Joliet Slammers Attendance Way Down, Despite Winning Season

JOLIET, IL - The Joliet Slammers independent baseball team had a terrific season and the team plays tonight's pivotal Game 5 Frontier League Championship on the road against the Washington Wild Things. But putting a winning product on the field for the city-owned Joliet Route 66 Stadium has not translated into success at the gate. On Monday, Ballpark Digest founder Kevin Reichard published an in-depth analysis headlined, 2018 Independent Baseball Attendance Totals. The Joliet Slammers ranked 27th out of the 43 independent teams in terms of total attendance for the 2018 baseball season.

Friday's championship Game 3 drew about 1,960 fans and Saturday's Game 4 at Route 66 Stadium was slightly better, at 2,069 spectators, according to Frontier League statistics.

Overall, the Joliet Slammers struggled to draw large crowds to their home games despite the team's winning ways and despite efforts by the city to sink nearly $2.5 million in city funds for major stadium renovations in preparation for the 2018 campaign. The city's major purchase was the installation of FieldTurf.

The Slammers have drawn a total of 88,198 spectators over the course of 47 home games, according to the Ballpark Digest. In 2017, the Slammers drew 100,160 fans. The difference between last year and this season has been a 12-percent decline in fans showing up for the Slammers games.

The Slammers ranked seventh out of 12 Frontier League teams in terms of attendance. Among the teams mentioned in the Ballpark Digest report with a better attendance this season were:

• Schaumburg Boomers, who drew 149,255 fans to its 47 home games, an average attendance of 3,176. Schaumburg's attendance ranked 14th overall but it was down 7 percent from 2017 when the Boomers had 160,644 fans at its home games.
• Southern Illinois Miners had 109,691 fans for its 40 home games. It ranked 20th of 43.
• Florence Freedom had 105,805 fans for 45 ballgames, averaging 2,351. Unlike Joliet, Florence's attendance this season increased by 21 percent compared to 87,545 last year.

If you want to read the entire report,visit Ballpark Digest.

As for Joliet, the Slammers play Game 5 of their Frontier League championship at 7:05 p.m. tonight, Sept. 17 in Washington, Pennsylvania.

Images taken by John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor