Sports Headlines
Cactus League sets attendance record with 1.31 million fans
08:49 AM MST on Friday, March 28, 2008
PHOENIX (AP) -- Arizona's Cactus League set a new attendance mark of 1.31 million fans this spring, about 3.6 percent higher than the record of 1.27 million set in 2005.
Spring training in Arizona's ballparks ended on Thursday.
The Chicago Cubs drew 181,280 fans in 15 games at Mesa's HoHoKam Park, about 2.5 percent above last year but shy of the team's spring attendance mark of 193,993 set in 2005.
The San Francisco Giants held their spot as No. 2 in attendance with 148,935 fans visiting Scottsdale Stadium.
Five of the 12 Cactus League teams set season attendance marks -the Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies.
Surprise, which hosts the Royals and Rangers, had more than $2 million in ticket sales, said Mark Coronado, Surprise Community & Recreation Services director. He attributed the attendance records to good weather and a schedule that included night games and a lot of fan-favorite matchups.
The Rockies, defending National League champs, increased their average attendance 34 percent to 5,182.
But with the exception of the Diamondbacks, the three teams training in Tucson draw far fewer fans than the teams in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The Diamondbacks drew 110,858 in 15 games to Tucson Electric Park, which they share with the Chicago White Sox.
---
Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
More Sports News
Interact
Upload your news pics View pics
Weather pics - Got a great shot of the weather or just a beautiful Arizona sunset?
Popular Stories







You must be logged in to contribute. Log in | Register Now!
You are logged in as screenname | Log Out
You are logged in, but do not have a "screen" name. Create a Screen Name