Last week, we finally began the belated process of unpacking the 2026 American Association season by taking a look at the team report cards for all 12 franchises (including the two departing clubs).

Today, we’ll look at the off-field side of things with a topic that is always worthy of discussion behind the scenes: attendance. Simply put, the American Association (as are all minor leagues) is heavily gate-driven, so at the end of the day, you need people to show up to keep the lights on.

Disclaimer: I have no way to independently verify the validity of listed attendance figures. In most cases, listed attendance reflects tickets sold and/or distributed otherwise, NOT the number of people actually in the park. All figures are listed in individual game box scores.

2025 to 2026 Comparison

	2025 TOTAL	2025 AVG	2026 TOTAL	2026 AVG	PER DATE CHANGE
Chicago*	215,546	4,311	207,349	4,412	+2.3%
Cleburne	81,778	1,669	47,938	959	-42.6%
Fargo-Moorhead	147,661	3,142	147,013	3,063	-2.5%
Gary SouthShore	147,629	3,013	117,165	2,604	-13.6%
Kane County	243,426	5,071	221,187	4,808	-5.2%
Kansas City	101,275	2,026	69,214	1,442	-28.8%
Lake Country	86,506	1,802	86,780	1,736	-3.7%
Lincoln	155,837	3,247	141,810	2,954	-9.0%
Milwaukee*	83,501	1,740	73,066	1,522	-12.5%
Sioux City	57,534	1,251	76,701	1,534	+22.6%
Sioux Falls	77,291	1,546	75,488	1,510	-2.3%
Winnipeg	186,541	3,807	191,825	3,996	+5.0%
LEAGUE	1,584,525	2,723	1,455,536	2,518	-7.5%

It was a tough year across the board for the American Association, as the league suffered a 7.5 percent drop per night. Only three teams (Chicago, Sioux City, and Winnipeg) saw their per-game average increase, while four teams fell by at least 10 percent per night.

The other MLB Partner Leagues had a tough summer at the gate as well, with the Atlantic League sliding by 8.5% (and zero of their ten teams going up), the Frontier League dropping by 9.2% (only four of 18 teams saw an increase), and the Pioneer League falling 11.8% (just one of nine returning franchises went up). Do the math and that’s 41 out of 49 returning Partner League clubs seeing attendance fall this year, plus two new PBL teams that drew significantly worse than the clubs they replaced.

The affiliated minors also saw a 1.3% drop, though that figure was softened by six relocations/new ballparks. Take out those six teams (one of whom actually decreased in attendance) and 79 of the remaining 114 Minor League Baseball clubs saw per-game attendance decreases in 2026—nearly 70 percent.

In other words, while American Association attendance wasn’t trending positively this summer, neither was attendance just about anywhere else in the American professional baseball landscape.

Top Draws

	Largest Crowd	Date
Chicago*	7,162 (Record)	August 22 vs. Gary SouthShore
Cleburne	2,611	July 4 vs. Lake Country
Fargo-Moorhead	4,704	July 3 vs. Kansas City
Gary SouthShore	5,938	July 31 vs. Lake Country
Kane County	8,380	August 23 vs. Lake Country
Kansas City	3,879	June 24 vs. Sioux Falls
Lake Country	3,114	May 30 vs. Milwaukee
Lincoln	5,119	June 5 vs. Sioux Falls
Milwaukee*	3,160	May 19 vs. Gary SouthShore
Sioux City	3,337	July 3 vs. Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls	4,118	August 21 vs. Kansas City
Winnipeg	6,847	May 19 vs. Kane County

Team-By-Team

Chicago Dogs

Chicago finished second in the AA in attendance for the sixth year in a row and topped 200,000 for the fourth consecutive season. They were one of the few teams to see a per-date increase, inching up by 2.3 percent (or 101 fans per night). Two fewer dates, though, saw their overall total decline slightly. They also do not have a listed attendance figure for July 3, which shaves a few thousand off the total as well.

The Dogs also broke their single-game attendance record twice this year, drawing 7,128 on May 15 for Opening Night, then topping that by packing in 7,162 fans on August 22.

Cleburne Railroaders

This was an awful year at the gate for Cleburne, drawing just 47,938 fans and becoming the first AA team to fail to top 50,000 since three teams (two of which folded that winter) finished below that mark in 2016.

It is worth noting that Cleburne may have pumped up their weeknight numbers quite a bit in recent years: they announced only one date below 1,000 fans over 2024-25 (but most weeknights at just a few fans over that mark). This year, the numbers appeared to be a lot more honest, much to their credit—and detriment. They failed to top 1,000 fans on 27 occasions and seven nights failed to crack even 500 paying customers as their per-game patronage tumbled by over 40 percent.

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks

The RedHawks always have pretty stable attendance and this year was no different, finishing fourth in the league and drawing just a few hundred less fans than 2025, though the per-game total took a larger hit (down 2.5%) with one more home date than last year.

Overall, this year’s total of 147,013 is the second-lowest total in franchise history, just ahead of 2021’s mark of 145,553.

Gary SouthShore RailCats

This was a tough year in Gary as the RailCats drew their fewest fans in franchise history, with their total of 117,165 coming in well under the previous low of 140,310 drawn in the U.S. Steel Yard’s inaugural 2003 season and per-game attendance falling by over 13 percent.

However, there were two major factors at play: one was a league-high five rainouts, taking away precious dates. The other was a devastating severe storm on August 11 that caused widespread damage and power outages across Northwest Indiana and significantly impacted the final two homestands (encompassing 12 games) for the RailCats. That storm actually didn’t postpone any games, but ballpark operations were limited and very, very small crowds were present for several contests immediately afterwards.

Kane County Cougars

Kane County will finish their time in the American Association leading the league in attendance in all six of their seasons. They did clear 200,000 fans for the fifth year in a row, but their mark of 221,187 was their lowest since 2021 as their per-game total fell by a little over five percent.

Due to the sheer size of Northwestern Medicine Field (nearly 11,000 seats), the Cougars also drew the largest single-game crowds in the league once again, topping 7,000 fans on seven occasions, including twice eclipsing 8,000. They very well could’ve had one more, if not for the misfortune of a July 4th rainout.

Kansas City Monarchs

Attendance was the only damper on Kansas City’s championship season, as patronage plummeted nearly 30 percent to a franchise-low 69,214 fans. That was just below 2024’s mark, which was caused primarily by several cancellations and relocated games due to major field problems. This year, there were no such excuses.

It’s worth noting that the Monarchs were sold just a few weeks before Opening Day. While that was way too late to implement meaningful changes for this season, ownership changes often lead to major personnel shakeups. Maybe it is and maybe it’s not the case, but simply put, the KC staff may have just phoned it in knowing that there’s a good chance they’d be looking for a new job this winter no matter how well or not they performed.

Lake Country DockHounds

The DockHounds actually saw their overall attendance increase (by 274 people) for the first time in their five-year history, though they did have a per-game decrease because of two more home dates this season.

Lake Country has never drawn too strongly, but while attendance has slowly dropped from their 2022 debut (which came in just under 94,000), they’ve managed to avoid a catastrophic falloff that often plagues new teams as the novelty wears off.

Lincoln Saltdogs

Another locale that saw their lowest attendance in franchise history, Lincoln’s per-night total dipped nine percent, with their 141,810 total falling below 2022’s low-water mark for the worst in their 25-year history. They did draw a respectable 3,570 for the American Association All-Star Game, though.

I have heard concerns from a few Saltdogs fans that maybe ownership is losing interest, rumors that aren’t at all alleviated by the retirement of long-time team president Charlie Meyer just two weeks before Opening Day. Hopefully this is just a blip and not the sign of something more troubling.

Milwaukee Milkmen

In their six full seasons playing at Franklin Field, this year’s total of 73,066 is the lowest of that mark (though higher than 2019, when they played three homestands in Kokomo, Indiana). Two games (one in July, one in August) are missing, so that total is actually a tad higher.

Nonetheless, the reported number is 12.5 percent off of last year’s number, which was disappointing to see even as the club posted the second-best record in franchise history.

Sioux City Explorers

This was one unqualified success attendance-wise this season. Even with the Explorers slumping to miss the playoffs, attendance soared by more than 22 percent to the 76,701, their best mark since 2015 and just the second time over 70,000 since 2010. How significant is the 22 percent bump? It’s the largest in MLB Partner League baseball and the sixth-largest in all of pro baseball—and second-highest among all teams who didn’t change ballparks or relocate.

What’s the secret? Hard to say, but the X’s did welcome a new GM, Travis Lee, into the fold last winter. Sioux City drew well for their first decade, but have struggled mightily at the gate for the last two decades. Maybe Lee and his staff finally cracked the code on finding a way to get Sioux City to love the X’s again.

Sioux Falls Canaries

As is the case with nearly everyone in the league, attendance went down post-COVID and Sioux Falls hasn’t been immune to that, as they’ve struggled to build their base back up to pre-2020 totals.

The Canaries were down slightly (2.3 percent) to a little over 75,000, which marks their second straight modest decline, though it’s pretty well in line with everything they’ve posted since 2021. They did draw 4,118 fans on August 21, their largest gathering since August 30, 2024.

Winnipeg Goldeyes

The Goldeyes joined Sioux City as the only AA teams to raise both their total and per-game attendance (by five percent) this season as they posted their fifth straight increase. Winnipeg finished at 191,825 fans, their highest post-COVID mark and just below their 2019 total. Winnipeg also drew 6,847 for their home opener on May 19, their largest crowd since their final home game of 2018.

This didn’t count towards their season total, but the Goldeyes also drew 5,128 fans to their playoff game with Fargo-Moorhead on September 11, more than three times larger than any other AA playoff crowd this season and their largest playoff crowd for a non-Finals game since 2011. After steadily backsliding over the latter half of the 2010’s, the Goldeyes have established firm upwards momentum at the gate once again.

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