With the COVID-19 pandemic subsiding in some parts of the world, fans are returning to baseball stadiums in droves. According to a report by MLB.com, the total attendance for Major League Baseball games in 2023 was 70,747,365, which is a 9.6% increase from the previous year.
The encouraging thing to see for the sport is that not only is attendance on the rise after the 2020 season where fans were not allowed to attend, but it’s also on the rebound from a drop in attendance after a high of over 72 million in 2017.
2017: 72,678,797
2018: 69,671,272
2019: 68,506,896
2023: 70,747,365
This is good for Major League Baseball, but what about the Minor Leagues?
Per Baseball America, “Minor League Baseball’s 120 ticket-selling clubs drew 32,137,365 fans in announced attendance in 2023. That’s up from 30,916,465 fans in 2022, which is a 3.95% increase. On a per-game basis, the average attendance improved to 4,076 fans per game, up from 3,910 fans per game in 2022. That’s a 4.25% increase.”
Attendance in games run by the Complex Leagues is not tracked because they don’t sell tickets to attend the games (they are free of charge).
The Florida State League teams are among the lowest attended games in the Minor Leagues, with Dunedin drawing the worst crowd.
Below is a table of teams, their total attendance for 2023 and the average attendance per game. AA Somerset had the best draw of the Yankees affiliates with selling 80% or more of available seats.
The 6 worst attended teams follow Clearwater, who has far and away the best draw of any team in the FSL. It should be noted that Jupiter & Palm Beach share a stadium and they did not allow fans for 2 of the 6 games in a series.
| Team | 2023 Total | 2023 Average/Game | 2023 YoY | 2022 Total | 2022 Average/Game | 2023 YoY | 2021 Total | 2021 Average/Game |
| Somerset Patriots | 352,293 | 5,181 | 0% | 351,142 | 5,241 | 71% | 205,246 | 3,450 |
| SWB RailRiders | 336,162 | 4,944 | 1% | 331,286 | 4,666 | 40% | 236,559 | 3,725 |
| Hudson Valley Renegades | 183,649 | 2,870 | 0% | 184,055 | 2,876 | 47% | 125,599 | 2,093 |
| Lehigh Valley IronPigs | 567,322 | 7,847 | 4% | 544,220 | 7,665 | 53% | 356,355 | 5,568 |
| Reading Fightin Phils | 384,563 | 5,916 | 4% | 368,068 | 5,577 | 62% | 226,667 | 4,012 |
| Jersey Shore BlueClaws | 287,602 | 4,793 | 12% | 256,141 | 4,269 | 70% | 150,873 | 2,557 |
| Buffalo Bisons | 487,205 | 7,165 | 8% | 451,859 | 6,846 | 125% | 200,752 | 3,187 |
| New Hampshire Fisher Cats | 236,809 | 3,947 | -16% | 282,514 | 4,346 | 54% | 183,750 | 3,434 |
| Vancouver Canadians | 297,437 | 4,876 | -5% | 313,256 | 5,135 | 1880% | 15,822 | 266 |
| Clearwater Threshers | 157,072 | 2,493 | 3% | 151,983 | 2,412 | 41% | 108,111 | 1,864 |
| Bradenton Marauders | 65,598 | 1,075 | 16% | 56,522 | 870 | 48% | 38,207 | 642 |
| Tampa Tarpons | 58,150 | 986 | 25% | 46,627 | 914 | 34% | 34,842 | 601 |
| Lakeland Flying Tigers | 38,202 | 616 | 7% | 35,855 | 618 | 33% | 26,894 | 456 |
| Jupiter Hammerheads | 35,515 | 888 | -16% | 42,156 | 669 | 109% | 20,197 | 345 |
| Palm Beach Cardinals | 33,067 | 870 | -10% | 36,880 | 605 | 30% | 28,440 | 486 |
| Dunedin Blue Jays | 31,210 | 495 | 28% | 24,402 | 381 | 143% | 10,043 | 167 |
The greatest change in attendance from 2022 to 2023 (year-over-year, referred to as YoY herein) was in the Florida State League (FSL), with Dunedin and Tampa showing the greatest increase in attendance, with 28% and 25% change, respectively. As noted earlier, Palm Beach & Jupiter had some attendance restrictions and that was reflected in the negative YoY change.
The Blue Jays affiliates saw both positive and negative YoY change in 2023, with AAA Buffalo and Single-A Dunedin having the only attendance increase and High-A Vancouver and AA New Hampshire dropping a bit compared to 2022. Vancouver had the highest YoY increase in 2022, likely because of the strict social distancing restrictions in Canada.
The Phillies affiliates had the most positive YoY change overall in 2023, and that is likely because of the performance of the parent club in 2022 as well as in 2023. Single-A Clearwater outperformed all the league rivals in 2023 as they have in recent years, and AAA Lehigh Valley had the most total and average attendance in all of MiLB. There is something the organization overall is doing right, whether it’s drafting and signing the right talent in prospects or promotions given the increase they’ve shown compared to other organizations.
