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Crunching the 2011 summer-collegiate attendance figures

Ballpark DigestWith over 3 million attendees in 2011, summer-collegiate leagues are proving to be an important part of the baseball economy. We’ll examine the attendance numbers posted today on Ballpark Digest.

First off: by our tally, 3.075 million fans “officially” attended summer-collegiate games in 2011. We report this number with a big disclaimer: there are many summer-collegiate teams and leagues that don’t report attendance, so this number is undoubtedly higher. Still, this is the first time in many years of reporting summer-collegiate attendance figures that we can without a doubt say there were 3 million fans attending summer-collegiate games. Almost a third of that total came from the Northwoods League — certainly the most well-attended summer-collegiate circuit — but we saw growth in the industry across the board. Out of the “major” summer-collegiate leagues (which includes the Northwoods League, Cape Cod League and Coastal Plain League, all based on raw number and history), only the Prospect League showed a decline in attendance.

The real growth, though, came at the next level of leagues. We saw a 157 percent leap in attendance for the Florida Summer Collegiate League, as the circuit has a more revenue-oriented business model; huge attendance jumps at Sanford (where the team plays at historic Sanford Stadium), Leesburg (where the team plays at historic Pat Thomas Stadum) and Winter Park led the way. The West Coast Leaague recorded a 43 percent attendance increase; adding Klamath Falls was a good move, and Bend and Corvallis both notched big per-game increases. The New England Collegiate Baseball League saw a 38 percent attendance leap, led by Holyoke and Vermont.

Here are the top per-game attendance gainers in the summer-collegiate world in 2011:

# Team LGE TOTAL GMS AV 2010 +/-
1 Sanford River Rats FCSL 10,449 18 581 98 4.93
2 New Bedford Bay Sox NECBL 20,925 20 1,046 370 1.83
3 Leesburg Lightning FCSL 22,283 21 1,081 450 1.40
4 Holyoke Blue Sox NECBL 50,206 20 2,510 1,181 1.13
5 Melville Millionaires WMBL 3,922 19 206 100 1.06
6 Winter Park Diamond Dawgsgs FCSL 4,760 18 264 130 1.03
7 Vermont Mountaineers NECBL 36,593 21 1,743 1,037 0.68
8 Martinsville Mustangs CPL 39,544 25 1,582 1,022 0.55
9 Battle Creek Bombers NorthWL 36,452 31 1,176 790 0.49
10t Harwich Mariners CCL 28,775 20 1,439 1,018 0.41
10t North Adams SteepleCats NECBL 19,386 20 969 687 0.41
12 West Virginia Miners PrL 33,070 27 1,225 881 0.39
13 Bend Elks WCL 49,130 27 1,820 1,327 0.37
14 North Shore Navigators NECBL 19,318 21 920 681 0.35
15 Corvallis Knights WCL 31,848 25 1,274 1,001 0.27
16 Moose Jaw Miller Express WMBL 6,364 20 318 255 0.25
17t Y-D Red Sox CCL 32,548 21 1,550 1,260 0.23
17t Terre Haute Rex PrL 28,388 28 1,014 825 0.23
17t Bellingham Bells WCL 16,556 27 613 499 0.23
20t Thunder Bay Border Cats NorthWL 26,279 33 796 651 0.22
20t Columbia Blowfish CPL 34,957 25 1,398 1,144 0.22
20t Lorain County Ironmen PrL 6,632 26 255 209 0.22
               
  CCL = Cape Cod League            
  CPL = Coastal Plain League          
  FCSL = Florida Collegiate Baseball League        
  NECBL = New England Collegiate Baseball League        
  NorthWL = Northwoods League          
  PrL = Prospect League            
  WCL = West Coast League          
  WMBL = Western Major Baseball League        
               

We’re not going to pretend there’s a grand theme when looking at these teams: in some cases the attendance rises are as a result of a new emphasis on the business of baseball (as was the case with the FCSL teams), some as the result changes in the front office, and some as the result of years of hard work.

Now for the bad news. Here are the teams suffering the largest attendance decline per game:

# Team LGE TOTAL GMS AV 2010 +/-
1 Nashville Outlaws PrL 5,084 24 212 1,081 -0.80
2 Petersburg Generals CPL 6,682 24 278 696 -0.60
3 Weyburn Beavers WMBL 1,094 19 58 110 -0.47
4 Alexandria Aces CalR 2,581 18 143 250 -0.43
5 Kitsap BlueJackets WCL 11,326 27 419 616 -0.32
6 Falmouth Commodores CCL 18,123 21 863 1,209 -0.29
7 Wilson Tobs CPL 34,233 28 1,223 1,694 -0.28
8 Herndon Braves CalR 604 19 32 44 -0.27
9 Danbury Westerners NECBL 12,330 20 617 830 -0.26
10 Hannibal Cavemen PrL 25,863 27 958 1,269 -0.25
11 Yorkton Cardinals WMBL 4,276 20 214 281 -0.24
12 Slippery Rock Sliders PrL 6,550 26 252 329 -0.23
13 Rockville Express CalR 438 19 23 30 -0.23
14 Victoria Generals TCL 22,961 31 741 944 -0.22
15 Thomasville HiToms CPL 22,594 26 869 1,072 -0.19
16 Youses Orioles CalR 1,358 17 80 96 -0.17
17 Cotuit Kettleers CCL 19,948 21 950 1,119 -0.15
18 Lethbridge Bulls WMBL 11,268 22 512 602 -0.15
19 Duluth Huskies NorthWL 32,232 31 1,040 1,211 -0.14
19 Nevada Griffons MINK 3,433 18 191 222 -0.14
19 Orleans Firebirds CCL 36,632 21 1,744 2,019 -0.14
               
  CalR = Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League        
  CCL = Cape Cod League            
  CPL = Coastal Plain League          
  MINK = M.I.N.K. Baseball League          
  NECBL = New England Collegiate Baseball League        
  NorthWL = Northwoods League          
  NYCBL = New York Collegiate Baseball League        
  PrL = Prospect League            
  TCL = Texas Collegiate League          
  WCL = West Coast League          
  WMBL = Western Major Baseball League        

We’re not sure there are a lot of lessons to be drawn from these teams, either, except for one thing: many of these teams suffered through front-office and ownership changes immediately before the beginning of the year, hampering their ability to promote and sell sponsorships. Building a baseball business is hard work, and people underestimate how fragile a front office can be.

 

RELATED STORIES: 2011 Baseball Attendance by Average; 2011 Affiliated Attendance by Average; 2011 Affiliated Attendance by League; 2011 Affiliated Attendance by Total; 2011 Independent Attendance by Average; 2011 Independent Attendance by Total; 2011 Independent Average Attendance by League; 2011 Summer-Collegiate Attendance by Average; 2011 Summer-Collegiate Attendance by Total; 2011 Summer-Collegiate Attendance by League

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