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Shrimp a hit, attendance soars 73% in first month

<p>Jumbo Shrimp baseball at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville  PHOTO: First Coast News</p>

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-  The new identity for Jacksonville's minor league baseball team is a hit at the box office so far.

Minor League Baseball released attendance figures for the month of April showing that the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp's average per game attendance is up a whopping 73% over last April when they played as the Suns.

The team's average attendance in April was 7,534, compared to 4,349 in April 2016.  That number leads the Southern League and all of AA baseball.

Overall, minor league baseball attendance for the month of April was up 5.3%, according to the release.

“Minor League Baseball clubs have put a great deal of effort into creating some great promotions to draw fans to the ballpark early in the season, and the six million fans who visited our ballparks last month are a testament to that,” said Minor League Baseball President & CEO Pat O’Conner in a statement.

The next biggest attendance leap was by the Columbia (SC) Fireflies of the single A South Atlantic League. That team's crowds have been fueled by their oldest minor league player, 29 year old Tim Tebow.  The Jacksonville native and former NFL quarterback is in his first full year as a New York Mets minor league prospect.  Their attendance jumped 36% to 5,209 a game.

STORY: Tebow huge draw in the minors, fans packing small stadiums

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