PAWTUCKET, R.I. — One of Arnie Beyeler‘s challenges as manager of the Pawtucket Red Sox is how much turnover the roster experiences each season, either through trade, free agency or a big league call-up.
What’s remained constant over the years, though, has been fan support at McCoy Stadium.
“They’ve always done a good job here … at drawing people,” Beyeler said Thursday night after Pawtucket beat the Buffalo Bisons 4-2 in the teams’ 2012 season opener. “I know we get a lot of people [at games] down on the big league team and on the road, and they have a good following here as well.”
The PawSox’ season-opening win drew an official attendance of 8,872, just shy of the 8,908 mark the stadium has averaged the last seven years.
Since 2005, the PawSox have led the International League in attendance twice (’05 and ’06), never finishing lower than fourth (’10 and ’11) during that same time span.
In 2005, 2006 and 2008, the team averaged over 9,000 fans per game at McCoy Stadium, which seats a capacity of 10,333
“The people come out, especially when the weather gets a little warmer,” Beyeler said. “We fill this place up quite a bit. The front office here does a great job at that. So we got some good fans around here, and they come out win, lose or draw, or weather good and bad. They do a nice job.”
