Victoria Seals
| Victoria Seals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| League | Golden Baseball League (North Division) | ||||
| Location | Victoria, British Columbia | ||||
| Ballpark | Royal Athletic Park (capacity 4,247) | ||||
| Year founded | 2008 | ||||
| Year folded | 2010 | ||||
| League championships | None | ||||
| Division championships | None | ||||
| Former name(s) | Victoria Seals (2009–2010) | ||||
| Colours | Navy blue, red, white |
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| Ownership | Russ Parker, Darren Parker | ||||
| Manager | Kip Gross (Interim) | ||||
| General Manager | Roxann Bury | ||||
| Media | Victoria Times-Colonist | ||||
| Website | www |
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The Victoria Seals were a professional baseball team based in Victoria, British Columbia. The Seals were a member of the North Division of the independent Golden Baseball League, which is not affiliated with either Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball. They joined the GBL on October 1, 2008. The Seals played their home games at Royal Athletic Park, a multipurpose stadium in Victoria which is also used for soccer, softball and football. On November 10, 2010, team owners Russ and Darren Parker announced that the team would be ceasing operations immediately after being unable to reach an agreement with the City of Victoria on the condition of the ballpark and the instability of the Golden Baseball League.
The rights to the franchise were purchased by Westpro Productions and will be relocated to Fort McMurray, Alberta.
The Seals inaugural season boasted impressive attendance figures, with an average draw of 2,388 per game, good enough for second best in the GBL. Furthermore, average capacity was 53%, which was the highest overall capacity total in the league. By contrast, these numbers were higher than the GBL's other Canadian teams, the Calgary Vipers and the Edmonton Capitals, in both capacity percentage and total attendance. The Seals also missed a sellout by only 19 people on their final game of the 2009 season, with 4228 fans in attendance. They drew 10,045 fans on their final (three-game) home-stand, bringing their total attendance for 2009 to 93,691 fans.
Attendance improved in 2010 and the Seals drew 116,872 fans in 45 home dates at Royal Athletic Park. Their average attendance (2,597 per game) was third best in the ten-team league. The single-game attendance record for the franchise was set on Tuesday July 27, 2010 when 4,753 fans turned out to see Eri Yoshida pitch.
The Seals are owned by Russ Parker and his son Darren. Russ is the former owner of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League's Calgary Cannons (now the Albuquerque Isotopes). He is also the long-time owner of the Regina Pats hockey team of the Western Hockey League.
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