Cactus League sets attendance record

The just-concluded Cactus League season set records for total attendance and per-game turnout.

 View Cactus League attendance numbers

“Not too bad,” league president J.P. de la Montaigne deadpanned Thursday.

The previous records for Arizona spring training were set in 2005. Attendance this year was 1,316,160 for 177 games, which comes out to about 7,436 fans per game.

Once again, the top turnstile count was recorded at Mesa’s HoHoKam Park, home of the Chicago Cubs. The defending champions of the National League’s Central Division drew 181,280 fans in 15 games, and their average attendance of 12,085 was almost 22 percent higher than the runner-up San Francisco Giants.

The Scottsdale-based Giants suffered a slight drop in attendance from 2007, perhaps due to the absence of all-time home run leader Barry Bonds. Still, their per-game count of 9,929 was 10 percent better than the third-place Seattle Mariners, who train in Peoria.

“They did almost 10,000,” de la Montaigne said. “I think anybody would be happy with that.”

The other East Valley team, Tempe’s Los Angeles of Anaheim Angels, placed fifth with average attendance of 7,387.

De la Montaigne credited much of the attendance boom to the 2007 improvements enjoyed by the Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers.

Colorado caught fire in the season’s final weeks en route to its first-ever World Series appearance, and Milwaukee turned around years of ineptitude to contend for a playoff berth.

With fans responding positively to winning baseball, the Rockies and Brewers experienced per-game attendance jumps over March 2007 by more than one-third.

Also seeing increases by double-digit percentages were the Mariners and both teams training in Surprise: the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers.

Auguring well for the 2009 season were the crowds who came out to watch a Cactus League newcomer: the Los Angeles Dodgers. They played five games in Arizona before a total of almost 45,500 fans.

After decades training in Florida at Vero Beach’s legendary Dodgertown, the team is moving out West. Beginning next spring, the Dodgers will call Glendale home.

“It’s a great sign for next year,” de la Montaigne said. “Everywhere they played, they either sold out or had very big numbers.”

Also coming to Arizona in 2009 are the Cleveland Indians. They leave behind their antiquated facilities in Winter Haven, Fla., for a new stadium in Goodyear.

The pleasant weather also helped attendance, de la Montaigne said. Rain washed out only one contest: a San Diego Padres-Rockies game in Tucson on March 16. Also, 2008 was free of any of the scorching temperatures of last year, when the Valley endured nearly a week of highs in the 90s – including back-to-back 99s.

Last year, Cactus League fans contributed $310 million to Arizona’s economy, more than two-thirds of that spent in the Valley, according to an impact study by the Arizona Office of Tourism.