Spring Training News

by Graham Knight

Empty seats were common at Goodyear Ballpark in 2009, even on its opening day

Goodyear's First Spring in the Cactus League Labeled A Success?
Goodyear's inaugural spring training was considered a success, at least by the city, which noted on their Web site:

"Almost 100,000 fans attended spring-training games at the Ballpark, a record for the Cleveland Indians. The final tally represents a 14 percent increase over the team's previous record in 2008. The season’s high attendance resulted in strong ticket sales, which grossed nearly $1.6 million and is about 17 to 20 percent higher than projected."

But there's some spin in that statement.

True, the Tribe set a total attendance record, but average game attendance was down 448 fans per game from 2008, Cleveland's final in Winter Haven.

Here's the team's home attendance numbers for comparison:

2009: 96,080 fans for 18 games, a 5,338 average
Goodyear Ballpark was filled to 53.4% of its capacity (10,000)

2008: 87,383 fans for 15 games, a 5,826 average
Winter Haven's Chain of Lakes Park was filled to 83.2% of its capacity (7,000)

So the case can be made that the Indians' first year in Goodyear wasn't anything but a success, despite the city's projections, which if accurate would have meant the per game average would've been only between 4,270 and 4,430. The Indians averaged more than 4,500 in each of their last five years in Winter Haven, which has almost exactly half the population of Goodyear (52,864 vs. 26,487).

Truth be told, it's hard to believe the truth is being told when the official word is "the season’s high attendance resulted in strong ticket sales." But it's even harder to believe that Goodyear expected such abysmal numbers in the first place. The economy may have been abysmal itself, but it wasn't that bad that the ballpark, on average, should not have been half full.

After all, if expectations were that low, why would the city be so eager to spend $108 million on a new ballpark and training complex in the first place?

Graham Knight spent most of spring training in 2009 at a ballpark, compiling the guides written for this Web site. He visited all 26 ballparks, starting in Goodyear on February 25 and finishing in Fort Myers on April 4. If that doesn't make him an expert, then maybe his eight previous trips to either the Cactus or Grapefruit League do. As for his News & Views, the news is, of course, the news, but any interpretations of the facts it contains are strictly based upon his experiences and opinions.