PNC FIELD -- Officials with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders said the team has been drawing good crowds this season.
In fact, so far this year, more than 304,000 people have packed PNC Field in Lackawanna County, more than the season-long attendance total in 2011 when the team was known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.
Last year, the team played on the road during stadium renovations.
"We've averaged 8,200 folks at RailRiders games for the entire month of July," said team President and General Manager Rob Crain.
In the past few weeks, there have been big crowds at the field as superstars Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez came to play with the Triple A New York Yankees team.
"I mean you get the big names that come in and then you have the stadium and they did a beautiful job on it. I think a lot of people are just curious about what it looks like, they want to come down and check it out," said Jay Aileo of Simpson.
Fans said the newly renovated field is a great place to watch a game and they said the attendance numbers do not surprise them.
Fran Gardus was part of the crew that built the original stadium back in the 1980s. he said the newly renovated place is fantastic.
"Beautiful, they did an awesome job, all the tradesman, it's spotless, it's beautiful. I think when they toned it down, they made it more fan-friendly," he said.
Frank Reid came to a game with more than 200 folks with the Raiders Junior Football and Cheerleading group of Moosic.
"It's a great park. We come when we can. A lot of us come when we can, it's so kid-friendly, it's just a great park. They're doing a great job."
In 2007, when the team was the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, attendance was about 581,000.