MiLB Avg. Attendance Down From '11; Blue Wahoos Draw Well After Move To Pensacola

The 160 teams affiliated with Minor League Baseball (excluding the Mexican League) averaged 3,921 fans per game during the ’12 regular season, down 1.8% from a year ago. The top-drawing Triple-A level Int’l and Pacific Coast Leagues both saw average attendance drop this year. Only seven Triple-A clubs saw an attendance increase this season. Only three leagues -- the Single-A Carolina, Rookie Level Pioneer and Appalachian Leagues -- saw average attendance increase. The Short Season Single-A New York-Penn League saw the sharpest drop in average attendance, down 6.2%.

The Int’l League Lehigh Valley IronPigs led all of MiLB in attendance for the third straight year with 9,153 fans per game. That figure is down 1% from the club’s figure last season. The Single-A Midwest League Dayton Dragons continued their U.S.-record sellout streak this season, extending the mark to 913 games. The Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos, who relocated after last season from Zebulon, N.C., after playing as the Single-A Carolina Mudcats, led all Southern League teams this season with 4,826 fans per game. The Blue Wahoos figure was a big  increase over the city’s predecessor -- the Pensacola Pelicans -- who played in several independent leagues from ‘02-10, averaging about 1,500 per game at Pelican Park on the campus of the Univ. of West Florida. The Short-Season Single-A Northwest League Yakima Bears finished with an average of 1,629 fans this season. The club will move from Washington state to Hillsboro, Ore., next season (THE DAILY).