When the Mariners finished with a 93-69 record in 2002, fans regularly filled the seats at Safeco Field. A decade of futility, however, has increasingly kept them away and earned the M's the dubious distinction as the team with the biggest drop in attendance among all teams from the four major pro sports.

A new analysis by 24/7 Wall St. reveals Seattle saw a 51.4 percent decline over the past decade. Stadium capacity last year was just 44.4 percent, a Major League Baseball low. And the study finds season ticket sales have plummeted by 61 percent since 2002.

It's understandable. The report says on-field performance is the biggest driver of attendance. The Mariners stumbled to a third straight losing season in 2012, finishing the year last in the AL West with a 75-87 record.

All those empty seats mean more than just lost ticket revenues. A fan who doesn't go to the game "isn't going to buy concessions, isn't going to pay for parking, spend the other money in the ballpark or arena that they would have otherwise," Sports Business Journal research director David Broughton said.

Despite the huge drop in attendance, the Mariners aren't about to go broke. Ticket sales are no longer the primary source of revenue.

"Baseball's a little different the way money's made these days," 710 ESPN's Mike Salk said in an interview with "Seattle's Morning News". "They get revenue-sharing dollars from around the league. So all 30 teams put money into a hat and then they spread it out."

An even bigger factor is TV revenue. The richest teams like the Yankees and Red Sox make far more than anyone else thanks to billion-dollar deals with their own networks. But even the Mariners make a good chunk of change from their agreement with Root Sports, where ratings remain strong despite the team's performance.

"Ratings are enormous for Mariners games on TV and on the radio as well," Salk said. "All those people that love baseball still watch the team."

But Salk points out the fewer fans in the stands, the less the team can make.

"All the advertising that is done in stadium is not revenue shared. The better you are, the more people that show up, the more money you can make on in-stadium revenue," he said.

Ironically, the Mariners have been far from frugal over the past decade. "It has not been an issue of them not spending money. A couple of years ago in 2008 they were the first team ever to spend $100 million to lose 100 games," Salk said.

The Mariners' 51.4 percent attendance decline is far greater than any other team. The Cleveland Indians saw attendance drop 38.7 percent over the past decade, while the Houston Astros lost 36.1 percent of their fans during the same 10-year span.

Follow Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter

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  hpygolkyone wrote...

  Only My Opinion.............

  November 27, 2012 7:10 am

  Not much fun to go to the game and watch your team get theirasses kicked night after night for the prices you have to shell out.

  With revenue sharing, where is the incentive for ownership to put a quality product on the field these days?

  Then again, I'm not a baseball expert. The only thing I know is what I know......and that is I hate losers.

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  emw wrote...

  I'll 2nd that

  November 27, 2012 7:19 am

  I gave up my tickets because ownership is incompetent & doesn't care. They are more worried about increased competition from a new arena then they are about putting a quality product on the field. There are so many other things I can do with my entertainment $'s then watch a crap team with losing record year after year.

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  john_s wrote...

  Lincoln and Armstrong

  November 27, 2012 7:29 am

  Only care about scrimping and saving money. They're payroll has gone down every year. The most likely move this year is a 4 year deal for a catcher who can't hit .240 Why do you think they creates the pen? An area where people can hang out just like they're at a bar and The game is secondary behind getting drunk and mingling with people.

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  danno77 wrote...

  Seattle suffers from low sports IQ

  November 28, 2012 9:21 am

  This message by "john_s" is classic of someone in Seattle. Your catcher likely won't hit .240. You aren't paying your catcher to hit .240! You are paying for the defensive attributes of your catcher, and on top of that you are in the AL. I cringe when I read Seattle sports blogs...

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  Newton wrote...

  Jack is doing such a great job too.

  November 27, 2012 7:30 am

  Mariner fans get your season tickets to the Best worst show on earth!. Now!. Can't understand it, why attendance is down nothing has changed still a very pukable team.

