The Municipal Top 10: Best minor league baseball towns
While COVID-19 has waylaid many minor league baseball teams’ seasons, we still wanted to honor America’s pastime this July in addition to the towns that host teams. On September 24, 2019, SmartAsset posted the 2019 edition of its “Best Minor League Baseball Towns.”
The website noted, “While Major League Baseball is what you are most likely to see on television, baseball fans in cities across the country flock to the ballpark to watch the stars of tomorrow hone their craft in Minor League Baseball.”
So for the sixth consecutive year, SmartAsset analyzed the data to find the best minor league baseball towns in America using nine different factors, which were under two umbrellas: game-day experience factors and quality of life factors.
The nine factors include average attendance; average attendance as a percentage of maximum capacity; win percentage; minor league class; violent crime rate; property crime rate; income after housing; unemployment rate; and dining and entertainment establishments.
Round Rock, Texas, home of the Express, a Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, came out on top with the 11th highest attendance, an average of 7,849 fans per game, a decent winning record of 60-percent of its game in 2019, among other factors. Texas, in general, did well in the rankings.
1 – Round Rock, Texas (Round Rock Express)
2 – San Antonio, Texas (San Antonio Missions)
3 – Frisco, Texas (Frisco RoughRiders)
4 – Columbus, Ohio (Columbus Clippers)
5 – Des Moines, Iowa (Iowa Cubs)
6 – El Paso, Texas (El Paso Chihuahuas)
7 – Amarillo, Texas (Amarillo Sod Poodles)
8 – Portland, Maine (Portland Sea Dogs)
9 – Durham, North Carolina (Durham Bulls)
10 – Reno, Nevada (Reno Aces)