The Silver Knights had trouble at times drawing crowds in the middle of the week, and their Thursday night discount beer nights had lost some of their luster this summer. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It’s no secret the Nashua Silver Knights struggled on the field this season in missing the FCBL playoffs for the second straight year.

How about off it?

Well, they didn’t struggle, but they weren’t able in some areas to match the record success they had in 2023, despite missing the postseason then, too and enduring a rain-plagued season.

This season, Nashua had a solid year but still finished fifth out of the seven teams in attendance, averaging 1,425 per home game. However, that’s nearly 200 shy per game compared with last year’s franchise best average of 1,624. Both seasons had 30 home games.

How come? The team had a glut of June Tuesday night home games, and in July when the heat really soared, they drew a few triple digit crowds instead of four-figure ones for mid-week games. That plus the fact they had only one Friday night home game in July, the prime month for big draws, and traditonally their best night as well.

But owner John Creedon, Jr. said when the season ended that he isn’t too alarmed.

“Every year you want to win more games,” he said. “On the business side, I always want to sell more tickets, on the concessions I always want to sell more hot dogs and beer. Yeah, never is enough.

“If it wasn’t the rain in 2023, it was the heat in 2024 … Until we win every game, sell every seat, we’re not going to rest or be satisfied. Again, plenty of building blocks for next year, and taking a keen focus to make sure that ticket sales are on the upper trajectory always.”

Creedon says that attendance success is a matter of “casting a wide net, connecting with companies, charitable groups, youth sports teams, community groups, introducing them to the Silver Knights and Holman Stadium. … When folks walk out of here, nine times out of 10 they want more Silver Knights baseball in their life.”

Creedon says there’s one big factor.

“Attendance is driven by group sales,” he said. “It’s as simple as that. The more groups we can bring in, the more momentum there is for every game.”

And that’s why the team showed great success with big crowds for not one, but two Education Day games, getting them off to a good start in late May/early June. That success will likely continue. Advertising certainly wasn’t an issue; the ballpark was covered with it, something Knights general manager Cam Cook has thrived at in his role.

Meanwhile, part of the problem in the group sales formula was the FCBL schedule release, delayed a couple of months thanks to Pittsfield taking the year off.

“Getting the schedule earlier definintely helps,” Cook said. “Then we can put out the promo (promotional) schedule earlier. We had some really, really good nights we were happy with, but some nights it was last minute.”

“It was kind of a distraction,” Creedon said. “That put us a month behind from our typical sales rhythm. I think there’s a number of factors we can point to.”

The half off beer “Thirsty Thursday” promotion seemed to take a step back. It was once one of the more popular nights, and while those nights usually drew more than a typical weekday, it wasn’t quite what it was before by perhaps a 300-400 fan count.

Is there anything that can be done to spruce it up?

“The gaming truck was super popular when we did that, and we had some dancing guys come in,” Cook said, referring to a couple of promotions. “There’s some more things we can do that’s fun and add some more juice to a Thursday where cheap beers maybe – we’ll still do it – but maybe has run its course a little bit.

“We’ll evolve and still come up with some fun stuff.”

What did Cook like the best? The intern and social media staff was one of the best the team has had in terms of video, photos, social media posts, etc.

“When you have someone here who can represent what the Silver Knights (are) in a video form or media form,” he said.

Cook liked the youth fan participation, and the team hit it out of the park with the luxury suites, which were full the majority of the nights. That was a home run.

So were the youth baseball camps

“They’ve never been better,” Creedon said. “Never had more registrations, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. When it comes to families in the Nashua and southern New Hampshire area, they’re thinking of Silver Knights baseball.”

And Creedon said that’s part of the team’s theme, getting as many kids involved with the idea that some day they can play for the team.

“And kids running the bases after every game,” Cook said. “It makes you remember what the point of all this is – the local hometown team, having fun at an affordable price.”

Overall, they certainly provided that. They would just have liked some more fans to take advantage of it. And also be able to enjoy playoff baseball, which always helps the bottom line.

“We always want to have more rather than less home openings, more opportunities to sell tickets, food and beverage, and welcome groups,” Creedon said. “But it is what it is, it was not in the cards this year. So we’ll regroup and make sure we’re in there for 2025.”