Flying Squirrels attendance soars
The Richmond Flying Squirrels are on pace to welcome 450,000 fans to The Diamond this season, leading the Eastern League. Should that affect discussions about a new baseball stadium?
The Flying Squirrels lead the Eastern League this year in overall attendance (309,990) and average attendance per game (6,596).
The team’s vice president and COO, Todd “Parney” Parnell, said that in previous years, the Squirrels were “first in either average or overall [attendance]. But this year we’re leading in both.”
The Flying Squirrels inaugural season in 2010 brought an average of 6,626 fans per game.1 If projections play out, the Squirrels will beat that average. “It would be nice to average more fans in your fourth season than your inaugural one,” Parney said. “That’s why we’ve got to finish strong and run through the finish line.”
A new variable plays into Flying Squirrels attendance this year. The Redskins training camp will take place a short distance away from The Diamond. “It’s going to be interesting to see how the Redskins affect us. It’s definitely an unknown,” Parney said.
He added that this year’s attendance boon doesn’t null the need for a new, modern stadium. “The success of our team and of our gate at The Diamond doesn’t negate the fact that it’s an older facility,” Parney said. “Us being a league leader doesn’t make the number of stairs go away…the playing surface we’ve had trouble with go away…the inadequate scoreboard go away.”
He said that the stellar attendance underscores “how great our fan base is.” In that regard, the Flying Squirrels are one of the most successful teams in the league.
“Wouldn’t you rather build a new ballpark for a successful franchise rather than a failing franchise?” Parney said.
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Footnotes
- The team finished that year with a league-leading 463,842 total attendance, which would be difficult to top this year but still possible. ↩
photo by Anne Aurelia Lewis
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Nathan Cushing
Nathan Cushing is a writer, journalist, and RVANews Editor.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
haven’t decided whether to attend this season or not. last year didn’t go too well for bring your dog night. (don’t ask) but my chief complaint has to do with the pervasive urine smell in the concrete. it’s really pretty nasty, makes me nauseous. sorry but that’s the truth, (apologies to Lily Tomlin’s Edith Ann) —
We’ve been a few times this season and I will say this… with two toddlers, the green seats are the only way to go. Twice we’ve been to a sell out crowd (not on or around the 4th) and we COULD NOT find 3/4 seats together in general admission. Both times we ended up at the top of the seats sitting on the ledge where the big banners are, searching for a place to sit.
Bring on a new stadium as long as there is some corporate support. And to bring back the old argument, I say keep it central. That area is growing and improving. Also the access from all sides of the city is much better than what it would be if the ballpark was in the bottom.
So if the squirrels are setting the bar for the league with the older stadium, what is the incentive for a new stadium? Urine soaked concrete? Really?
the city should just build the stadium , this whole subject is beyond ridiculous , and when the revenue starts coming in , then the city gets the biggest cut of it , not the team , I am sure some kind of deal could be worked out , if not then try to get braves back from Gwinnett county , that was the worse move ever in my opinion , or just go for a pro team , maybe we could support it , probably not though because this town cannot agree on anything , the Richmond coliseum is a prime example of going nowhere , the venue brings very little into the city anymore , it was built in 1971 , the diamond was built in 1985 . now if Richmond had the courage , which they do not mind you , they would have addressed this long ago . so as we keep losing revenue to other cities , we will just keep doing studies of this and studies of that and not doing anything about it , that is what we are best at around here . hopefully this will change one day but do not hold your breath
Let’s keep in mind that Richmond’s competition for the attendance record includes some really tiny towns.