Dragons to Celebrate 1,000th Straight Sell-Out

Dayton, Ohio-The Dayton Dragons Professional Baseball Club will celebrate the 1,000th consecutive sell-out on Saturday, May 10 when the Dragons host the Fort Wayne TinCaps at 7:05 p.m. at Fifth Third Field. The Dragons broke the all-time North American record for consecutive sold-out dates on July 9, 2011 when they reached their 815th straight sell-out, surpassing the previous record of 814 set by the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association from 1977-'95.

Every game in the Dragons 15-year history has been a sell-out at Fifth Third Field, beginning with the Dragons inaugural opening night on April 27, 2000. Fifth Third Field has 7,230 stadium-style fixed seats including 29 luxury suites, three party decks, and additional lawn seating.  

"This is an amazing milestone for this team, our fantastic fans and our great community," said Robert Murphy, Dragons President. "We want to say thank you and congratulations to the very best sports fans in the country. You made this accomplishment happen and you should be very proud that this community has done something that no one has ever done in the history of sports. One thousand consecutive sell outs: Remarkable."

The Dragons have drawn more than 8.4 million fans over their 15-year history and have led Single-A Minor League Baseball in attendance in each season. The Dragons set the all-time Single-A record for single-season attendance in 2000 and broke the record in 2003, 2004, and 2010. Their 2010 total of 597,433 is the current Single-A record. The Dragons 14 years of operation have marked the top 14 season attendance totals in Single-A history. The Dragons have also finished in the top-10 in attendance for all levels of Minor League Baseball for each of their 14 previous seasons.

The Dragons averaged 8,405 fans per date in 2013. They are averaging 8,466 per date in 2014.

Among the 1,000 sold out dates at Fifth Third Field have been two Midwest League All-Star Games (2001, 2013), nine playoff games, and 989 regular season games. Fans at Fifth Third Field have seen 65 Dragons players who eventually advanced to the Major Leagues. The list includes former National League Most Valuable Player Joey Votto; Major League all-stars Jay Bruce, Adam Dunn, Edwin Encarnacion, and Travis Wood; professional baseball's all-time stolen base king, Billy Hamilton; and big league standouts Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey, Todd Frazier, Chris Heisey, Zack Cozart, Devin Mesoraco, and many others.

The Dragons plan to unveil a commemorative banner at the end of the fifth inning on Saturday that will be permanently displayed at Fifth Third Field.

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