A Friday-night crowd of 20,591 "saw a split squad of Dodgers mash a split squad of Rangers 11-6 in the Alamodome" as part of San Antonio's third annual Big League Weekend, which also included another Rangers-Dodgers game Saturday, according to Kevin Lyttle of the AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN. Triple-A PCL Round Rock Express Owner & CFO Reese Ryan said, "It costs $1 million just for the (baseball) playing surface, so this is a substantial investment for us. But the crowds are big, the energy is good and we’re pleased with the event." Ryan and Express Exec VP J.J. Gottsch said that they are "close to signing a two-year extension with San Antonio officials" for '16-17. They moved up the event a week this year "to see if they could attract more spring-breakers." The first Big League Weekend "drew a combined 75,000 fans to see two Rangers-Padres games," and last year’s event matching the Rangers and Astros "dropped off to just over 50,000." Gottsch: "That first year I’d chalk up to the uniqueness of the event. They’d never played baseball in the Alamodome or had MLB teams in town. The attendance last year is more realistic. But we’ve got to average about 25,000 per game to make this work" (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 3/21). Saturday's game -- an 11-3 Dodgers win -- drew a crowd of 25,434 for a weekend total of 46,025 (THE DAILY).
