news-record.com

Greensboro has been very, very good to baseball.

So good, the Grasshoppers should eclipse the 2.5 million mark in attendance during tonight’s home finale.

That’s 2.5 million fans in only six years.

Even though NewBridge Bank Park isn’t so new anymore — and even in a relatively off year for all of  minor league baseball — the Hoppers rank second in the South Atlantic League in home attendance  and second in the state only to the Durham Bulls. The Hoppers also have outdrawn the Winston-Salem Dash (5,471 fans per game versus 4,584) despite that team’s new ballpark and more impressive won-loss record.

True, the Hoppers won’t break the 400,000 mark in season attendance for the first time this year in their downtown stadium. But paid turnout remains healthy and the franchise’s bottom line appears as strong as ever.

As for the other benefits of baseball, that’s harder to quantify. Hoped-for development near the stadium has stalled, in part because of the uncertain economy.

Even in the best of times, many experts dismiss sports stadiums as drivers of development. “Scholarly evidence would dispute the claim that professional sports contribute much to local economies at the minor league or major league level,” concludes a Brookings Institution study, “Sports, Jobs &Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums.”

Generally speaking, that assessment is probably right.

But it’s harder to quantify inspiration. Developers, including the builder of the Center Pointe tower, Roy Carroll, have cited the ballpark’s presence as a reason they invested in major downtown projects. The notion for the stalled Bellemeade Village development on the old North State Chevrolet site also was sparked by the construction of the stadium.

Finally, the Brookings study largely concerns taxpayer-built or -renovated stadiums.

For all of our public pride in it, NewBridge Bank Park was built with private dollars.