Las Vegas Ballpark Proving to be Big Hit with Fans

As Don Logan leans back in his chair during a recent Aviators game at Las Vegas Ballpark, he's flashing a smile that can best be interpreted as 50 percent exhaustion, 50 percent satisfaction.
Exhaustion because Logan is nearing the end of another long day of meetings, ballpark tours, media interviews and various other responsibilities associated with being the president and COO of a baseball club that's in its first season in a brand-new home. Satisfaction because it's a Monday night, and another 8,393 fans have passed through the turnstiles to enjoy the Aviators' 4-2 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers.
While this particular crowd falls just short of another sellout (a rarity in this young season), that will change in about 12 hours when 12,111 fans (including 6,000 Clark County School District fifth-graders) fill Las Vegas Ballpark for a 10:35 a.m. game that will cap a season-long 12-game homestand. The largest crowd in the ballpark's six-week history - and the 20^th sellout in 24 games - will push the season-long attendance to 230,809.
In fact, when the Aviators return home Tuesday to begin a brief four-game homestand against the Albuquerque Isotopes, they will do so leading all 30 Triple-A franchises in total and per-game (9,617) attendance. And if you find that fact a little surprising, well, you're not alone.
"I knew it was going to be really good," Logan says of the early-season support from Aviators fans. "I didn't know it would be this good."
Ask Logan to pinpoint the reason fans have been flocking to the new ballpark in Downtown Summerlin, and he'll mention several factors. First and foremost, he credits his entire staff for their long hours of hard work that started months before the April 9 home opener (and have continued since). Then there's the ballpark itself, a state-of-the-art, 10,000-seat facility loaded with amenities from top to bottom and all points in between.
During the stadium's early planning stages, Logan and General Manager Chuck Johnson traveled to multiple new-age Triple-A venues like BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte, North Carolina, First Tennessee Park in Nashville, Southwest University Park in El Paso, Texas, and Raley Field in Sacramento, California. Logan says those visits inspired ideas such as the group party decks down the left- and right-field lines, the kids' play zone and the Hangar Bar just beyond the swimming pool in right-center field.
Just as integral to the ballpark's appeal are unique features like 22 spacious suites, comfortable mesh seating throughout, a wide concourse, numerous first-rate food options, a massive LED scoreboard and the opportunity for fans to circle the stadium 360 degrees throughout the game.
"The place is really cool," says Logan, who has been with Las Vegas' Triple-A franchise since its second season in 1984, serving as an executive since 1986. "The primary reason we went with mesh seats was to keep fans cool during the summer. But the secondary residual benefit is how comfortable they are. Also, the way the seats are sloped, it's easier to see the game. Plus, the scoreboard and sound system are incredible, the food options are second to none, and the destinations in the park like the kids play area and the outfield bar are really popular. Then there's the unique perspective from [beyond] the outfield, whether you're in the pool or you're walking along the left-field wall - you just don't get that at any [other] ballpark.
"This feels like a big-league park. Actually, it is a big-league park, just with 10,000 seats."
And a big reason for that? The investment commitment from The Howard Hughes Corporation, which owns the Aviators and financed 50 percent of Las Vegas Ballpark.
"You really have to give The Hughes Corp. a ton of credit, because they were willing to spend what it took to do it right," Logan says. "This wasn't about, 'Here's the budget; adhere to it.' Certainly, there were financial controls on the budget, but when push came to shove on certain things, the response was always, 'Let's do what's best. Let's do the right thing.'"
That first-class approach was certainly appreciated by Southern Nevada baseball fans, who purchased season tickets in record numbers prior to the start of the season - in fact, every seat between the dugouts is sold out.
Of course, the big test as it pertains to attendance is on the horizon: As May gives way to June and temperatures climb consistently into triple digits, will the Aviators be able to sustain their current pace, which projects to more than 673,000 fans - a figure that would shatter the franchise's single-season record of 387,815 set in 1992, when the team was known as the Las Vegas Stars?
Time will tell, but a few advantages (beyond youth) that Las Vegas Ballpark has over the franchise's previous home of Cashman Field include the location in Summerlin, which is nearly 1,000 feet higher and 5 to 7 degrees cooler than downtown Las Vegas; large ceiling fans circulating air throughout the concourse; the swimming pool that's available to groups on a per-game basis; and water features in the kids' zone.
This much is certain, though: That all-time attendance figure from 1992 will soon drop to second place. And nobody is happier about that than Logan, who has long believed there's truth to the old baseball cliché "If you build it, they will come."
"I was hoping - hope upon hope - that our attendance this year would be around 500,000," he says. "I thought that was a good goal at the beginning. Now we're on pace for more than 600,000."
With that, the Aviators' boss grins once more - only this smile evokes 100 percent satisfaction.