TinCaps attendance low during playoffs

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - While the players tried to stay alive for the title, Parkview Field simply tried to get fans in the seats.

Even though the TinCaps season ended in a loss in Game 4, the last few days have been exciting times for the team and TinCaps fans. However, attendance numbers said differently.

TinCaps Vice President of Marketing, Michael Limmer, said it's because regular season games are "on our pocket schedules, websites, for months and months, for playoffs you have hours notice sometimes."

During regular season games, ticket sales average around 5700 people per game, but on Sunday evening, empty seats outnumbered occupied ones.

"I think the biggest reason is that you see a difference in attendance between regular season and playoffs is that on one hand you have the amount of time, and then also during the regular season, we have a lot of attendance based on group outings and season ticket holders...and you can't include season tickets in the playoffs," Limmer said.

On Sunday, just over 2300 people showed up to see the final game of the playoffs. Most of the fans out there have been coming to multiple playoff games to show their support.

"I've come to every playoff game they've had here at the stadium," said Joel Nichols, a fan.

The fans said there's a difference in the atmosphere between playoffs and regular season.

"The ones here for the playoffs are the die hard fans," said Steve Vaughan, another fan. "They're the ones you see all the time."

Even though the TinCaps lost the championship game to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-2, Limmer said 2012 was the best year for attendance in the 20 years of franchise history.  408,044 people walked through the gates at Parkview Field this season.