SocialWinker t1_jciv2ht wrote on March 17, 2023 at 3:33 AM

Reply to comment by staresatmaps in Victory! Minor League Baseball Players Are Finally Unionized. by theworkeragency

The St Paul Saints were an independent minor league team for most of their existence, until COVID came along. Honestly, the baseball was usually pretty lousy overall, but the games were always a ton of fun. Now they’re the AAA affiliate for the Twins, and the atmosphere has stayed pretty similar, with better baseball being played as well, for the most part. Granted, the were just sold to a new ownership group, so who knows what we see in the future.

Edit - Just to add, the pay for the independent teams was comically bad, even compared to minor league salaries, IIRC. I tried out once when I was younger and in much better shape. I did not make the team, they still had some standards, even back then.

staresatmaps t1_jcj9nxd wrote on March 17, 2023 at 6:09 AM

Thats what im saying. Nobody wants to support a farm team or a glorified farm team. They dont get people going to the games to watch baseball, they get people by being a "fun" family friendly day out, not disimilar to going to the zoo. If the Saints were an independent team in a league that the teams payed decent and cared about winning it would probably be sold out every game for the same prices.

SocialWinker t1_jcjef6r wrote on March 17, 2023 at 7:13 AM

For what it’s worth, saints game are usually pretty packed, for minor league games. Not exactly sell outs, but they averaged something like 6,000+ per game, in a 7,000 or so seat stadium. The Saints also have the advantage of being in just across the river from their MLB affiliate. So Twins fans can go see their top prospects easily.

When the Saints were an independent team in an independent league, their attendance was falling, but still not bad, at under 5,000 a game. But that was at an ancient stadium. They moved right around the time they become an affiliate. Hard to really say if the attendance increase is due to the gorgeous new ballpark, the affiliate stuff, or both. Probably both.