On Saturday, July 9, 2011 the sports record for consecutive sellouts will likely be broken by the Dayton Dragons, a minor league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds). Until July 2, the record streak was held by the Portland Trail Blazers, who achieved 814 consecutive sellouts from 1977 to 1995.
The Blazers’ streak was born on April 8, 1977, when a capacity crowd — buoyed by BlazerMania — watched the eventual NBA champion team, led by Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas, defeat the Phoenix Suns 122-111. The sellouts continued for over 18 years, until 1995 when the Blazers moved from Memorial Colliseum to the 20,000-seat Rose Garden.
The 1995-96 Blazers, starring Arvydas Sabonis, Cliff Robinson and Rod Strickland, was not enough to attract 20,000 fans on a nightly basis, bringing the streak to an end. The 1994-95 team, which featured Clyde “the Glide” Drexler for half a season, brought a total of 529,759 fans through the turnstiles (24th in the 27-team league). The move to a bigger stadium, whilst killing the sellout mania, was a wise one, increasing attendances to 850,338 (4th of 29 teams) despite the same 44-38 record season-on-season and the lack of star power after the departure of Drexler.
The Dayton Dragons, who tied the Blazers’ record on Saturday, plan to own it outright, when they host the South Bend Silver Hawks this weekend. The Dragons sold out their first ever game on April 28, 2000 and have kept on packing out Fifth Third Field ever since.
Fifth Third Field is listed as providing “7,230 stadium-style seats.” It holds 29 luxury suites and one press box. Meanwhile, the Memorial Colliseum held 12,888 for basketball games, thus clearly distinguishing the Blazers’ streak from that of the Dragons. Of course, one is a major league sports team, whilst the other is a minor league team.
Interestingly, the Dragons’ website tells us that “more than 165,000 bricks were used in construction of the stadium. Lined up end-to-end, these bricks would span 21 miles.” That is slightly less bricks than the late 90s Blazers were guilty of launching on the court.
Los Angeles Lakers legend, Magic Johnson owns a substantial stake in the Dayton Dragons.
