Cactus League Numbers Up 15% in 2009

With the economy in a downturn, they usually say in economics that beer and ice cream do well financially. Should we add baseball to the list? This year, the Cactus League nearly matched the Grapefruit League’s attendance for the first time. Contributing to this were the addition of a new team to the league and the addition of a former team. The Cactus League also had some attendance records for some of the teams that have called Arizona their spring home for a while.

While the addition of the Los Angeles Dodgers to the mix may have been a huge contributing factor, the numbers are still coming in. Additionally we are awaiting the Spring Training totals across both leagues. Regardless, the numbers were up here locally, which bodes well for the local economy.

Some additional interesting numbers include the Dodger’s 80% visitor increase from Vero Beach, which would validate that the Blue Crew move to Arizona was a great decision. Scottsdale Stadium attendance was up 11%. The Chicago Cubs also set both a single game and season attendance record.

Additional highlights included:

• Cactus League baseball attracted a record 1.5 million fans this season.
• 13,327 fans for the Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox at Mesa on March 27, the league’s largest crowd ever.
• 203,105 fans attended Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, a Cubs team and Cactus League season record.
• 73,060 fans attended eight games on March 21.
• 1,643 fans showed for the Los Angeles Angels vs. Oakland A’s game at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Feb. 26, the season’s smallest crowd.

Highlights Source: AZ Central, Cactus League Attendance Figures for ‘09 Up. April 3, 2009 (accessed April 4, 2009). http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2009/04/02/20090402sr-baseball0403.html