Baltimore Blast sets fire to ticket sales

The Blast (18-10) has averaged 7,266 fans in 14 home games, making it the only team to surpass 100,000 fans for the season.

“We?re really proud of that,” Blast president Kevin Healey said. “We want to continue to increase our fan base, but we think we put a good product on the field and we work hard for people to come to our games. All the employees, from the owner through the front office to the people around the team, have bought into the strategy to get people to come out to the game.”

The team needs to draw 9,998 fans tonight to surpass last season?s average of 7,448, and just half its normal crowd to eclipse the 105,075 it drew in its championship season of 2005-06.

The team has drawn more than 100,000 fans every season since 1998-99, when 95,903 fans came to what is now 1st Mariner Arena.

“When we did take over the team 10 years ago, it was certainly not at a peak moment at that point in time,” Healey said. “We?ve had to build up the attendance. We were at a point where other franchises are now. It took a while, and slowly but surely, we got where we are today.”

Mike Conway, the Blast?s assistant general manager, credits the organization?s name recognition within its market to the success at the turnstiles.

“I think it?s our interaction within our own community,” he said. “I think it?s our accessibility. It?s our easy access to the players, and when they go out, they know they?re there for the community. It?s not just a job for them.”

The Blast?s game against Detroit (20-8), which has secured the second seed in the playoffs, has not bearing on the postseason. Detroit and league-leading Milwaukee (21-7) have earned first-round byes. The Blast, which has clinched the third seed, will have homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs against either sixth-seeded Chicago (15-14) or New Jersey (14-15) when the playoffs begin on Thursday.