The Silver Knights got off to a great attendance start with their Education Day crowds, but suffered a dip in the numbers overall this season. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three-part look at the 2026 Nashua Silver Knights season, focusing on the business end.

NASHUA – Don’t look now, but the Nashua Silver Knights appear to be developing an All-Star Game curse.

They were rained out the last two times the team had the game, first in 2018 and again this year, rescheduling for the next night.

But this year, the event may have taken a little away from the business side during the season because of all the time and resources poured into one or two nights. On the flip side, a new 15-year lease with the city gives them a lot of nights.

League attendance appeared to be down this year, and Nashua was down roughly 220 fans per game, but did enjoy a nice late season recovery to average 1,430 per contest, good for third in the FCBL behind Vermont (2800-plus) and first-year Lowell (just over 2,000).

“The All-Star Game was a point of emphasis which made it so disappointing when it was (without rain) set to be probably our largest game ever,” Silver Knights general manager Cam Cook said. “Part of the off-season we’re looking forward to is analyzing everything from baseball to front office to promotional schedules…

“It will be nice to focus back on your typical – the Fridays, the Saturdays, the Sundays.”

Indeed, for Cook it will be a much better off-season.

“It will be a long, productive off-season,” Cook said. “What’s good about here is there’s a faction of people that care about Silver Knight baseball wins and losses, a faction who come for the promos, the fireworks, the atmosphere, and then there’s a third group of your flex packs, come to five or 10 games all year.

“This is supposed to be an exciting time of year. And it hasn’t been the last few years. … It wears on us internally.”

I”They were still here, still happy, still supportive,” Cook said. “It’s like on the field, you’re going to go 0 for 18 and the guys in the clubhouse pick you up.

“So it’s the people who buy suites, our sponsors, the people we see all the time – their support definitely means a lot in writing the ship from a baseball standpoint.”

Creedon agreed the All-Star Game prep took its toll.

“The All-Star Game is always a big focus, a big distraction,” he said. “That’s a factor.”

But, as he noted, the last three or four weeks of the season were filled with rain, limiting the weeknight crowds. The team also had a glut of home games the first half of July because it was on the road for the most part over the second half thanks in part to the Legion tourney at Holman, an annual thing.

“The rain has not been our friend either,” Creedon said. “We lost crowds due to either actual rain, forecast rain, and look no further than the All-Star Game itself. … That’s baseball.”

Creedon said there will still many positives.

“I’m encouraged by a lot of things this season,” he said. “The All-Star Game were you could say the worst of circumstances but also the best of our staff adapting, pivoting, dealing with challenging circumstances – I think we pulled out a rained out All-Star Game better than anybody could have under the circumstances.”

In fact an announced crowd of some 1700 took that event in, and that was close – Holman was not empty.Creedon also takes pride in fact the FCBL put on its game when the Cape Cod League, after a similar rainout, did not.

Meanwhile, the work will begin to look back and then move forward.

“We try to make an improvement every game, in every facet,” he said. “Year by year we try to improve in every facet. I take stock in some of the new things.”

Those included using the football field beyond right field for parking for larger crowds, and also the use of the renovated press box down left field, now called “The Watch Tower” which is like a suite, sold for games, as is the party deck next to the team offices just off first base. The lower half of the Tower was available here and there during the second half of the year. The team will likely push to sell it more next year after experimenting with it this season and knowing the capacity allowed by the city.

“It’s wonderful new hospitality space and I’m sure that’s going to be sold out every game next year since we have a runway to invite folks to use that,” he said. “We’re trying to be creative and expand the footprints, experience for fans and ourselves.”

Creedon gave kudos to Cook for guiding the team through some of the troubled waters this season.

“College baseball these days and especially summer college baseball is a complicated landscape these days,” he said. “And the question is not whether it’s a difficult landscape but whether we as a Futures League can respond to it better than other leagues. I think we’re doing that.

“At the league level and the team level, we’ve got some reflection to do this fall and discussions, and get back to work.”