The Triple-A Int'l League Charlotte Knights through July 5 have seen a "record-breaking" 429,133 fans attend games at the club's new downtown BB&T Ballpark, eclipsing the club's "previous season attendance record" set in '93 when the Knights game were still playing in Fort Mill, S.C., according to Gavin Off of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The team has "sold out 22 of 45 games so far this season" at its new 10,200-seat ballpark (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/6). Knights Exec VP & COO Dan Rajkowski on Tuesday said, "It's different, that's for sure. A week ago, I asked [GM Scott Brown], 'What have we got tonight?' He said, 'About eight.' In Fort Mill, that was 800 (tickets sold). Now it's 8,000. And the 800 (last year) might have been generous." In Charlotte, Erik Spanberg wrote there is "no need to attribute the on-field product to any of this growth." The Knights are "tied for the worst record" in the Int'l League and finished with a losing record in '13. But add a "new stadium, new colors and logos and -- presto! -- crowds now average 9,574 per game, or nearly 1,000 more than the second-best draw in the league," the Indianapolis Indians. In '13, Knights' crowds "fell short of the league average of 6,719" by 43% (BIZJOURNALS.com, 7/3).
