Sellout Streak Ends After 820 Games For Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have been playing in front of a packed house for the last nine years. But last night, the sellout streak ended after 820 games.

According to Yahoo News, last night’s game was attended by 30,862 people. Fenway Park has room for 37,493 fans during night games.

Red Sox owner John W. Henry said in a statement: “The streak is a reflection of a phenomenal period of baseball in Boston and of America’s greatest ballpark… But more than that, it is a testament to the baseball passion of New England fans. As we close the book on this incredible era, we look forward to another with a renewed certainty that the next couple of generations of Red Sox fans will also be enjoying baseball at the ever magical Fenway Park.”

The sellout streak started in May of 2003 and includes post-season games. It is the longest sellout streak in major professional sports history. The Red Sox won the World Series twice during the sellout streak, once in 2004 and again in 2007, but the team has failed to make the playoffs for the last two seasons.

Red Sox President Larry Lucchino said: “We are proud of this historic achievement… Over the past 10 years, more than 30 million, many among the most sophisticated baseball fans in America, have purchased tickets to see games at Fenway Park. Never in that period was there a crowd less than 32,000. No other club in Major League Baseball can make that statement.”

The sellout streak may have ended last night but the Boston Red Sox haven’t seen a full crowd in awhile. According to ESPN, the team distributed several tickets last year to charities and other organizations and has been using the number of tickets distributed, and not necessarily the number of tickets sold, to satisfy its sellout criteria.

The Red Sox said that the average attendance during the streak was 36,605.