MiLB Sees Attendance Increase In 2019, Reversing Last Year’s Drop

Image credit: Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

For Minor League Baseball’s attendance, 2019 was a very good year.

A year after MiLB posted its smallest total attendance in 14 seasons, MiLB attendance was up 2.6 percent in 2019. MiLB reported that 41,504,077 fans passed through the turnstiles in 2019, an increase of 2.6 percent from last season’s 40,450,337 fans.

What the numbers appear to show was that last year’s attendance drop was not a sign of a developing trend. While MiLB’s record attendance of 43.2 million, set in 2008, seems far out of reach right now, MiLB has found a solid equilibrium. This was the 14 consecutive season that MiLB has drawn more than 40 million fans, and its average of 4,044 fans per game is slightly above its average attendance per game for the past decade.

Whether the 2019 season is viewed as a jump (from 2018) or a return to normalcy (when compared to the rest of the decade), MiLB can confidently state that their attendance is bucking current trends.

“We are one, if not the only sports property experiencing an increase in attendance. That has not been the trend in pro sports in this country,” MiLB President Pat O’Conner said.

Last year’s NFL attendance (17.2 million) was the league’s worst total attendance since 2010. The NBA in 2018-2019 saw fewer fans (22 million) cross through the gates than any year since 2015. And MLB’s attendance last year (69.7 million) was its worst since 2003. (The NHL does not officially release attendance information).

“Our attendance numbers, while they may fluctuate, they have been fairly stable,” O’Conner said. “You can count in a shaded area between 40 and 41.5 million and we’re likely to land in that spot.”

MiLB saw significant success with its Copa de la Diversion initiative, in which teams created events to honor the local Latino community, and Pride events aimed at honoring the LGBTQ community.

According to MiLB, Copa games, when the minor league teams adopted Spanish-language names and identities, drew crowds 20 percent above average attendance, while MiLB Pride events drew crowds 12 percent larger than normal.

“The idea is to diversify our crowds and include these diverse groups in our overall family,” O’Conner said. “At least anecdotally . . . the fact we’ve started these, they’ve been wildly successful and they have been very well received.

“We’re going to see the day-over-day, year-over-year results of these efforts. We’re going to see the long-term effects of inclusion.”

Around the minors, the arrival of new teams and new ballparks made a massive difference. New ballparks in Amarillo, Fayetteville and especially Las Vegas made an impact.

The new ballpark in Las Vegas was a massive success. The Aviators drew 318,710 more fans than the Las Vegas 51s did in 2018 in the team’s old ballpark. Las Vegas averaged 9,299 fans per game, which was the highest average attendance any U.S. team in the minor leagues has seen since Charlotte drew 9,428 fans per game in 2015.

Similarly, Fayetteville drew nearly 223,000 more fans than Buies Creek drew in 2018, and Amarillo drew 165,000 more fans than Colorado Springs did in 2018.

The Rocky Mountain Vibes, which replaced the Helena Brewers, drew 106,208 more fans than Helena did a season ago. Rocky Mountain’s average per game attendance (3,923 per game) was nearly 2,000 more fans than Helena drew for its biggest draw of the 2018 season.

Removing teams who moved into newer, bigger stadiums, this season’s biggest winner was the Syracuse Mets.

Purchased by the Mets from the Nationals before the 2018 season, Syracuse added 50,146 fans through the gates at NBT Bank Stadium. Unsurprisingly, the team’s average number of fans per game also grew. The Mets averaged 4,962 fans per game in 2019, an increase of 760 fans per game from the previous season. Syracuse lost four openings to weather in both seasons, but it gained one of those games back this year thanks to the one-game playoff the Mets forced to determine the winner of the International League’s North Division title.

Of course, while the Mets did not have a new stadium on their side, they did have the minors’ biggest ace in the hole over the past few years: Tim Tebow. The former NFL quarterback-turned minor leaguer spent the entire season with Syracuse until injury ended his season in July. Before that, Tebow did what he always does: strikes out and increases his team’s attendance figures.

