Sports stats



AtL Southern Maryland Blue Crabs

Blue Crabs Attendance On The Rise In '09

October 8, 2009 - Atlantic League (AtL)
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs News Release


Amidst the team's first ever playoff run, fans of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs responded in record numbers to the franchise's second season of Atlantic League Baseball at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf this past summer. After a solid first year showing of 226,086 fans in 2008 for 70 home games (3,230 fans per game), the Charles County ballpark drew 256,548 fans during the 2009 season for 74 home games, which included four playoff games.

The Blue Crabs clinched their first playoff spot in franchise history by winning the Atlantic League Liberty Division first half title with a 42-28 record, and went on to finish 79-61 overall on the regular season. After besting the Long Island Ducks three games to two in the Divisional Playoff round, Southern Maryland was defeated by the Somerset Patriots three games to one in the Atlantic League Championship Series.

Drawing a total of 239,541 fans during the regular season, an increase of 13,455 from 2008, the average crowd for a Blue Crabs home game increased to 3,422. The '09 per game attendance increases to 3,467 when you include the playoff games, where the franchise drew 17,007 fans total in four openings. The season's largest crowd came on Opening Night, April 23. Southern Maryland hosted the Long Island Ducks and drew a Regency Furniture Stadium record 7,241 fans to watch former New York Yankees left-hander Brad Halsey pitch for Long Island, against the right-handed knuckleballer and 2008 Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year Joe Gannon for Southern Maryland. In total, the attendance at Regency Furniture Stadium for Blue Crabs games increased by 30,462 fans.

"As an organization, we are very impressed with the dramatic increase in attendance from last season," said Blue Crabs General Manager Chris Allen. "Certainly we had a great team on the field, and I hope we delivered a great night at the ballpark for everyone with our promotions, entertainment and baseball action. Rest assured this franchise still has plenty of goals, and we're all hard at work already to make the 2010 season even better; I can see us announcing another attendance record next year at this time thanks to the great support we receive from the Southern Maryland community," Allen continued.

Followers of Southern Maryland Blue Crabs baseball are encouraged to stay tuned to the team's official website, www.somdbluecrabs.com, for offseason news and happenings and the 2010 schedule which will be posted in the coming weeks. Once the schedule is finalized, 2010 season tickets and mini-plans will be available for purchase this winter. Individual game tickets start as low as six dollars. For more information, please contact the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs front office by calling 301-638-9788.

The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs are a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, and play at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, Maryland. Please call 301-638-9788 or visit www.somdbluecrabs.com for more information and to save your seat at the ballpark today!

Check out the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Atlantic League message board...

Atlantic League Stories from October 8, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central