Portland moves up in minor-league baseball town rankings
Photo / Jim Neuger
Portland came in No. 8 in SmartAsset's 2019 list of minor-league baseball towns. The report made no mention of the Portland Sea Dogs mascot, Slugger, shown here at a game this past season.
Give Slugger a high five and pass the Sea Dog Biscuits, Portland is in the big leagues of minor-league baseball towns.
The latest scorecard by New York-based personal-finance technology company SmartAsset puts Portland at No. 8 nationally among the "best towns for minor league baseball." That's up four notches from last year's No. 12 showing.
Round Rock, Texas, home of the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros known as the Express, topped the 2019 list, which calculated scores for 25 cities based on game-day experience and quality of life factors.
Average attendance, win percentages and minor league class were all factored into the game-day experience score, while quality of life was calculated based on things like violent and personal crime rates, income minus median housing costs and unemployment rates.
Portland, the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, scored in the top half of the study for all quality of life metrics with a violent crime rate of 277 incidents per 100,000 residents and unemployment of 2.3%
The study's authors also note that while the team didn't do great on the field this year, winning only 49% of games, it still pulls in an average of 5,677 fans per game.
Chris Cameron, the Portland Sea Dogs' vice president of communications and fan experience, confirmed the average attendance figure to Mainebiz and said that number puts it at 4th out of 12 Eastern League teams, sixth out of 30 Double-A teams and 34th out of 176 Minor League Baseball teams.
"It is truly an honor to have Portland highlighted as one of the best minor-league towns in America again this season," he said Tuesday. "It is a testament to the tremendous support the Sea Dogs have received from the community over our 26 seasons in Portland"
He added that despite playing in one of the smaller markets, the Sea Dogs are always among the league attendance leaders, and that more than 10 million fans have come to games in the team's 25-year history.
"A large part of the success comes from creating a fun family atmosphere at an affordable price for our fans, creating a lifetime of memories," he said.
The latest SmartAsset ranking comes nearly three months after the Sea Dogs' strong showing in merchandise sales, scoring in the top 15% of 160 professional ball teams associated with major-league franchises.
For those already counting down to the 2020 season, the Hadlock Field home opener is scheduled for April 16. The Sea Dogs will be playing an evening game against the Trenton Thunder, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees.
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