Baseball v. Football: MBL tournament v. NFL early season attendance in Oakland.

First see yesterday's post comparing the Major Baseball League (MBL) and NFL in refuting a New York Times article:

Sunday, October 6, 2013  Baseball v. Football: do you really want to do this?

In the National Football League (NFL) the Oakland Raiders are 1-3 in last place in their division.  Today the Raiders host division rival San Diego Chargers, 2-2.  Check the attendance tomorrow and see how it compares to what could be the final baseball home game in Oakland this season.

The Raiders had been badly managed for many years by the late Al Davis.  Here are attendance figures for the four Raider games so far:
- at Indianapolis 65,412  Colts won 21-17
- in Oakland 49,400 Raiders beat Jacksonville 19-9
- at Denver 76,978 Broncos won 37-21
- in Oakland 53,549 Redskins won 24-14
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Friday, October 4, 2013 at O.co Coliseum (Oakland Athletics) ATTENDANCE: 48,401
Saturday, October 5, 2013 at O.co Coliseum (Oakland Athletics)  ATTENDANCE: 48,292

Sunday, October 6, 2013 Stadium O.co Coliseum (Oakland Raiders) Attendance 48,834
San Diego Chargers 17 at Oakland Raiders 27

Yesterday I forgot to mention that both the As and Raiders play in the same arena, which makes this an especially good comparison.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O.co_Coliseum

O.co Coliseum – originally known as the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, and commonly Oakland Coliseum ... It is the only multi-purpose stadium left to serve as a full-time home to both a Major League Baseball team (the Oakland Athletics) and a National Football League team (the Oakland Raiders) in America...

variable seating capacity of 35,067 for baseball, 53,200 for football
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Baseball capacity has been reduced from a high of 49,219 in 1989 to as low as 34,077 in 2006–2007 and up to 35,067 since 2008.  Football capacity was about 54,000 from 1966 through 1995, then about 63,000 1996 through 2012 and this season reduced to 53,200.

My understanding is that the As, to limit the embarrassment of so many empty seats in the regular season being seen on television, cover the extra football seats.  However, for this year's MBL tournament the As removed those covers to accommodate more fans.  So both sports can seat the same number of fans.

The lowly Raiders yesterday outdrew both As tournament games against Detroit, though not by much.  In fact the first As game had one more fan than the Raider home opener in which they beat Jacksonville.

The Raiders won the Super Bowl for the 2002 season, the last season they were over .500.  The As, meanwhile, during the Billy Beane Money Ball era, reduced their seating capacity 29%.  The As last won the World Series in 1990.