Tempe saw in increase in fans at spring training games, mirroring a trend that saw the Cactus League grow attendance for the fifth straight year.
The 2026 Cactus League season, saw 96,211 in attendance at Tempe Diablo Stadium for 15 Los Angeles Angels games. This is more than a 2,000-attendee increase from 2025 attendance, which was 93,994.
Stadium capacity is about 9,600 and average attendance was 6,414. That average was less than the reported 7,400 fans per game through the spring training season, according to the Cactus League’s final results.
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Tempe saw in increase in fans at spring training games, mirroring a trend that saw the Cactus League grow attendance for the fifth straight year.
The 2026 Cactus League season, saw 96,211 in attendance at Tempe Diablo Stadium for 15 Los Angeles Angels games. This is more than a 2,000-attendee increase from 2025 attendance, which was 93,994.
Stadium capacity is about 9,600 and average attendance was 6,414. That average was less than the reported 7,400 fans per game through the spring training season, according to the Cactus League’s final results.
Collective attendance at all 10 Valley spring training stadiums rose for the fifth straight season in 2026. The Cactus League drew a total of 1,753,849 fans to 237 games, a 3.4% increase representing a change of 58,369 fans over 2025 and the largest single-season attendance total since 2018, the league announced Tuesday.
The Common Sense Institute estimates that spectators spent between $10 and 45 million on travel to and from Arizona and games as well as a minimum of $74 million on hotels and lodging during the month.
Attendance hit an all-time high in 2017 with More than 1.94 million fans. In 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic overall attendance dropped to 446,000 amid spacing mandates and is slowing recovering to 2017 attendance numbers.
Independent Newsmedia Editor Steve Stockmar contributed to this story.
Madeline Bates joined Independent Newsmedia in 2025 as a Phoenix/Tempe reporter. Before graduating college, she spent a semester in Washington as a Congressional reporter in the first 100 days of the second Trump administration. But local news is where her heart is. She is excited to be in Phoenix full time and exploring new parts of the city (as long as they have AC).
Community: After living in East Phoenix for two years, she fell in love with Paradise Valley, Mesa, Tempe, and everywhere in between. She recently discovered the beauty of the South Mountain Reserve and hopes to continue exploring should the weather comply.
Education: Madeline has a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and a certificate in Political History and Leadership.
Random Fact: She is a self-taught nail tech. No, she cannot do your nails.
Hobbies: Hiking (when its not 100 degrees), fiction writing, cooking, baking and trying new coffee shops.
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