EV Tribune: Cactus League sets attendance record

Not much of a Bonds effect in Scottsdale, but I can’t imagine attendance will hold up well in SF.

The just-concluded Cactus League season set records for total attendance and per-game turnout.

“Not too bad,” league president J.P. de la Montaigne deadpanned Thursday.

Attendance this year was 1,316,160 for 177 games, which comes out to about 7,436 fans per game.
Once again, the top turnstile count was recorded at Mesa’s HoHoKam Park, home of the Chicago Cubs. The defending champions of the National League’s Central Division drew 181,280 fans in 15 games, and their average attendance of 12,085 was almost 22 percent higher than the runner-up San Francisco Giants.
The Scottsdale-based Giants suffered a slight drop in attendance from 2007, perhaps due to the absence of all-time home run leader Barry Bonds. Still, their per-game count of 9,929 was 10 percent better than the third-place Seattle Mariners, who train in Peoria.

“They did almost 10,000,” de la Montaigne said. “I think anybody would be happy with that.”