Minor League Baseball Attendance Up 1.1% For '08
Minor League Baseball drew 43.3 million fans this season, up 1.1% from last year, and marking an all-time record for the fifth consecutive season. The Triple-A International League led all of minor leagues in average attendance with 7,317 fans per game, up 5.6% from last year, while also marking setting a total attendance record with over seven million fans through the turnstiles for the first time in league history. The Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL) led all leagues with 7.2 million fans across its 16 teams, but saw average attendance drop 2.7% from a year ago. Amongst other leagues, the Texas, Midwest and Pioneer Leagues also each set new attendance marks this season. Eight leagues saw average attendance decline in '08, with the Single-A Florida State League showing the biggest drop (-4.5%). The PCL Sacramento River Cats led all teams with 700,168 fans at Raley Field, while the Double-A Trenton Thunder became the first team in the history of Minor League Baseball at the Double-A level or below to draw 400,000 fans for 14 consecutive seasons. The following lists league-by-league attendance for Minor League Baseball in '08, with comparisons to last season (THE DAILY).
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'08 MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ATTENDANCE
|
|
LEAGUE
|
LEVEL
|
TEAMS
|
GMS
|
'08 TOTAL
|
'08 AVG.
|
% +/-
|
'07 GMS
|
|
International
|
AAA
|
14
|
970
|
7,097,411
|
7,317
|
5.6%
|
959
|
|
Pacific Coast
|
AAA
|
16
|
1,110
|
7,219,356
|
6,504
|
-2.7%
|
1,120
|
| Texas |
AA |
8
|
550
|
3,129,865
|
5,691
|
11.2%
|
524
|
| Mexican |
AAA |
16
|
832
|
4,035,169
|
4,850
|
3.8%
|
848
|
| Eastern |
AA |
12
|
817
|
3,770,333
|
4,615
|
-3.0%
|
795
|
| Midwest |
Low-A |
14
|
930
|
3,602,687
|
3,874
|
2.0%
|
925
|
| Southern |
AA |
10
|
672
|
2,460,838
|
3,662
|
-2.3%
|
684
|
| NY-Penn |
Short-Season A |
14
|
505
|
1,815,445
|
3,595
|
-1.3%
|
502
|
| South Atlantic |
Low-A |
16
|
1,060
|
3,777,173
|
3,563
|
-2.2%
|
1,064
|
| Carolina |
High-A |
8
|
535
|
1,726,511
|
3,227
|
3.5%
|
530
|
| Northwest |
Short-Season A |
8
|
302
|
919,153
|
3,044
|
-0.9%
|
301
|
| Pioneer |
Instructional |
8
|
296
|
728,952
|
2,463
|
1.5%
|
299
|
| California |
High-A |
10
|
693
|
1,633,328
|
2,357
|
-1.0%
|
694
|
| Florida State |
High-A |
12
|
778
|
1,030,461
|
1,325
|
-4.5%
|
776
|
| Appalachian* |
Instructional |
10
|
314
|
317,058
|
1,010
|
9.9%
|
282
|
|
TOTALS
|
176
|
10,364
|
43,263,740
|
4,174
|
1.1%
|
10,303
|
* = Pulaski Mariners returned in '08 after one-year hiatus due to MLB team affiliation issues. The franchise recently announced the new Mariners affiliation would be extended through 2010.
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