Ideas + Inspo

The Magic of the Minor Leagues

Major League Baseball gets all the attention. Sure, there are World Series games on the line, but with the average ticket to an MLB game going for $35 (and that’s before $18 beers, $10 hotdogs and $30 merch to look the part), where do we go when we want something a little more experiential than mascot races (some of them on the video screen) or kiss cams (which, because of Covid and consent, some have been replaced by things like the hand-sanitizer cam!?) But trust us. Don’t sleep on minor league games.  First, let the cuckoo team names draw you in (because, again, merch): the Albuquerque Isotopes, the El Paso Chihuahuas, the Erie Seawolves, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Richmond Flying Squirrels, to name a few. Then, stay for the cheap(er) prices and not-so-strictly-monitored-by-MLB experiences. Without the big-name players to draw fans, minor-league teams depend on experiential creativity to get butts in seats (or pools… keep reading). And stadiums have only gotten more creative in the age of social media, which has them competing not only with their nearest MLB stadium, but with each other, too. Check out six of XP...