Fans Interest In Brooklyn Cyclones At Fever Pitch
NY-Penn team nearly sold out for entire season after first day of single ticket sales

-04.25.02 - Brooklyn, NY--Al Hirschberg had waited in line since 2:30 pm last Saturday afternoon to be the first of approximately 2,000 fans who secured tickets for Opening Day and the rest of 2002 season at KeySpan Park. Single game ticket sales for the New York-Penn League Champion Brooklyn Cyclones' second season went on sale last Sunday.

It was an incredible success as the team sold over 10,000 tickets, drawing even closer to selling out the entire season and raising the number of tickets sold to 245,000 of 285,000 available seats. After the first day of single game ticket sales, the Cyclones have sold approximately 85% of their season capacity. Last year's attendance averaged approximately 102% of capacity, as the team played to standing room crowds on a nightly basis.

“Knowing many of these people were here since Saturday and camped out overnight, this crowd is a testament to how much the fans really enjoyed this team and this ballpark,” said Jeff Wilpon, Executive Vice President and COO of the Brooklyn Cyclones. “We are selling tickets at a tremendous pace and at this rate we are in good shape to sell out the season before Opening Day.”

The Cyclones kept the box office open until 9:00 PM when the last person was served to accommodate everyone waiting in line. While the team has sold approximately 245,000 tickets to date, tickets remained available to every game when Internet and phone sales began at 10:00 AM Monday morning. The team is selling tickets at a rapid pace. Last year at this time, the Cyclones had only sold about 120,000 tickets and went on to break the New York-Penn League single season attendance record while selling out 39 of 40 home games including playoffs.

“I'm a season ticket holder myself, but it is such a great experience being at this ballpark that I had to wait so I could get tickets for friends and family to see this,” said Al Hirschberg of Sheepshead Bay, who waited in line for over 18 hours to ensure he got the tickets he wanted.

Howard Johnson, the first year manager of the Cyclones, was on hand throughout the day signing autographs and greeting fans waiting on the line which wrapped around the stadium and reached the boardwalk.

“Our fans waited in long lines all day, but fortunately everyone was able to go home happy. The fan interest has really carried over since last season and tickets have been moving very quickly this year which is very exciting for us,” said Steve Cohen, General Manager for the Brooklyn Cyclones.