MiLB attendance exceeds 41.5 million
Minor League Baseball™ announced today that its regular season attendance surpassed 41 million fans again this season, as it has done so for nearly a decade. The 41,553,781 fans that MiLB™ attracted in 2013 is nearly 275,000 more than last year's total. The industry also saw almost a 2% rise in average attendance, despite facing a multitude of weather issues early in the season.
"To experience increases in total and average attendance is a testament to the quality of our product and the ability of our clubs to adapt to conditions, be it weather, economic or otherwise," Minor League Baseball President & CEO Pat O'Conner said. "Attracting more than 41 million fans a year for nine years has helped solidify the Minor League Baseball brand to our partners and fans."
The Bisons themselves saw an increase of over 900 fans per game vs. 2012 -the largest season-to-season increase in the 26-year history of Coca-Cola Field. With an average of 8,273, Buffalo finished with the 4th highest in average in the International league despite leading the league in games lost because of weather. One of the postponements was the team's annual School Kids Day morning start that annually ranks as one of the club's top drawing events.
When the weather warmed, so did the crowds. The Bisons averaged 9,452 per game from the start of June to the end of the regular season. That average reached 10,198 during their 17 games in August.