Syracuse’s attendance topped the 300,000 mark for the first time since 2013, but still finished 13th overall in the International League. Beyond the presence of Tebow, Syracuse’s bump in attendance can also be attributed to the team’s first year playing as a Mets affiliate in New York.

The Tebow factor was even bigger on the road, however, where Syracuse drew an International League-best 528,101 fans. That number bested their 2018 total by more than 73,000 fans or an average of 962 more fans per game at parks around the IL.

The Mets’ opponent in that one-game playoff, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, finished second in overall attendance change in 2019, adding 28,072 fans to the seats at PNC Field. They, of course, also had the benefit of an extra game, and they also lost one fewer game to weather than they did in 2018.

On the other side of the spectrum, there are the New Orleans Baby Cakes, who will be moving to Wichita, Kan. at some point in the near future (though exactly when is still cloudy). They saw the most precipitous drop in attendance among teams not dealing with stadium issues. The Baby Cakes drew just 188,092 fans to the Shrine on Airline in 2019, a drop of 64,522 fans from its mark in 2018. Their average attendance dropped sharply as well, falling by 888 fans per game year over year.

Teams who will soon be vacating their current cities accounted for three of the bottom four spots on this year’s attendance ledger.

The Pawtucket Red Sox, who are moving to Worcester, Mass., after next season, finished third from the bottom and saw a total decrease of 63,801 fans and an average decrease of 728 fans at McCoy Stadium. Coming in just behind Pawtucket are the Potomac Nationals, who will be moving to Fredericksburg, Va., starting next season. They saw their attendance fall by 44,770 with an average drop of 504 fans per game. The caveat here is that they also had 11 lost openings this year, four more than in 2018.

The P-Nats were one of seven teams with 10 or more openings lost this year. Unsurprisingly, four of those clubs (Fort Myers, Palm Beach, Dunedin, Florida) were in the Florida State League, which cancelled its entire schedule on the final two days of the season to give clubs time to prepare for Hurricane Dorian.

It was a disappointing year in the Florida State League, in general. The early end to the season because of Hurricane Dorian didn’t help, but this was the first year the FSL failed to top two million fans since 2005. Five different FSL clubs failed to average 1,000 fans per night, with two (Dunedin, which is opening a renovated stadium in 2020, and Florida) averaging less than 400 fans per game.

High Class A Frederick (Carolina League) and Double-A Mobile (Southern League)—the latter of which will be moving to Madison, Ala., next season and rebranding as the Rocket City Trash Pandas—also lost more than 10 games this season to weather.

On the other side of the coin, there were 16 teams across the entire minor leagues that finished the year without an opening lost to weather or other circumstances: Triple-A Round Rock, Double-A Corpus Christi, Triple-A Reno, Double-A Birmingham, low Class A Lansing, Rookie-level Pulaski, Triple-A Sacramento, Rookie-level Elizabethton, Triple-A Louisville, Triple-A Las Vegas and the entire short-season Northwest League.

In terms of consistency, the Hudson Valley Renegades and Portland Sea Dogs reign supreme. Hudson Valley, which plays in the short-season New York-Penn League, drew two more fans this year than in 2018. Portland averaged one less fan per game through the gates at Hadlock Field year over year.

