Aviators’ First Season In New Summerlin Ballpark Transcends Playoff Loss To Sacramento
By Alan Snel
LVSportsBiz.com
Triple A baseball did just fine in its new suburban baseball home in Downtown Summerlin in 2019, even if the Las Vegas Aviators’ season ended in a playoff series loss to the Sacramento River Cats Sunday.
The re-branded Aviators, formerly the old 51s from the Cashman Field days, led Triple A baseball in attendance in their palatial new $150 million ball yard off South Pavilion Center Drive some 15 miles west of their former downtown Las Vegas home.
The Aviators, owned by Summerlin master developer Howard Hughes Corporation, also hit it out of the ballpark with retail merchandise sales of more than $1 million. The Aviators hit the million-dollar mark in merch sales more than two months ago.
The ballclub switched its affiliation from the New York Mets to the Oakland Athletics, and averaged 9,299 fans a game for its 70 regular season home dates.
On Sunday, the Aviators lost the deciding Game 5 of the Best-of-5 series with Sacramento, 7-3. Sunday’s reported attendance was 5,034 after a Saturday evening crowd of 7,242 watched the River Cats beat the Aviators, 5-3.
In past years, Las Vegas’ sweltering, hot summers in June, July and August took their toll on minor league baseball attendance. But the new ballpark in Summerlin kept packing in the crowds through the summer as the Aviators easily set a home attendance record for Triple A ball in Las Vegas.
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