Not sure where you came up with that, but the Reds played at pittsburgh on july 18. July 17th was a sunday afternoon home game that drew 24,841.
Also, saying the front office "spent 124 million in the offseason" is a bit deceptive. They're not paying 124 million this year. Thats including future years salaries bc guys like bruce and votto got extensions . The payroll for 2011 is 75,947,134
http://content.usatoday.com/sportsda.../salaries/team.
As far as why attendence has increased throughout the season, Id imagine a lot of that has to do with the the first part of the season being played in march/april/may with kids in school and weather not as nice. Intuitively I think June-Aug should always have higher attendance barring the team being one of the worst in baseball (as frustrating as this team has been, theyre no where near that), but Im not sure if that is how its worked out in years past or not.
Also, If the FO really expected some massive gain in attendance I think they were probably kidding themselves. Cincinnati is not a baseball town despite what a lot of reds fans like to say. In my small sample size with individuals I know in the critical 18-35 age demographic its just not that high on the list of things they're interested in. And its not surprising given overall how terrible the Reds product was for the majority of those individuals lives.
I think the attendance spike this year is still a positive sign for the future years, and when looking at attendance for the past 40 years this shouldnt come as some major surprise to anyone. The most similar comparison I could find was the 1971 reds season. From 1941 to 1969 the reds won 1 division title in 1961. In 1970 the reds won their division and had the NL MVP in Johnny Bench (and even advanced further than the 2010 reds making the world series before falling). The 1971 reds had a poor season finishing 79-83, pretty similar to this 2011 team. That 1971 team drew a whopping 1,501,112 people and averaged less than 19,000 a game. This Reds team this year has already outdrawn them for the whole year. 1970 was also the first year of Riverfront stadium, so adding in a still relatively new ballpark for the 1971 season makes it even worse how bad attendance was for 71. If the FO is that unhappy with attendance, they need to open their eyes to the realities of attendance in the Cincinnati market and realize that the attendance ceiling for this city is no where near averaging 40,000 people a night. The 76 reds didnt even draw 35,000 a night. And yes I know, different era and the argument that attendance totals "should not" stay the same, but when you factor in that almost every game is now on television and peoples entertainment options for disposable income have multiplied by an exponential number since the 1970s I think its a wash at best.
Heres a look back at the Reds historical attendance numbers.
yearly attendance totals rounded. Just took exact average of rounded #
*= divsion winner
** WS champs
*1970 1.8 mill 22,222 pergame
1971 1.5 mill ~18,518
*1972 1.6 mill 19,754
*1973 2.0 mill 24,691
1974 2.2 mill 27,160
**1975 2.3 mill 28,395
**1976 2.6 mill 32,098
1977 2.5 mill 30,864
1978 2.5 mill 30,864
*1979 2.3 mill 28,395
1980 2.0 mill 24,691
1981 STRIKE SHORTENDED
1982 1.3 mill 16,049
1983 1.2 mill 14,814
1984 1.3 mill 16,049
1985 1.8 mill 22,222
1986 1.7 mill 20,987
1987 2.2 mill 27,160
1988 2.1 mill 25,925
1989 2.0 mill 24,691
**1990 2.4 mill 29,629
1991 2.4 mill 29,629
1992 2.3 mill 28,395
1993 2.5 mill 30,864
1994 STRIKE did not finish season/world series
**1995 STRIKE shortened, won division
1996 1.9 mill 23,456
1997 1.8 mill 22,222
1998 1.8 mill 22,222
1999 2.0 mill 24,691
2000 2.6 mill 32,098
2001 1.9 mill 23,456
2002 1.9 mill 23,456
2003 2.4 mill 29,629
2004 2.3 mill 28,395
2005 1.9 mill 23,456
2006 2.1 mill 25,925
2007 2.1 mill 25,925
2008 2.1 mill 25,925
2009 1.7 mill 20,987
*2010 2.1 mill 25,925
2011 1,746,557 27,723 av in 63 home games. On pace for 2.25 mill