They built it and fans are coming
So far, so good in terms of the attendance figures at Camelback Ranch versus Dodgertown.
The Dodgers are averaging 9,298 fans here in their inaugural season at CBR, which is exactly five fans more than the largest crowd ever to attend a game at Holman Stadium in Vero Beach. That crowd, not surprisingly, came in a 2008 affair with the Red Sox.
The highest spring season average at Holman came in 1991 when the team averaged 6,504 fans.
That Sunday afternoon Red Sox game was my first ever at Vero, and I regret very much that I had not gone there sooner.
Is it fair to say that the feel at Camelback Ranch is that it is the Dodgers' facility, with the White Sox kind of like tenants? I notice (while watching the game on TV), for example, that the ushers are wearing Dodger Stadium-style outfits but in desert colors.
Vero Beach Dodgertown capacity was only 6,000; therefore it was difficult to average more than that even if you include another 1,000 that could sit on the outfield hill.
You really have to figure capacity percentage occupied: in the 61 years at Vero Beach the Dodgers averaged about 90% capacity occupied while the first year in AZ they have averaged about 70% capacity occupied.