Tampa Bay Area Minor League Trends 2017 - By Team

As we saw in a previous post, Minor League Baseball attendance in the Tampa Bay area increased 5% from 2016. In 2017, Minor League Baseball in 2017 distributed a total 412,212 tickets between the area's four teams.

The totals of each Tampa Bay area teams:

• Clearwater Threshers: 200,293 total / 2,987 per game
• Tampa Yankees: 93,742 total / 1,420 per game
• Bradenton Marauders: 79,331 total / 1,300 per game
• Dunedin Blue Jays: 38,963 total / 562 per game

Clearwater and Tampa saw increases in attendance, while attendance dropped for Bradenton and Dunedin. The following charts depict each team's trends in attendance (total and per game) since 2005 - and 2010 in Bradenton's case. By team breakdowns will occur in a later post.

Clearwater Threshers

• Total: 200,293 (up 10%)
• Per Game: 2,987 (up 10%)
• Ranking in Minor League Baseball: 116 of 303

Total attendance since 2005:

Per game attendance since 2005:

Tampa Yankees

• Total: 93,792 (up 27%)
• Per Game: 1,420 (up 22%)
• Ranking in Minor League Baseball: 202 of 303

Total attendance since 2005:

Per game attendance since 2005:

Bradenton Marauders

• Total: 79,331 (down 9%)
• Per Game: 1,300 (down 3%)
• Ranking in Minor League Baseball: 214 of 303

Total attendance since 2005:

Per game average attendance 2005-2017:

Dunedin Blue Jays

• Total: 38,963 (down 22%)
• Per Game: 573 (down 26%)
• Ranking in Minor League Baseball: 296 of 303

Total attendance since 2005:

Per game average attendance 2005-2017:

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance Report - September 30, 2017

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Saturday, September 30, 2017:

Total Attendance: 15,416

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 80
• Attendance: 15,416
• Starting Pitcher: Chris Archer
• Opponent: Baltimore Orioles
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Miguel Castro
• Avg Attendance to Date: 15,635
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 17,677
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 18,450
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 17,862
• Promotions (if any): Giveaway
• Other events:
  
  • USF Football
  • Tampa Bay Tailgate Fest

No other local games played.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance Report - September 29, 2017

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Friday, September 29, 2017:

Total Attendance: 21,142

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 79
• Attendance: 21,142
• Starting Pitcher: Jake Odorizzi
• Opponent: Baltimore Orioles
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Wade Miley
• Avg Attendance to Date: 15,635
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 18,000
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 17,855
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 14,587
• Promotions (if any): $7.11 tickets and $5 drafts
• Other events: None

No other local games played.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance Report - September 21, 2017

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Thursday, September 21, 2017:

Total Attendance: 0

No local games played.

Tampa Bay Area Minor League Baseball Totals 2017

In 2017, total attendance for Minor League Baseball in Tampa Bay was 412,212. In total, 260 Florida State League games were played between Bradenton, Clearwater, Dunedin, and Tampa.

412,212 was an increase of 20,128 over 2016's attendance of 392,084. While attendance increased, 2017's attendance was still the second lowest Tampa Bay area Minor League total since the Bradenton Marauders began play in 2010.

The following shows Tampa Bay area Minor League attendance totals since 2005:

Since 2005, almost 5 million tickets have been sold for Minor League Baseball in Tampa Bay.

Returning to 2017, here is how Minor League attendance fared throughout the season. Local Florida State League regular season games started on April 6th and ended on September 2nd.

The large attendance spike in the middle is the July 3-5th weekend. Each local team had a fireworks display that was among their highest draws of the year. The attendance spike on the right in mid-August was when St Lucie Met Tim Tebow visited the Tampa Yankees and Clearwater Threshers. Each team saw an influx of fans hoping to see the ex-NFL quarterback in action.

I'll break down each team later on this week, but here is the overall trends for each of the four local Florida State League teams:

Total Attendance

The following graph depicts the above chart:

Attendance Per Game

The following graph depicts the above chart.

