Crowds under 10,000 rare for Reds, who hit GABP attendance low in third game of season

The announced attendance Monday for the opener of a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers was 7,799. The actual crowd, which saw the Reds fall to 1-2 with a 4-3 loss, was much smaller. The cold weather did its part to keep fans away. It was 46 degrees at first pitch and dropped into the 30s in the later innings in a game that took three hours and 31 minutes to play.

This was the first time the Reds had played in front of a crowd smaller than 9,000 at Great American Ball Park. The previous record for smallest crowd (9,087) was set on Aug. 31, 2009, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Reds’ smallest crowd last season was 9,463 (April 23 vs. Atlanta). It was one of two crowds under 10,000. There have now been seven crowds smaller than 10,000. Four of them came in 2009, which was the last of nine straight losing seasons for the Reds.

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The smallest crowd in 2003, the year the stadium opened, was 18,069. As recently as four years ago, the smallest crowd was 15,616 (April 9 vs. Pittsburgh).

The Reds averaged 20,115 fans last season. They ranked 24th in baseball. The Major League Baseball average was 28,659.