Quote:
Originally Posted by Boston Red
What is the Reds' obligation to Dayton?!? And how is Dayton a crown jewel?!?
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How many Low A teams average 8500ish attendance per game?
For that matter, let's see how the measure up to the other Reds farm teams:
Louisville: 8690
Carolina: 3836
Sarasota: 501
Dayton: 8541
Billings: 2900
Additionally, Dayton currently has better average attendance than any AA team.
In fact, so far this season, these are the teams with better (or close to the same) average attendance:
Code:
team att. #g /g
Columbus 579,557 61 9500
Lehigh Valley 545,465 60 9091
Pawtucket 517,637 58 8924
Louisville 556,180 64 8690
Sacramento 567,450 63 9007
Round Rock 519,984 59 8813
Albuquerque 497,480 59 8431
Common note on the above? They're all AAA teams.
Dayton is about as "Reds country" as Cincinnati itself. The Dayton area fans, including those from the northern Miami valley (up to around Sidney at least) tend to be quite loyal Reds fans. It can be tough to get to Reds games regularly from up there, though. The Dragons give those fans the opportunity to maintain and even strengthen their affinity for the Reds and, given a decent flow of prospects through Dayton, give them additional incentive to go to Reds games as they follow those players that were prospects they were fans of in Dayton.
For a club like the Reds, where fan apathy seems to be the current norm, these fans, en masse, Dayton, particularly with a healthy sprinkling of real prospects, helps keep the Reds relevant with a significant number of fans in the area.
For reference, the Dayton Metropolitan Area (Montgomery, Miami, Preble, and Greene counties) is ranked 61st in the country by population . Relevant to this discussion regarding Reds and Dragons fans, I think Darke (53K), Shelby (50ishK) and Clark (140ishK) counties should be considered part of this metro area as well.