Athletics' attendance woes continue Wednesday with smallest crowd since 2003

If you were in the stands at Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday, you had plenty of room to stretch out and relax.

Wednesday's contest between the Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays was sparsely attended, with only 6,705 A's fans on hand to witness Oakland's 6-0 loss. It was the franchise's smallest home crowd since 2003, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Weather likely did not help the home team's cause, as the game-time temperature was a frigid 54 degrees, according to AccuWeather.com. The team's recent play also might have been a factor, as Wednesday's loss - the Athletics' third in a row - dropped them back to .500 on the season at 28-28.

Still, the crowd was disappointing even by recent standards for the A's, who have had trouble drawing fans to the aging Coliseum for several years. It was the second time this year Oakland has hosted a crowd of less than 7,000 - on May 23, only 6,991 people watched the A's lose to Seattle - and their 10th home game played before fewer than 10,000 patrons.

Wednesday's crowd followed Tuesday's sparse gathering of just 7,521 fans.

The Athletics entered Wednesday averaging 16,383 fans per contest, ranking 27th in all of baseball and over 2,000 short of their average attendance in 2017. Only the Chicago White Sox, Rays, and Miami Marlins are averaging worse numbers at the gate this year, according to ESPN.

The smallest crowd in Oakland history showed up on April 17, 1979 for an A's-Mariners game. Only 250 people were said to have entered the Coliseum to watch the game, despite some 653 tickets being sold.