A few things we will discuss in a later post:

• Clearwater's increase
• Dunedin's decrease
• Bradenton's missing games
• The Tebow Effect
• Where the four Tampa Bay Minor League teams rank nationally

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance Report - September 20, 2017

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Wednesday, September 20, 2017:

Total Attendance: 24,238

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 78
• Attendance: 24,238
• Starting Pitcher: Blake Snell
• Opponent: Chicago Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Jon Lester
• Avg Attendance to Date: 15,635
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 24,642
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 12,958
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 13,810
• Promotions (if any): App Wednesday
• Other events: None

No other local games played.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance Report - September 19, 2017

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Tuesday, September 19, 2017:

Total Attendance: 25,046

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 77
• Attendance: 25,046
• Starting Pitcher: Chris Archer
• Opponent: Chicago Cubs
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Mike Montgomery
• Avg Attendance to Date: 15,442
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 25,046
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 14,621
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 17,833
• Promotions (if any): $2 Kids Tuesday
• Other events: None

No other local games played.

Tampa Bay Rays Attendance Review: August 2017

Welcome to our fifth monthly review of the Tampa Rays 2017 attendance. This post will look at attendance in games played from August 4, 2017 to August 24, 2017.

• Total August 2017 Tampa Bay Rays home attendance: 216,867
• Average attendance per game: 14,457
• Highest attendance: 22,328 on Tuesday, August 8th
• Lowest attendance: 8,264 on Wednesday, August 23rd
• Average August game time: 3 hours, 0 minutes
• Highest attended series: 17,090 per game vs Red Sox, August 8-9
• Lowest attended series: 10,115 per game vs Blue Jays, August 22-24
• Competing events:
  
  • August 5: Tampa Bay Rowdies @ Al Lang Stadium (attendance 5,619)
  • August 19: Tampa Bay Rowdies @ Al Lang Stadium (attendance 6,710)
• Total Tampa Bay Minor League July attendance: 81,850
• Tampa Bay Minor League attendance per game: 1,637 (50 games)
• Houston Astros relocated games: 3 games - total attendance: 12,993

Comparing August 2017 with previous years

The following chart compares August 2017 average attendance to other recent years.

The average August 2017 attendance increased 11% (1,467 more fans per game) than the August 2016 per game average. August 2017 stopped a four year decline in average August attendance.

Weekdays vs Weekends

Let’s now look at the Rays June attendance on weekdays (Mon-Thurs) and weekends (Fri-Sun). As I have pointed out many times, the Rays usually have one of the biggest differences in Major League Baseball in regards to weekday versus weekend attendance.

August 2017 breakdown:

• Weekday home games: 6
• Weekend home games: 9

This chart shows the Rays average weekday attendance in August since 2007.

Weekday August attendance in 2017 increased 424 fans per game, giving the Rays their highest weekday August average since 2014. The last three years have been very similar. 2015-2017 are 1,800-1,500 per game less than a similar group in 2011-2013.

The following chart shows Rays average weekend attendance in August since 2007.

The Rays August weekend average attendance in 2017 was 2,828 less than their August average attendance in 2016. Rays August 2017 average attendance was the lowest of the Sternberg ownership.

Conclusion

For the first time in 5 years, August average attendance increased. However, although attendance on the weekdays was better than it was in 2016, attendance on weekends was not - and a larger percentage of the total number of August games.

August attendance is often a reflection of how the team is doing on the field. If the team is in contention, attendance tends to increase. However, if the team is not or falls out of the race, attendance will decline from July attendance and look more like April or May attendance.

The Rays struggled in August and so did attendance.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance Report - September 18, 2017

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Monday, September 18, 2017:

Total Attendance: 0

No local games scheduled.

Tampa Bay Baseball Attendance Report - September 17, 2017

Tampa Bay baseball attendance for Sunday, September 17, 2017:

Total Attendance: 14,936

Tampa Bay Rays:

• Team Home Game #: 76
• Attendance: 14,936
• Starting Pitcher: Jake Odorizzi
• Opponent: Boston Red Sox
• Opponent Starting Pitcher: Eduardo Rodriguez
• Avg Attendance to Date: 15,309
• Avg Attendance vs Opponent: 19,168
• Avg Attendance per Day of the Week: 17,185
• Avg Attendance for Starting Pitcher: 14,119
• Promotions (if any): Hooded towel giveaway
• Other events: Tampa Bay Buccaneers football - Raymond James Stadium

No other local games played.