It has already been a busy off season for the Welland Jackfish.

The cheers have barely subsided from the team’s first IBL championship and the organization is already looking ahead to the 2024 season.

Fans dropping by the Jackfish office will notice a new playing field at Welland Stadium which was recently installed by the City of Welland and Precision Athletics. The field was last upgraded in 2019.

“It took me a long time with scissors cutting all the edges,” Jackfish president Ryan Harrison joked. “It’s great. It needed to be done. Thanks to the City of Welland for getting that done.”

The Jackfish led the Intercounty Baseball League in attendance last season, drawing 44,089 fans in 29 games for an average of 1,520 fans per game. The club placed second in attendance in 2022 with 23,655 fans in 25 games, an average of 946 per game.

“It goes up every year, it seems,” Harrison said. “The fact we doubled attendance this year is ridiculous. 

“I think we’re loved in this town at this point. I think we’ve caught on and next year is our fifth anniversary. It’s a big, big year and we’re labelling it the Year of the Finatics. All of our focus is on making it the best possible experience for our fans. We owe it to them.”

Harrison figure season tickets will reach an all time high as well.

“We’re well on our way to surpassing last year’s total, I think 50 tickets away from surpassing that,” he said. “We’ll be well over 500-600 when we’re all done.”

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