Why is Target Field, the new ballpark for the Twins, have only 40,000 seats?

1. The design is more intimate b/c there are fewer people there and yr closer to the field.

2. It costs less to build.

3. Smaller Stadiums tend to last longer. (Fenway seats 37,000 and still standing, Tiger Stadium opened the same day and had to be taken down b/c it wasn't structurally sound, it held 52,500... Fenway is estimated to be structurally sound fr the next 25 years. Wrigley is old and seats about 38,000. While the Yankees didn't exactly have to move out of Yankee stadium for a new stadium they have had to play outside of the Stadium b/c the old Stadium had to undergo renovations. They played the '74 and '75 seasons in Shea. And pretty much rebuilt the place.)

4. Supply and Demand-- if there are fewer seats demand for those seats goes up, if demand stays high then the Twins bank. They can charge more for those seats.

5. If the park looks empty then people won't go b/c they think people don't go there.

The Twins only sold 60% to capacity in 2009 which was 15th in MLB fr attendance % and sold about 30,000 seats on average in the final season of the Metrodome.... they don't need that many seats as it is. In 2008 they were 21st in average attendance in MLB so teh fact that it was the final season helped them. They have averaged about the same amount for the last decade and that puts them at the bottom of MLB attendance.

Look fr your self:http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

This has been a trend among all new parks. Even new Yankee Stadium, I believe, has fewer seats than the old one.

There are a couple reasons for this. Teams now depend heavily on season ticket and corporate ticket sales. Every brand new luxury skybox sold to a corporate customer will probably generate more income than 50 to 100 seats. Also, fewer seats means less supply during the regular season (once you eliminate season ticket sales). Less supply means that they can charge higher prices even without a significant increase in demand.

Finally, there is the psychological benefit for the team and fans of not having to see 20,000 empty seats night after night. I remember seeing a couple games in the old "cookie cutter" stadiums like Atlanta Fulton County and the Vet in Philly. Even when the teams were doing well and the fans were into the game, the crowds never seemed as lively as they did in smaller parks like Wrigley. A crowd of 30,000 in a 40,000 seat stadium seems much louder and much bigger than 30,000 in a 60,000 seat football stadium.

I think there are a lot of good answers her with regards to things like not seeing a bunch of empty seats, supply and demand, cost of building vs. return on filling. However, one thing overlooked, and I think this is the practical answer, is that most new parks are being built to replace buildings that were built to be multipurpose for various sports and concerts and so forth. They had much higher seating capacities mostly to fill for football games and concerts. That's why at most stadiums like this, even during playoff games which are "sold out", you see the tarp over the seats in the upper levels.

Simply put, baseball games don't draw the game day attendance of other events, and so a park designed primarily for baseball doesn't need that much seating.

Because of the high cost of adding an extra 10,000 seats. It has to be a bigger stadium with higher construction costs. Given how infrequently the Twins draw over 40,000 they would have done some calculations that told them that the return on those extra seats wouldn't justify the costs, or it may have made it too expensive for the tax payers to support.

It's really not all that different from a lot of the new stadiums opened in the last fifteen years 40,000-45,000 is the norm.

CitiField (Mets) did the same thing.

Its all designed to make tickets harder to get and to bring up the price. Wait until you get into the new park and see what the costs at the concession stands will be, the cost of the ticket is just the beginning.

They don't sell 40,000 tickets per game as it is, you don't need a 45-50,000 seat sadium just to have one if you don't sell that volume of tickets. The park that the A's have designs for seats about 37,000.

Because 50000 + ballparks aren't for today's baseball. What do you want? Uncomfortable 62000 parks like Candlestick park?

Less seats create moire demand for them so the prices can be higher.

you have to ask them but there park was crap they had to moved.

also this give them a chance to sell out a lot too to make more money. they can also add more seats. just like how fenway is.

i don't know,, Citfield(Mets) did the same thing.