MiLB Attendance Up 1% In '11; Lehigh Valley IronPigs On Top For Second Straight Year

Teams affiliated with Minor League Baseball (MiLB) averaged 4,032 fans per game this season, up 1% from a year ago. The Triple-A Int'l League led all levels of MiLB with 6,956 fans per game among its 14 teams, down 1.3% from '10. Helping raise overall attendance from last season was the High-A Florida State League, which set an all-time record with 1,642 fans per game, up 9.5% from last season. The Mexican League also saw a big jump in average attendance, aided by the league dropping two low-drawing teams from last season -- Chihuaha and Laredo -- who did not play in '11 due to lack of suitable facilities. The Double-A Texas League had a 4.6% drop in average attendance, the sharpest decline of any level (THE DAILY).

DOWN ON THE FARM: Sixteen MiLB clubs set attendance records in '11, including the Int'l League Lehigh Valley IronPigs, who led all clubs for the second straight season. Average attendance for the club was flat compared to '10. The top clubs in average attendance were all at the Triple-A level this season. The Low-A Midwest League Dayton Dragons ranked sixth overall while setting a U.S. record for consecutive sellouts. The Round Rock Express, who ranked fourth overall in attendance, led the Pacific Coast League for the first time since the club joined the PCL in '05. In percentage gains from '10, the Florida State League Bradenton Marauders saw the biggest jump at the gate, up 83% in the club's second season. Other FSL teams seeing healthy gains were the Jupiter Hammerheads (+21.3%) and Tampa Yankees (+15.7%), while the St. Lucie Mets set a new team attendance record. The High-A California League Bakersfield Blaze saw the sharpest drop at the gate, down 38.6%, and also had the lowest average attendance of any team in MiLB.