G-20, bad teams result in small Cincinnati Reds-Pittsburgh Pirates crowd

G-20, bad teams hold down PNC Park crowd

PITTSBURGH — The Reds and Pirates have played before one of the smallest crowds in PNC Park history, when downtown Pittsburgh was virtually empty because of the G-20 summit.

Thursday’s paid attendance was 15,892 — well above PNC Park’s all-time low of 8,201 on April 25, 2007, for an Astros-Pirates game — but the actual turnout was about 2,500.

The turnout was so small that the Pirates closed PNC Park’s upper deck for the first time since the 38,362-seat ballpark opened in 2001 and allowed fans to sit in first-level seats.