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Dayton Business Journal...
The streak: Dayton
Dragons near all-time sellout record
By Eric Fisher, DBJ Contributor
Monday, June 13, 2011
At first glance, it does not make the least bit of sense.
The Dayton Dragons, poised early next month to set the U.S.
professional sports record for consecutive home sellouts, play in one
of the most economically ravaged areas of the country. As a Class A
minor league baseball team from the Midwest League, the Dragons don’t
have a fraction of the player name recognition or star power of any of
the big league sports teams.
With 70 home games a year, the Dragons suffer all the same vagaries of
weather and less attractive Tuesday night dates as any other baseball
team playing outdoors. Their first 11 seasons included only four
winning campaigns and just one in the last eight years.
Yet in this tightly knit southwestern Ohio region of about 1 million
people, the Dragons have sold out all 805 games thus far at their Fifth
Third Field since beginning play in 2000 in downtown Dayton. If rain
holds off over the next few weeks, the Dragons will surpass the
Portland Trail Blazers’ 16-year-old record of 814 straight home
sellouts on July 9.
Then they’ll throw a large-scale gala at the ballpark July 23
involving, among many others, minority team owners Magic Johnson and
Archie Griffin and a large collection of government and industry
officials. The event, in many ways, will celebrate the special,
historic and unusually deep bond between the Dragons, owner Mandalay
Baseball Properties and the Dayton region.
“They’ve absolutely captured lightning in a bottle,” said Pat O’Conner,
president of Minor League Baseball. “They hit on so many things in a
special way, and together they really exemplify what’s truly unique
about minor league baseball.
“You have stability of their affiliation (with the nearby Cincinnati
Reds) that stands out. You have a strong level of commitment from the
city and region’s public sector. You can’t overlook the high quality of
that management team and ownership. The facility and game-day
experience are first class in every way, and tickets remain affordable.
And they’ve fought hard against contentment and complacency.”
Read the rest of the story with links at the Dayton Business Journal
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