[chucksabr]

League Gate Collapse.

Down by 37 per cent. v. 1930.

The bad economic conditions of the day have taken their toll on the gates of the various spectator sports throughout Britain, and the Baseball League has proved no exception. But the steepness of the decline was quite unexpected. The official report shows that the First Division gates fell from 8,148,510 to 5,345,435, a fall of 34 per cent. ; the Second Division went from 5,358,923 last season to 3,158,306 this, a decline of 41 per cent. ; and the Third Division, which contains double the amount of clubs of the other two divisions, went from 6,571,389 to 4,133,205, a drop on 37 per cent. All told, League gates finished the season with a total of 12,636,946 spectators, down from 20,078,822 in 1930. These are spectator levels not seen since before the war, during which time there were fewer teams in the divisions, as well as no third division at all.

This drastic gate decrease occurred even as admission fares were also lowered. Average fares in the top tier stood at 1/3, down from 1/8 five seasons ago and down 2d from last season. Second Division fares were 1/-, down from 1/2 in 1930 ; and Third Division fares stood at 9d, down from 10d a year ago. None of that mattered, however, as the men of Britain stayed away in droves to conserve their precious dwindling resources in the face of widespread unemployment.