Last year, Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal named Rochester
the number one minor-league sports market in the country. The city boasts pro
sports franchises that are both storied and cutting-edge, some steeped in
tradition, others still growing out of their infancy.
The granddaddy of them all is the Rochester Red Wings, a Triple-A baseball club
that dates back to 1885 and has in the past featured future baseball greats
like Stan Musial, Cal Ripken
Jr., Don Baylor, and Curt Schilling. The team is the AAA affiliate of the
Minnesota Twins and plays in the International League every April through
September at Frontier Field in downtown Rochester.
($6-$10 per game, $295 to $390 per season; 423-WING,
www.redwingsbaseball.com.)
A slightly cheaper baseball option is
the Class A Muckdogsof Batavia,
located about 30 minutes west of Rochester.
The Muckdogs play in the NY-Penn League and are
affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies. ($3-$5 per game, $90 for season; 343-5454, www.muckdogs.com.)
Next in seniority are the Rochester Americans, one of the most storied
franchises in the American Hockey League. Known colloquially as the Amerks, the team just celebrated its 50th season. During
that half-century, the franchise won a slew of AHL championships and became the
second-oldest team in the league. The AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres, the Amerks play from
October through April at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester.
($11-$20 per game, $170 for season; 454-5335,
www.amerks.com.)
The Amerks’
roommates at Blue Cross Arena are the RochesterKnighthawks,
an indoor lacrosse team that routinely finds success in the National Lacrosse
League. From January until April, the K-hawks play their bruising, fast-paced
brand of lacrosse. ($13.75-$25.75 per game; $65-$170 per season; 454-5335,
www.knighthawks.net)
The group of investors that owns the Knighthawks and the Amerks also
owns the Rochester Raging Rhinos, one of the most
successful franchises in the United Soccer League’s First Division. The Rhinos
play from May to September, and in June, they’ll christen the city’s brand-new
soccer-specific stadium, PAETECPark,
located just a few blocks from Frontier Field, where the team has played in the
past. ($9-$25 per game, $99-$250 per season, 454-KICK,
www.rhinossoccer.com.)
The Rhinos will be sharing PAETECPark with the city’s youngest
franchise, the Rochester Rattlers outdoor lacrosse team. As
members of the Major League Lacrosse organization, the Rattlers play the
traditional game of field lacrosse, a more wide-open, spread-out version than
the Knighthawks’ indoor game. The MLL season runs
from May through August ($10-$18 per game, $49-$84 for season; 454-5425,
www.rochesterrattlers.com.)
Finally, making their debut this year
are the Rochester Raiders, new members of the Great
Lakes Indoor Football League, an organization that offers a brand of game
similar to arena football. The team will play at the ESL Sports Centre in
Henrietta starting in April. ($9.95-$19.95 per game, $53-$110 for season; 217-8731,
www.rochesterraiders.com)
The city’s newest — and arguably, at least in 2006, the
most successful — pro franchise is the American Basketball Association’s RochesterRazorSharks.
The RazorSharks launched in 2005 as a member of the
second-generation ABA, a league
that openly tries to evoke memories of the ABA
that rivaled the NBA in the ’60s and ’70s. While the level of play certainly
won’t rival the heydays of Dr. J. and the Iceman, the ABA
represents a low-cost, freewheeling alternative to pricey NBA games. The Sharks
play at Blue Cross Arena from fall to early spring. ($8-$25 per game; 232-9190,
www.rochesterrazorsharks.com)
This article appears in Mar 22-28, 2006.
