Watch: First Week Numbers in Favor of Fireflies

Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — Thursday marks one week since the Fireflies inaugural game at Spirit Communications Park in front of a sold out stadium.

The games since haven’t been sell outs, but team leaders are pleased with turnout thus far and say they’ll need to continue if they want to hit their attendance goals.

The 9,000+ fans that filled Spirit Communications Park for the Fireflies first ever season opener are just a small portion of the number team officials are looking for to meet their 375,000 attendance quota.

Team President John Katz says so far, the numbers look promising.

Over the first weekend more than 29,000 fans filed into the stadium, averaging 4,000 attendees per game.

According to Katz, “It’s just one of those things. Weekends are always going to be great days.”

As with any sport the Fireflies’ President says ticket sales are a top priority and points out that the team has benchmarks for season, group, and individual sales.

“We’ve got seats starting as low as $5 so we have 12 different places wehre you can sit and watch the game and they’re available at every price point,” says Katz.

Solid sales numbers are also a concern for fans considering the stadium’s $37 million price tag.

Fireflies’ fan Chuck Archie tells ABC Columbia, “I think it’s pretty important because it shows that their tax money is going toward it but then they’re also supporting it so they’re sort of getting their tax money back.”

Comparing schedules with Gamecock baseball to ensure turnout wasn’t a concern as Katz says they only have 7 overlapping games and offer different experiences.

Katz explains, “When I go to Gamecock game all I want to do is watch baseball, people come to firefly games for affordable family fun.”

Fun that baseball fans are happy to have back in the Capital city.

“I grew up in a base ball family so actually having a stadium in my home town has been awesome,” says another Fireflies’ fan.