BOCA RATON, FLA - 06.19.09 - Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, Texas, was selected by the fans as the number one minor league professional sports venue in North America in the MLN Vote4TheBest 2009 awards. This was the second year that the club's loyal fans vaulted the team to the top of the awards competition.
The 15 page feature, which began publishing last night and will continue rolling out through Wednesday reveals not only the top venues to catch a game, but the best food, entertainment, and fun.
The Stockton Arena, home to the ECHL (Hockey) Stockton Thunder and the arenafootball2 Stockton Lightning was the no. 2 venue in the survey, but arenas dominated the top ten, an impressive feat as many of them cater to hockey teams currently not in-season.
Third was the Sovereign Center in Reading, PA, home of the Reading Royals. Rounding out the top ten wereRabobank Arena in Bakersfield, CA, the Gwinnett Arena in Gwinnett, Georgia, the Germain Arena in Estero, FLA., AutoZone Park in Memphis, TNDell Diamond, Round Rock, TX., Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown, PA, and Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, AK.
The ECHL, a Double-A minor hockey league, is the home to six of the top ten venues in North America, a testimony to both an aggressive building campaign and their exceptional fan base. Most of these venues were out of season when the balloting began.
This was the largest turn-out for the survey in its history. With that, Whataburger pulled an impressive 24.2% of the total vote for both stadiums and arenas, beating others in the survey two to one.