This from old 1060w pal gaius marius who is all things depression:

long considered “recession-proof” by many, baseball is suffering a fairly terrible attendance decline. baseball reference is keeping a running tally.

through yesterday’s games, attendance for the 30 MLB teams is off (-5.1%) — which would represent the single worst one-year attendance decline since the 1930s.

excluding the new york teams — which, as they have both opened new stadiums with smaller capacities, is only prudent — the decline is (-3.8%), which would still be among the worst year-over-year changes on record.

The biggest loser (when you eliminate the Mets playing in a smaller ballpark as gm states above) is the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers. The Tigers are down 8,448 fans per game. The biggest winner, would you believe the KC Royals in a newly renovated Kaufman Stadium. The Royals have increased attendance, 4,155 per game. Cubs attendance has changed very little. They are down 418 fans per game. That can be contributed to the economy, poor play or the awful weather we have had hear much of the spring. Your guess is as good as mine.

As mentioned before on this page, when you look back at baseball during the great depression it actually was a full season before baseball felt the ramifications of the 1929 stock market crash. 1930 was actually a record attendance year for MLB. But by 1931 it was really bad:

Attendance fell 16 percent in 1931, driven not just by rising unemployment but also a decision by the owners to dampen the scoring boom by changing the rules for what constituted a home run and tinkering with the composition of Spalding’s baseballs.

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I wouldn’t bet on a baseball attendance recovery anytime soon, as a matter of fact it will probably get worse before it gets better.