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  Cougs1 wrote...

  Mariners

  November 27, 2012 7:38 am

  Ownership sucks! Not many hitters want to play in Seattle! Management want to play money ball and it only works in a few instances. Until they are willing to spend to win we will continue to be marginal at best. Especially with the A's and Rangers willing to pay players big bucks, we will more than likely keep coming up short. Fan's deserve better and are showing ownership what they think by not coming out to the ballpark. A great venue but who wants to watch the team lose most of the time? Just wish they would sell the team and move on!!

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  bencrit wrote...

  I too want them to spend...

  November 27, 2012 8:37 am

  But unfortunately more money doesn't always = more wins. Sometimes it means Guys who can hardly hit .240. See Richie Sexsons later years, Beltre's bat while he was here, Jeff Cirillo, Chone Figgins, etc. Hey, just check out how Pujols did this year after signing that ridiculous contract. The first half was terrible, and his skills are diminishing. I am sure the Angels are pretty nervous sitting on that fatcontract. As of now, I am happy he is not with the mariners. But we do need to spend some money and that will mean overpaying at some point. Hopefully it isn't in a situation like the ones cited above.

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  Lessmith50 wrote...

  Bencrit

  November 27, 2012 1:38 pm

  But it does. More money DOES make you better. The ONLY problem here is that this franchise is ran by the two worst front office dipsticks that has every sat in those seats. THAT BEING DUMB AND DUMBER Lincoln and ARMSTRONG. The two biggest idiots ever to be assembled.

  See Bencrit if the LeMays had actual baseball minded personnel at the top we would be getting your moneys worth.

  With these two clowns with their heads rammed so far up their arses. THEY ARE BLINDED by the brown goo that surrounds there pee brains. THEY ARE MORONS when in comes to evaluating and hiring talent. COMPLETE UTTERLY BRAIN DEAD MORONS.

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  dmanjam wrote...

  It's not about money

  December 1, 2012 8:17 pm

  With the idiots (currently Jack Z.) calling the shots, money doesn't matter. I can evaluate talent better than that moron. At least I wouldn't have traded our number 2 starter (Fister) for a backup outfielder. Bavasi was even worse. We have had a decade of morons making bad deals.

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  Chuck Gould wrote...

  And this is *exactly* why teams want the public to pay for their facilities...

  November 27, 2012 7:54 am

  The Mariners can field crap teams with relatively moderate payrolls and still just barely squeak by, financially. So, they do. Better to lose a lot more games than to lose too much money. Their business model makes no sense at all. If they had to pay for their own place of business, they'd be out of business.

  Public subsidies for private businesses result in some weird distortions in the marketplace. The ability to sustain a team that plays very poorly, year after year, is one of those distortions.

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  Lessmith50 wrote...

  Chucky

  November 27, 2012 1:38 pm

  GO BACK TO SLEEP

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  Dmaxx wrote...

  The good news

  November 27, 2012 7:55 am

  is that you don't need season tickets to get a good seat. You just walk up any night except Yankees and Red Sox games and buy seats just about anywhere you you want.

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  It's me! Ha ha! wrote...

  This is nothing new.

  November 27, 2012 8:18 am

  Fans don't want to watch a loser so we do not show up.

  Mariners are not the first nor the last and not the only team going through this!

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  SufferingSeattleFan wrote...

  Just like others have said...

  November 27, 2012 8:39 am

  The team sucketh, the fans leaveth. I have seen no evidence that ownership cares about its fanbase or putting a winning product on the field. The team is bad, attendance keeps dropping, and they raise ticket prices? REALLY? Wish they would just sell the team already. We need some real owners that care about baseball and the product they put on the field. Not some absentee owners that live in another country.

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  anotherfencewalker wrote...

  You "Hit the Ball with the Stick"..

  November 27, 2012 8:49 am

  Ok lets hear it for all you "fans". Howz that Baseball on a budget deal workin' for ya?

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