How the Edmonton Riverhawks are attracting record-setting crowds
Stormy weather and wildfire smoke did not deter fans of the Edmonton Riverhawks this summer.
The weather in the Alberta capital has been anything but baseball-friendly over the last few months, but that has not stopped the Riverhawks from attracting a record number of fans to the river valley.
On Sunday, following the team’s final regular-season home game of the 2026 season, the Riverhawks announced that they had once again broken both a franchise and West Coast League (WCL) attendance record with a total of 142,043 fans walking through the doors of Re/Max Field over the course of 27 games.
Edmonton Riverhawks
That beats the previous record of 131,966 set last season and is the fourth consecutive year that the Riverhawks have bested both the franchise and league record. It’s an incredible achievement considering the team has only been around for five seasons.
“We’re getting to the point where we have to sell out every game to set new records, because we’re near capacity now,” Steve Hogle, the Riverhawks director of fun, told Daily Hive in an exclusive interview.
Amateur baseball has been around the city for quite some time, with the Edmonton Cracker-Cats and Edmonton Capitals, but those teams were never able to achieve an average attendance above 3,000. Both teams also played in the same 9,200-seat Re/Max field that the Riverhawks currently occupy.
The Riverhawks, on the other hand, averaged an astounding 5,260 fans per game this past season.
So, what’s the secret behind the Riverhawks’ success? Why is this team resonating with Edmontonians more than their predecessors?
“Laser focus” on the fans
Something the Riverhawks have put at the forefront of their organizational philosphy is a staunch focus on appealing to fans, whether they are baseball fans or not.
The peculiar thing about the Riverhawks is that they’ve found a way to tap into the casual Edmonton sports fan in a way that just about every other sports team in the city hasn’t. Ask around, and you’ll find people who never had a care in the world about sports rave about how fun going to a Riverhawks game is.
That is due to this philosophy, and Hogle is at the forefront of it all, helping to develop the absolute best gameday experience for fans.
“We have world-class improv on the microphones… We have access to the players who love to take part in the shenanigans, when appropriate, and we have a game that lends itself to being able to do all sorts of fun and games throughout the game,” Hogle said. “After every three outs, we have two minutes to put on a new game, a new contest, some other wackiness.
“We’ve got all these things that are laser-focused on that fan experience.”
Edmonton Riverhawks
The Riverhawks supplement this by hosting a specific theme night for every home game, which includes a free post-game fireworks show for Friday games. The organization has also committed to providing affordable food and beverage, a luxury that is almost unheard of for sporting events.
Good crowds = better baseball
The Riverhawks are still a baseball team, and there is a lot of focus on making sure the product on the field is worthy of the big crowds they draw.
Focusing on the fan experience can only do so much if the team is struggling to compete on a nightly basis. You can only put on so good a show before sports fans start to clue in that the quality of play isn’t worth the price of admission.
Luckily, that hasn’t been an issue for the Riverhawks in their short existence. In fact, Hogle mentioned that the team has found a way to leverage their fan support into their recruiting techniques, which has only helped the Riverhawks get better each and every season.
“These players come up from the best baseball schools in America, and they love playing in front of eight, nine thousand fans,” Hogle said. “They tell the other players, ‘If you want to play summer ball, play in Edmonton; the fans pack the place, it’s so much fun, and the city is drop-dead gorgeous.’
“The fans coming out in throngs are our best recruiters.”
Edmonton Riverhawks
The more that the word spreads about how amazing it feels to play in front of such a packed house, the more high-quality players will be wanting to get a sneak peek of their own.
It’s a strategy that has already paid off for the Riverhawks, as they clinched a playoff berth for the first time in franchise history last season, and are currently in a playoff position heading into the final week of the 2026 campaign.
Constant evolution
Hogle will be the first to admit that while the Riverhawks are having tremendous success, they are far from perfect.
The team is well aware of some of the biggest issues that fans face when attending games, whether that be long lines or a cramped concourse. Transportation was one of the team’s biggest projects heading into the 2026 season, with fans not being thrilled with the parking situation around Re/Max Field.
To help reduce the number of issues, the team paired up with the city of Edmonton to help establish a shuttle bus that runs between Churchill Square and the stadium. Hogle says that is one way the team is listening to fans, and they will continue to do so for those other issues.
“We’re now five years into this, and we’re still learning lots every game,” Hogle said. “We gather fan input, we see some things ourselves obviously, but we are really in tune with our fans.
“We do a fan survey, they give us a bunch of information, and we go back to the drawing board and try to enhance things across the board.”
Edmonton Riverhawks
The Riverhawks set out with a “Build it, and they will come” mentality, and that has proven to be every bit as true as they could have hoped.