Minor League Baseball (MiLB) today announced that 1,059,975 fans attended the 159 games played July 3-4, marking the second time in the last three years MiLB drew more than one million fans over that two-day span (also 2015). Additionally, 10% of MiLB teams set franchise records for single-game attendance during the holiday.
The 14 U.S.-based leagues and 160 clubs that charge admission averaged 6,667 fans per game over the holiday
period, drawing 521,020 fans for 79 games on July 3, and 538,955 fans for 80 games on July 4. Each MiLB team hosted a game in its respective community over those two days.
“Our ballparks provide fun, memory-making experiences for our fans all year long,” said Minor League Baseball President & CEO Pat O’Conner. “The fact that more than one million fans spent their Fourth of July holiday in Minor League Baseball ballparks solidifies our teams’ prominence in their respective communities.”
Thirteen clubs set new franchise single-game attendance records on July 3 or July 4: Connecticut Tigers, Fort Myers Miracle, Fort Wayne TinCaps, Durham Bulls, Hartford Yard Goats, Johnson City Cardinals, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Missoula Osprey, Nashville Sounds, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Portland Sea Dogs, Richmond Flying Squirrels and Winston-Salem Dash. Additionally, three teams set new marks in renovated ballparks, including the Akron RubberDucks, Memphis Redbirds and Oklahoma City Dodgers.
The Buffalo Bisons drew the largest crowd among Triple-A teams, with 16,647 fans on July 3; the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp recorded the highest figure at the Double-A level (11,398 on July 3); while the Lansing Lugnuts posted the largest total at the Class-A level (11,449 on July 4) and the Spokane Indians drew the biggest crowd among Short Season level clubs (7,029 on July 4).
Editor’s Note: A capacity crowd of 3,006 were on hand to see the first 4th of July Rawhide game in Visalia.