many acknowledge, very little evidence is ever presented outside of anecdotal and visual evidence of crowds
During the New York Jets most recent preseason game, there was more than anecdotal evidence present about faux attendance numbers. There is a video showing a Jets employee scanning unused tickets for everyone to see.
https://twitter.com/NTLTreasures/status/896537482434629634
This feels like a systematic issue from people inside of the organization. While the organization tabulates purchased tickets for their own finances, this looks like it is more for the optics.
It is only made worse by the fact that the announced attendance was supposedly at 94% capacity and almost everything shows that they were nowhere close to that.
Says here 77,562 💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/jSVKO0KxZl
— Dr. RJ Bobo Bocco (@rjboccomino) August 13, 2017
Taking a look at the photos from the game itself, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Making this one of the more egregious instances of attendance pumping in recent memory.
Low attendance for the Jets first preseason game. 30,000-40,000 expected, we'll see if it even hits that. pic.twitter.com/AfvxxM2PzR
— Bilbo Baggins (@BillySakmann) August 12, 2017
How fans still put up with this is beyond me but then again, it doesn’t affect them. This is an attempt to make the preseason look better and legitimate than it may be. Whether or not the video of the employee scanning tickets is part of it remains to be seen.