Team	2019 Total	Openings	Average	Per Game Change
*Las Vegas Aviators	650,934	70	9,299	4,553
*Fayetteville Woodpeckers	246,961	68	3,632	3,273
*Rocky Mountain Vibes	137,294	35	3,923	3,083
*Amarillo Sod Poodles	427,791	68	6,291	2,187
Syracuse Mets	327,478	66	4,962	760
Ogden Raptors	146,201	37	3,951	549
Mobile BayBears	95,087	60	1,585	464
Batavia Muckdogs	43,118	37	1,165	381
Midland RockHounds	285,368	68	4,197	329
Chattanooga Lookouts	228,662	65	3,518	312
Rochester Red Wings	451,853	66	6,846	309
Johnson City Cardinals	80,612	32	2,519	297
Elizabethton Twins	27,569	34	811	282
Tulsa Drillers	374,501	68	5,507	277
Louisville Bats	485,356	70	6,934	276
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders	414,891	65	6,383	243
Bowling Green Hot Rods	190,877	65	2,937	235
Reading Fightin Phils	398,314	67	5,945	232
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes	80,833	38	2,127	230
Mississippi Braves	163,841	66	2,482	223
Trenton Thunder	340,705	65	5,242	223
San Jose Giants	155,253	67	2,317	207
Burlington Bees	67,369	64	1,053	194
Hickory Crawdads	137,546	66	2,084	184
Hartford Yard Goats	414,946	67	6,193	179
Iowa Cubs	489,173	65	7,526	170
Grand Junction Rockies	88,476	37	2,391	170
Delmarva Shorebirds	218,704	67	3,264	167
Beloit Snappers	73,200	62	1,181	156
Eugene Emeralds	131,467	38	3,460	145
Everett AquaSox	116,630	38	3,069	132
Visalia Rawhide	129,118	68	1,899	125
Lancaster JetHawks	161,595	69	2,342	120
Hudson Valley Renegades	148,158	36	4,116	112
Erie SeaWolves	215,444	65	3,315	111
Gwinnett Stripers	212,342	67	3,169	107
Carolina Mudcats	193,568	68	2,847	103
Jackson Generals	107,131	61	1,756	102
Boise Hawks	129,805	38	3,416	95
Frederick Keys	263,528	60	4,392	95
Lehigh Valley IronPigs	585,110	68	8,605	94
Hillsboro Hops	133,605	38	3,516	87
Akron RubberDucks	340,187	67	5,077	81
Lynchburg Hillcats	117,029	63	1,858	77
Arkansas Travelers	311,021	68	4,574	76
Burlington Royals	40,142	33	1,216	74
Daytona Tortugas	137,570	65	2,116	70
Fort Myers Miracle	108,800	57	1,909	60
Pulaski Yankees	95,897	34	2,821	57
Richmond Flying Squirrels	400,321	64	6,255	57
Columbus Clippers	590,504	68	8,684	51
Myrtle Beach Pelicans	226,247	67	3,377	50
Spokane Indians	200,273	38	5,270	48
Mahoning Valley Scrappers	98,833	36	2,745	45
Williamsport Crosscutters	64,148	33	1,944	42
Sacramento River Cats	549,440	70	7,849	41
Idaho Falls Chukars	102,859	37	2,780	38
Vermont Lake Monsters	83,122	37	2,247	38
Albuquerque Isotopes	542,832	68	7,983	35
Altoona Curve	308,464	67	4,604	33
Dayton Dragons	545,108	69	7,900	32
Bluefield Blue Jays	20,909	31	674	28
Lake County Captains	200,756	65	3,089	27
Greenville Drive	329,733	68	4,849	26
Clinton LumberKings	121,325	66	1,838	22
Kannapolis Intimidators	75,931	67	1,133	18
Clearwater Threshers	180,069	67	2,688	16
Lakewood BlueClaws	308,318	66	4,671	14
Durham Bulls	529,105	69	7,668	7
San Antonio Missions	337,484	69	4,891	6
Pensacola Blue Wahoos	296,095	68	4,354	6
Portland Sea Dogs	357,647	63	5,677	-1
Kingsport Mets	29,553	33	896	-8
Great Falls Voyagers	47,207	34	1,388	-13
Jupiter Hammerheads	62,684	60	1,045	-18
Lakeland Flying Tigers	50,770	62	819	-21
State College Spikes	119,120	37	3,219	-24
Princeton Rays	24,133	33	731	-26
Norfolk Tides	350,086	66	5,304	-30
Columbia Fireflies	245,522	66	3,720	-35
Great Lakes Loons	195,904	69	2,839	-41
