LGBTQ sports outlet Outports reported Tuesday that attendance at Oracle Park has fallen since four San Francisco Giants players displayed Bible verses on their hats during the team’s Pride Night in June.
The outlet claimed attendance is down between 5 and 7 percent since the June 12 event, and between 8 and 11 percent across the club’s last seven home games when compared with similar home stands during the 2025 season. The report noted it could not establish that the downturn was a direct result of the Pride Night controversy.
Four players altered or skipped the “Pride” hats worn by the rest of the roster. Reliever Sam Hentges skipped the rainbow patch and wore his usual cap. Pitcher Landen Roupp, along with relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker, kept the Pride hat on but wrote Bible verse references next to the logo.
Roupp, who cited Genesis 9:12-16, said the passage reflected his faith and insisted there was no hostility behind it.
“There’s no hate in it at all,” Roupp said.
Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler had earlier characterized the players’ gesture differently, calling it “disgraceful” and arguing the pitchers “defaced the Pride rainbow.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred faulted the Giants over the episode, writing in a letter to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) that the team’s communication with players was “inadequate and not clear.” Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey drew criticism for saying little when asked about the matter directly.
The attendance report comes weeks after the league issued, then walked back, a warning to the three pitchers, prompting Vice President JD Vance to post that “Trump won, we don’t have to do this anymore.”
The Giants still rank among the league’s attendance leaders despite a 42-58 record.
The report drew a wave of reaction on X. One user wrote, “The real debacle is having a night (with children and families present) that celebrates sexual degeneracy. At a baseball game!?”
One user said Pride is “a mind virus that is destroying our society, bit by bit.”
One user commented that the Giants are “one of the worst teams in the National League,” adding they were “surprised more people haven’t stopped going.”