Phillies

Phillies Have Sold More Tickets Than All But Three Seasons

By Kyle Scott

Published: Feb 18th, 2011 · 12:54 PM EST

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And it's only February…

After going on sale at 8:30 A.M., the Phillies sold 70k tickets in about eight hours yesterday, a franchise record for ticket sales in one day. They have already sold out 15 of the 81 home games. Again, it's only February.

But here's the amazing part: The 3.3 million tickets already sold would represent the fourth largest attendance in Phillies history- and would have been the fifth largest in all of baseball in 2010. The Phillies' top three attendance totals came in each of the past three seasons, respectively. That's amazing when you consider The Vet had a capacity of more than 20k greater than the Bank.

[Baseball Reference]

2010: 3.77 million

2009: 3.60 million

2008: 3.42 million

2011 (which hasn't even started yet): 3.30 million

2004 (the year the ballpark opened): 3.25 million

1993: 3.13 million

2007: 3.10 million

Last year's record, 3.77 million, will be tough to beat, considering every game was sold out. But standing room and other creative ways to squeeze people into the ballpark will probably help 2011 eclipse that number.

This is why the Phillies are able to be so competitive. It's a circle-jerk of success. David Montgomery alluded to it the other night on Daily News Live- not using those words exactly. The Phillies don't have a TV network the way the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox do, but they are fueled by ticket sales, merchandise sales, and high ratings on CSN.

Meanwhile, the Mets are giving away free tickets.

You can find your Phillies tickets, sortable by price and location for all games, at Crossing Broad Tickets.