(Photo by Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez-KJZZ)

View of the third base seats from the deck area at the Cubs Park.

Fewer baseball fans turned out to spring training games in Arizona this year. But, Cactus League officials are still celebrating what they call a successful pre-season.

Almost 1.7 million fans attended spring training games this year. That’s down slightly from last year.

Cactus League President Mark Coronado said that’s because there were only 32 games this year compared to 37 in 2013, plus he said the Diamondbacks and L.A. Dodgers were gone for a few days to play a series in Australia. But, Coronado said overall the numbers are positive.  

“All of the facilities are reporting revenues that were up from last year, and what that means is that we had more of an out of town fan base that came to Arizona,” Coronado said.

He said the Chicago Cubs set a string of attendance records at their new park in Mesa. He’s optimistic the Oakland A’s will attract a lot of out of state fans to their newly renovated Hohokam Park next year.