This year’s SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium drew the second most number of fans ever, with an attendance of 132,178 people, SEC officials announced tonight.
The record was set in 2013, when 134,496 fans showed up for the six-day tournament at the Hoover Met. Last year’s tournament drew 120,386 people, making it the seventh-most attended tournament.
An announced crowd of 7,998 showed up for today’s championship game between Vanderbilt and Florida, though many left in the third inning during a lengthy second rain delay.
This is the fourth year since the tournament was expanded to 17 games in 2012, compared to 12-15 games dating back to 1996.
“I’m very pleased,” said Craig Mattox, the tournament director for the SEC. “We’ve had a great tournament and some great matchups — great crowds for a great sport.”
LSU fans always bring a strong crowd, and if LSU had not been knocked out of the championship game by Florida on Saturday, this year’s overall attendance likely could have been a record, Mattox said. It only would have taken another 2,319 fans to break the record.
However, “we have a lot of schools that bring a lot of fans,” Mattox said, noting Mississippi State, Ole Miss and South Carolina in particular.
Gene HallmanGene Hallman, CEO of the Bruno Event Team, which manages the tournament for the SEC, said it continues to grow beyond an event that relies upon the in-state teams of Alabama and Auburn and nearby Mississippi State to be successful.
“In the early years, we couldn’t say that,” Hallman said. “So much of our attendance was a factor of how those teams did.”
This year, Mississippi State didn’t even make the tournament, and Auburn was out after day three.
“There’s something to be said for consistency of venue,” Hallman said. “You build a tradition over time, and people build their plans around it.”
Omaha, Neb., site of the College World Series, is the perfect example, Hallman said. That venue has become a consistent draw, no matter who is playing, he said. The SEC Baseball Tournament, on a smaller scale, is beginning to get that kind of response from its fans as well, he said.
“Fans are coming out regardless of whether they have a team in the hunt,” Hallman said. “They’re coming out because it’s a great family atmosphere, and it’s certainly the best college baseball in the country.”
The SEC has produced three of the past five national championship teams in baseball.
To calculate the week’s total overall attendance, tournament officials double the attendance from each two-game session, even if fewer fans attend one game in a session compared to another. Officials say that provides the best gauge to compare with pre-2000 tournaments that only used single-game numbers.
This year’s official average attendance per game was 7,775, which is the ninth most ever. That’s up from an average game attendance of 7,082 last year. The highest per-game average in tournament history is 9,698 in 2010.
This year’s per-session average was announced at 7,788, which is up from 7,715 last year but down from 8,115 in 2013. Session numbers count the number of total people who attended a two-game session. The session record was also in 2010 with 9,957 per session.
This article was updated with comments from the SEC Baseball Tournament director, Craig Mattox, and Gene Hallman, CEO of the Bruno Event Team, which manages the tournament for the SEC. Also, an incorrect sentence regarding the final three sessions this year having more than 10,000 fans present was removed.
