Playoffs could be big for Chihuahuas bottom line

The quest for a Pacific Coast League championship is exciting for El Paso, but it isn’t cheap for the Chihuahuas franchise.

There’s a lot of additional travel and ballpark operating costs, although strong ticket sales will definitely help.

Some like to call it bonus baseball and although there is a cost associated with it for the franchise, if they can sell out, there could be a big bonus in it for the El Paso franchise’s bottom line.

“We’re not concerned about things like that right now,” said Chihuahuas General Manager Brad Taylor, who was reluctant to talk about what the playoffs could mean financially for the franchise. “You know we incur extra costs too. You’ve got to shuttle 30 guys last minute to different cities, plane tickets for all those guys, travel and baggage.”

At a median of about $20 a playoff ticket, however, unofficial sellouts of 8,000 or more could bring in six-figure revenue windfalls for the Chihuahuas for each of six possible playoff home games they actually end up playing.

“It’s the right time,” Taylor said. “UTEP is not home until the end of the month so we’ve got a chance to dominate the sports scene here.”

The Chihuahuas web site shows fewer than a thousand seats remain for El Paso’s first playoff home game on Friday, although there are many standing room only tickets that can still be sold.

“It was a real challenge for us to get people to come out for the playoffs,” said Jim Paul, former owner of the El Paso Diablos, who is now CEO of Hospice El Paso.

The last minor league championship in El Paso was 21 years ago when the Diablos won the Texas League.

“Playoffs we really struggled,” Paul said. “I would say maybe 3,000 a playoff game.”

Paul said the new Downtown Ballpark is the difference for the Dogs.

“I think it’s a big deal for the city because all the controversy that went with getting the stadium and everything that was so controversial then we don’t even think about it anymore,” Paul said. “The ankle-biters have gone away and the city is now very proud of their stadium and proud of their team.”

ABC-7 also spoke with Pacific Coast League President Branch Rickey about Chihuahuas ticket sales. He said the league does not keep playoff attendance records, but called El Paso’s numbers very strong. He added because of the Chihuahuas, this is “the most exciting PCL postseason” he can remember.