Looking at the Yankee affiliates, YoY attendance in 2023 was for the most part flat if not showing minimal increases, with AA Somerset decreasing in attendance in 2023. Tampa had the biggest positive change at 25% despite attracting the smallest crowd of the 4 full-season affiliates. This can be attributed to the fanbase souring towards the farm system and the organization as a whole, which would be the opposite of what the Phillies are seeing, for example.
The distance in attendance between the 3 Tampa Bay area teams is vast. Clearwater drew nearly 3 times as many fans as Tampa, and 5 times as many as nearby Dunedin. And it’s not necessarily that Clearwater is so much better than the others, but it’s in what they offer for concessions and daily promotions.
Clearwater’s biggest draws are on Tuesdays, which they promote as “Dollar Tuesdays”, with $1 hot dogs, sodas, draft beers, among other concessions and $1 berm tickets. This is the best value promotion of the 3 teams being discussed. Average attendance on Tuesdays is around 4,000.
Clearwater also draws well on Saturdays where they have a large fireworks show. Average attendance on Saturdays is near 5,000.
Clearwater also drew the best crowd in the FSL in years with their 4th of July game in 2023, which also drove larger than normal crowds to the other affiliates. Clearwater had a crowd of 8,847, while Dunedin had 1,831. Tampa held their fireworks show on the 3rd with an attendance of 2,682, their largest since 2017.
Compare that to 2019 4th of July attendance, with 10,055 for Clearwater (a greater than capacity crowd; capacity is 8,800), 2,260 for Tampa, 134 in Dunedin and 3,499 in Lakeland, who also doesn’t draw well despite their proximity to Tampa and Orlando.
Tampa has gradually increased their attendance over the years, and has seen attendance patterns like what MLB has seen with a peak in 2017, a slide in attendance through to 2019 and the recovery after the 2020 season that wasn’t.
They may have the most “reason” to not draw well, per se. Tampa is a major city in Florida, and has lots of activities, including the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team which sells out every home game.
Tampa also had some of the worst promotions in the area in 2023, with no discounted tickets, beer or hot dog promotions. They did offer $2 dog tickets on Tuesdays with “select concessions” also $2 (usually popcorn and Cracker Jacks).
Throwing it back to their attendance high of 2017, they had promotions like $1 Hot Dog Mondays, BOGO burgers Tuesdays, Thirsty Thursdays ($3 beers and $1 sodas).
Dunedin’s TD Ballpark is tucked into a quiet neighborhood that’s not entirely near a major thoroughfare like how Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field is just off of Dale Mabry Highway and Clearwater’s BayCare Ballpark abuts US-19.
Dunedin’s 2023 promotions included “TD Tuesday” where if you visit one of two TD Bank branches, you can get a free ticket and popcorn, plus they offer $2 hot dogs to all fans. Wednesdays offer $2 tickets, hamburgers, peanuts and popcorn. The best attendance I had seen in 2023 was not on dollar beer night (Thursdays) but BOGO margaritas and frozen drinks night (Fridays). Fridays overall draw better than other weekdays, but this promotion was popular as well.
* Realistically, Florida-based teams will never draw as well as their Northern compatriots mostly because of the hot and muggy nights that accompany most games. Add to that the stormy weather we see here in the Sunshine State on a regular basis, and that makes watching a game that much more uncomfortable and, in many cases, when considering a rain delay, inconvenient, especially for families that have to deal with work and school the next day.
The Tampa Bay area was fortunate to see less than a half dozen rainouts in 2023, although that’s led to a significant drought leading into the dry season. But comparing that to 2022, teams like Tampa had 20+ rain-related postponed games, whether they were a delay that led to a postponement or just postponed altogether. There were some weeks where nearly the entire series was rained out and Minor League Baseball rules only allow for so many games to be played within a certain time frame. That is, we didn’t see any tripleheaders because the next day would also see a doubleheader.
So what are teams to do aside from aggressive promotions like Clearwater does? Nothing really. FSL and FCL teams are like “loss leaders”, as you might say in the retail industry akin to the front page $200 TVs on Black Friday ads. They’re all run by the respective Major League organizations and solely exist to spark player development. That’s partly why we see so many rehab assignments with the various teams in the Tampa Bay area, but a lot of that is to do with the respective organization’s complex facilities housing high-quality rehab equipment, facilities and trainers that are out of the spotlight and media of Yankee Stadium, Citizens Bank Park, and Rogers Centre, among others.
The parent organizations aren’t going to pour money into teams and facilities here like other affiliates might (the renovation of Heritage Bank Park is a good example of that), unless they see a net benefit from the Spring Training crowds that will inevitably show up for 6 weeks out of the year. The fields in and around George M. Steinbrenner Field have seen and are currently experiencing renovation, likely for drainage improvements. This would see more benefit to the Yankees affiliate than it would in the spring.
