Mark Walter made it clear he wants Dodgers fans to know their support has not gone unnoticed, even with a season that ended in disappointment.
The Dodgers chairman and controlling owner said he shares the frustration after a year that fell short of expectations, but he also wanted to thank the fan base for showing up all season long, according to Jack Harris of the California Post.
“I really hope that the fans feel how much we appreciate them, because we’re all fans too,” he said. “And this [year] was a kind of bad end to the season for us. But you’ve got to look at how we’ve done every year and really realize they’re gonna come back and support us again next year, because we’re going to be out there fighting again for a World Series.”
The numbers back up just how strong that support has been. The Dodgers drew 4,034,219 fans at home this season, setting a new franchise record. It was the second straight year the club topped 4 million in home attendance, after reaching that mark for the first time in team history last season.
Los Angeles also averaged more than 49,000 fans per game for the second consecutive season. The only other time the Dodgers had ever reached that average was in 2019.
Across Major League Baseball, the only single-season home attendance total higher than the Dodgers’ mark belongs to the Colorado Rockies, who drew 4,483,350 at Mile High Stadium in 1993. The Dodgers are also the first team since the New York Yankees from 2005-08 to draw more than 4 million fans in back-to-back seasons.
That kind of turnout has helped make Dodger Stadium one of the toughest places to play in the majors. Since 2014, the Dodgers are 658-345 at home, including a 51-30 mark this season.
Walter also addressed the speculation surrounding the future of the franchise and shut it down directly. Despite an ongoing federal investigation and the sale of several other holdings as he works to liquidate assets, he said he is not planning to sell the Dodgers.
He is under parallel investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Walter’s capital-raising efforts have included selling his stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and Chelsea Football Club, which has only added to outside talk about a possible Dodgers sale. But the team has repeatedly pushed back on that idea, and Walter said in his first public comments on the subject that selling the club is not on the table.
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