MLB draws third highest interleague attendance ever

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball drew 8,742,577 fans to Interleague games this season -- marking the third highest total in the 16-year history of Interleague play, the organization announced Monday, June 25th.

MLB's 2012 Interleague total ranks behind only 2008 (8,932,384) and 2007 (8,795,939).

This season's Interleague average of 34,693 per game ranks third, also behind 2008 (35,587) and 2007 (34,905).

Interleague play has drawn 12.1 percent more fans than intraleague games since it began in 1997. It has averaged 33,374 fans compared to the 29,779 fans that attended intraleague games during the same span.

This weekend, a total of 1,637,954 fans went to the ballpark, and it marked the fourth weekend of the year -- and the third straight -- that attendance was over the 1.6 million mark.

2008 was the last time that a season had four weekends with attendance over 1.6 million before the end of June. 2007 saw the last time three consecutive weekends had over 1.6 million in attendance.

Through games played Sunday, June 24th, MLB has drawn 33,486,813 fans, averaging 31,064 fans per game across 1,078 dates.

2012 attendance is currently running 8.1 percent ahead of the total through the same number of dates in 2011. The last eight years represent the eight-best attended individual seasons in baseball history, including four successive record seasons from 2004 to 2007.

Related stories: