With A Kiss: Hershey-Harrisburg Tops SBJ's Minor League Rankings

Hershey-Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, ranks as the top minor league market in the U.S., according to SportsBusiness Journal 's '09 rankings compiled by David Broughton. Each league studied for this project was asked to provide a list of its member teams’ territories or boundaries. There were 15 minor league teams with no designated boundary, and in those cases, if the team shared a market with another minor league team, the same boundary was applied to each club. In the absence of a shared team, one of the 2,759 U.S. Census market designations was used. There were 239 markets tracked, including 542 teams and 50 leagues. The Abilene, Texas; Alpine, Texas; Avon, Ohio; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Houma, Louisiana; Madison, Wisconsin; and Ypsilanti, Michigan, markets, whose only teams are in their inaugural season this year, were not included in the study. Attendance figures used were based on team and league official reports, conversations with facility officials and box scores. Ticket prices were not factored in. The ranking also does not take into account other sports options in each market, such as racetracks, high-profile college programs or major junior hockey leagues. In addition, markets that are home to a major league franchise in addition to having a minor league team were not included in the ranking ( SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL , 8/24 issue ).

NOTES : AIFA = American Indoor Football Association. CIFL = Continental Indoor Football League. CHL = Central Hockey League. AAIPB = Ammerican Assoc. of Independent Professional Baseball. IFL = Indoor Football League. PASL = Professional Arena Soccer League.