Dodgers set spring training franchise attendance record

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Tuesday marked the final home game for the Dodgers this spring at Camelback Ranch. 6,141 fans attended the 2-1 loss to the White Sox on Tuesday, ending what has been a team-record spring training for attendance for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers drew 147,066 fans in their 15 home dates, setting a new franchise spring training record, surpassing the previous record of 136,944 fans in 2009, their first season at Camelback Ranch. The average attendance in 2015 of 9,804 per game also set a team record, surpassing the 2014 mark of 9.534 per game.

In their four weekend home games (Saturday or Sunday), the Dodgers averaged 11,676 fans per game, their second-highest weekend total ever, but trailing the 2014 weekend average of 12,322 fans.

Since moving to Camelback Ranch in 2009, the Dodgers have averaged 10,801 fans on the weekend, and 7,540 fans during the week.

The key to the Dodgers' higher attendance this season was drawing more during weekday (Monday through Friday) contests. The club averaged 9,124 fans during its 11 weekday home games, better than the previous high weekday average of 8,077 fans per game in 2009. Even removing the one Friday night game (13,127 fans on March 27, one of four sellouts this spring) the 2015 weekday average would have been a record, at 8,723.

The Dodgers drew 10,000 or more fans in eight of their 15 home games this spring, including four times on weekdays.

In the Dodgers' 61 years in Vero Beach (1948-2008), the largest average spring attendance in one year was 6,504 fans in 1991, with the largest crowd ever at Holman Stadium the 9,293 who saw Clayton Kershaw throw Public Enemy No. 1 against the Red Sox on March 9, 2008.

The Dodgers since moving to Camelback Ranch have surpassed that 9,293 mark 39 times in seven years, including eight times in 2015. The Dodgers average attendance in seven years at Camelback Ranch is 8,670 per game, a number that would have been the fourth-largest crowd ever at Vero Beach.