Memphis Redbirds	327,753	66	4,966	-41
Tri-City Dust Devils	87,021	38	2,290	-42
Auburn Doubledays	39,381	34	1,158	-46
Modesto Nuts	139,762	69	2,026	-46
Billings Mustangs	96,594	37	2,611	-59
Palm Beach Cardinals	57,418	59	973	-59
Bradenton Marauders	71,284	63	1,131	-61
Rome Braves	152,874	69	2,216	-70
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes	162,085	68	2,384	-70
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp	327,388	66	4,960	-77
Asheville Tourists	187,718	68	2,761	-79
Vancouver Canadians	235,980	38	6,210	-82
Frisco RoughRiders	455,765	67	6,802	-84
Oklahoma City Dodgers	444,131	67	6,629	-84
West Virginia Power	118,444	68	1,742	-99
Biloxi Shuckers	146,845	63	2,331	-99
Nashville Sounds	578,291	67	8,631	-110
Wilmington Blue Rocks	231,325	62	3,731	-111
Cedar Rapids Kernels	150,278	67	2,243	-112
Springfield Cardinals	328,217	69	4,757	-114
Orem Owlz	45,561	37	1,231	-114
Charleston RiverDogs	301,320	69	4,367	-119
Down East Wood Ducks	110,619	67	1,651	-119
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers	218,037	65	3,354	-121
Bristol Pirates	18,750	32	586	-122
Stockton Ports	179,465	69	2,601	-123
Harrisburg Senators	258,909	67	3,864	-124
West Virginia Black Bears	62,846	37	1,699	-128
Augusta GreenJackets	266,569	68	3,920	-130
Tampa Tarpons	61,290	63	973	-132
South Bend Cubs	319,616	67	4,770	-141
Inland Empire 66ers	181,253	69	2,627	-144
Danville Braves	30,007	33	909	-145
Connecticut Tigers	66,532	35	1,901	-148
Fort Wayne TinCaps	371,259	67	5,541	-162
Northwest Arkansas Naturals	284,829	66	4,316	-162
Winston-Salem Dash	264,879	62	4,272	-164
Lansing Lugnuts	311,028	70	4,443	-169
Greensboro Grasshoppers	306,136	65	4,710	-171
Toledo Mud Hens	481,496	67	7,187	-175
Bowie Baysox	224,686	69	3,256	-182
Missoula Osprey	57,076	34	1,679	-204
Indianapolis Indians	586,860	68	8,630	-215
Reno Aces	336,215	70	4,803	-216
Montgomery Biscuits	216,839	68	3,189	-219
Greeneville Reds	43,617	33	1,322	-227
St. Lucie Mets	82,581	64	1,290	-230
Staten Island Yankees	66,520	36	1,848	-235
Peoria Chiefs	198,545	68	2,920	-236
Kane County Cougars	350,305	67	5,228	-241
El Paso Chihuahuas	522,894	69	7,578	-241
Hagerstown Suns	59,682	65	918	-242
Corpus Christi Hooks	323,688	70	4,624	-242
Dunedin Blue Jays	11,757	58	203	-247
Tri-City ValleyCats	131,529	34	3,869	-250
Salt Lake Bees	433,596	65	6,671	-250
Round Rock Express	597,928	70	8,542	-267
Buffalo Bisons	518,741	65	7,981	-269
Florida Fire Frogs	19,615	60	327	-273
Aberdeen IronBirds	118,357	37	3,199	-284
Charlotte Stone Crabs	91,349	67	1,363	-291
Fresno Grizzlies	380,090	66	5,759	-292
Tacoma Rainiers	347,378	68	5,109	-294
Birmingham Barons	379,707	70	5,424	-327
Lowell Spinners	100,687	33	3,051	-330
Omaha Storm Chasers	328,307	66	4,974	-346
New Hampshire Fisher Cats	306,511	65	4,716	-349
Tennessee Smokies	280,708	65	4,319	-349
Salem Red Sox	171,866	67	2,565	-354
Lexington Legends	270,221	66	4,094	-368
West Michigan Whitecaps	360,295	67	5,378	-392
Charlotte Knights	581,006	68	8,544	-436
Brooklyn Cyclones	174,522	36	4,848	-481
Potomac Nationals	192,474	59	3,262	-504
Lake Elsinore Storm	172,280	68	2,534	-537
Binghamton Rumble Ponies	182,990	61	3,000	-553
Quad Cities River Bandits	150,905	61	2,474	-689
Pawtucket Red Sox	331,010	63	5,254	-728
New Orleans Baby Cakes	188,092	64	2,939	-888
*Changed Stadium/City