For years, concerns about less than enthusiastic attendance for Class AAA Omaha games at Rosenblatt Stadium were met in some quarters with claims that if Omaha had a contending team, then it would surely put bodies in the seats.
Well?
First-place Omaha comes back to Werner Park on Monday night for its final homestand of the regular season, a four-game series with Round Rock that starts at 7:05.
Though Omaha still has some work to do to clinch the PCL's American Conference North title — its magic number to clinch a playoff berth was six heading into Sunday's play — this series also serves as a first-round playoff preview. Omaha and Round Rock would meet in the best-of-five American Conference championship series starting Sept. 7, with Game 3 in Omaha on Sept. 9.
And the average attendance for this series will likely double the attendance for the home playoff games.
"For as many people who have said, 'Field a winner and we'll support you,' over the years, we should have 800,000 people here for the playoffs," Storm Chasers General Manager Martie Cordaro said.
Cordaro was just joking, as the industry standard in minor league baseball is for playoff attendance to drop significantly.
It's just more evidence that attendance at the minor league level — for the most part — isn't about winning or the prospects. It's about the ballpark, the amenities and the advance ticket sales for groups and in ticket packages.
Meanwhile, the Omaha front office has had about as good a season as it could get — from the new ballpark, to renaming the team to Storm Chasers, to industry award recognition, to getting multiple prospects from a loaded Kansas City farm system, to having a first-place team.
Making the playoffs for the first time since 1999 is about all that's left.
"It's been a great first year, and you have to include some of the special events (at the ballpark) that we've had, too," Cordaro said. "In a normal year, you don't really worry about the playoffs, but because of all the positive momentum we have from everything that's happened this year, going on to the playoffs would be the icing on the cake."
Attendance at the new park is up 4.3 percent — or 248 fans per game — from last year, but the size of the crowds has been much more consistent. Instead of swinging wildly from more than 10,000 for some weekend games to 1,000 for weeknights, the Chasers have consistently drawn 4,000 or more, with two "hard" sellouts of 9,023.
In other words, had Rosenblatt's capacity been capped at 9,023, attendance this season would be up 16.1 percent.
Cordaro admits that he and his staff could use a little downtime — yes, they do work in the offseason, too. But a playoff run would be welcomed, even if the profit margin, if there is one, isn't as high.
"It's been 312 straight years, nonstop, in the evolution of the franchise," he said. "We've been to every open house, every ribbon-cutting. We've been beating the streets. And the second part of it was working on the ballpark process ... and we wouldn't have had the ballpark had we not been doing the other part of it."
On the field, Omaha has pressed on despite losing current Kansas City regulars in first baseman Eric Hosmer, second baseman Johnny Giavotella, third baseman Mike Moustakas, catcher Salvador Perez, starting pitcher Danny Duffy and relievers Greg Holland, Louis Coleman, Blake Wood and Everett Teaford through the course of the season.
So if you're not impressed by the non-baseball stuff, there's proof of success on the field, too.
"All you have to do to see what's happened on the field here is to look at the (Kansas City) boxscores," Cordaro said. "Almost the entire infield and the bullpen ... it's Storm Chasers. It's been exciting."
Contact the writer:
402-444-1027, rob.white@owh.com
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