The Royals are averaging 21,567 fans through 21 home dates, a 16-percent increase at a time when attendance throughout baseball is down about 5 percent. A better team and $250 million of renovations to Kauffman Stadium are the driving factors, obviously, but club officials think their numbers would be even better if not for the bad economy. Their season-ticket sales, for instance, are down from 9,200 to 8,500. But here's another way to look at it: Maybe this was exactly the right time to improve the stadium.