for what its worth comment:
I live in Ocala and have had baseball season tickets since 1998. I use to go to a lot of Gator football games but baseball is more laid back and a whole lot less expensive. I get up to about half of the midweek games and 2/3 of the weekend series. As expected, attendance is better when we are good and worse when we are bad. That can also be extrapolated to the teams we play (better or worse) and the weather (better or worse). I don't have the statistics in front of me but a decent game's attendance may be about 2,000 and a good game's attendance is 4 to 5 thousand. Since we play a pretty tough schedule I am guessing it is pretty common to have 3,000 or more.
In order to understand why the money and time are being invested in a new stadium it is important to note several factors:
1. Our baseball facilities are lagging behind the rest of the conference
2. Florida is rated by many baseball writers to be the best program in the country over the past 10 years
3. Keeping Sully is a priority (not necessarily to me but I wont go into that here)
4. The biggest reason is for expansion of the football facility which requires wiping out McKethan
One reason I love Gator Baseball is exemplified in two kids that I have watched play at McKethan
Past: David Eckstein who won 2 world series, a world series MVP and a 2 time all-star.
Memory Lane: Boston Red Sox draft infielder David Eckstein
Present: Pete Alonso just won the MLB Home Run Derby, played for the NL in the MLB all star game, set a new NL single season rookie home run record and won the NL rookie of the year.
Pete Alonso, 1B, New York Mets