Cactus League sets annual attendance record
More than 1.9 million fans attended Cactus League spring-training games in 2017, league officials said.
The actual number, 1,941,347, set an attendance record for the 15 professional baseball clubs that play in Maricopa County. The previous record was 1,902,903, set in 2015, Cactus League officials said.
The overall attendance record includes games in the Cactus League’s 10 ballparks, as well as two games between the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds in Las Vegas that drew more than 22,000 fans combined.
The Cubs, the 2016 World Series champions, were the league’s highest-attended team for the fourth consecutive season. The team drew a record 251,899 fans in 17 games at Sloan Park in Mesa, averaging 14,818 fans per game in a stadium that seats 15,000.
Five of the top seven crowds in Cactus League history turned out in 2017, all of them at Sloan Park.
Weather often affects attendance figures in such a limited time frame, and the Cactus League did not have a rainout this year. The league had nine straight days with temperatures above 90 degrees at game time.
“We’re grateful for the Major League Baseball fans who flocked to ballparks across Maricopa County this spring,” Cactus League President Jeff Meyer said. “These numbers show that the Cactus League is as robust and popular as ever.”
The Cubs were not the only team that saw an increase in attendance.
Five others — the Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies and Oakland A’s — set their own single-game attendance records, the Cactus League said.
The Indians, the 2016 American League champions, saw the largest average attendance jump, to 6,645 per game at Goodyear Ballpark from 5,442 last year.
Rounding out the top three on the list were the San Francisco Giants, with an overall attendance of 182,518 for the season, and the Diamondbacks, with a total attendance of 176,883.
The team with the lowest attendance was Cincinnati, with 72,852, an average of 4,285 per game.
“We’re grateful for the Major League Baseball fans who flocked to ballparks across Maricopa County this spring.” JEFF MEYER CACTUS LEAGUE PRESIDENT