Fans Continue to Flock to Larks Games & Events in 8th Season

The Larks hosted 36 home games this summer at Bismarck Municipal Ballpark, Home of Dakota Community Bank and Trust Field plus two Minot Honeybees Northwoods Softball League games held at Cottonwood Park. There were 67,759 tickets purchased resulting in almost 95% of the ballpark’s 1950 capacity sold each night.

In addition to providing a unique, quality-of-life experience to the community during games, the team along with their sponsors put on over a dozen free, family events throughout the year. These events included the Kids STEM Education Expo, Kids Bike Ride at Harmon Lake, Community Mine Tour at North American Coal, Clark’s Car Wash, Jersey Food Drive, two Away Game Watch Parties at X-Golf & Tap-In Tavern, Special Olympics Baseball Camp, Clark’s Birthday Party at Elk Ridge Park, Bat Demo Day at Sanford POWER, Winter Warm-Up featuring new Larks Field Manager Mark Weidemaier, Hunter’s Smile Trunk or Treat and Tree Light Ceremony at Peace Park.

Total estimated attendance for these events was over 6,000 – an increase of over 1,000 people.

The team also raised $3,000, 150 backpacks, and school supplies for the Knife River Backpack Giveback.

Impact on Tourism

The team connected all corners of North Dakota and the country with over 5,900 single game tickets purchased by fans outside of the Bismarck, Mandan, and Lincoln area. This number does not include numerous parents of players that visited from out of town who receive tickets from the Larks player pass list as well as out of town guests that use tickets purchased in advance from businesses or local residents.

Baseball fans from 35 states and three provinces of Canada flocked to Bismarck to watch at least one game. The furthest fans traveled over 4,100 miles from Easy Molesey, United Kingdom and Minnesota was the state that brought the most people to Bismarck throughout the duration of the summer.

In total, the Larks helped partner hotel Ramada Bismarck and Baymont Inn and Suites reserve over 30 rooms for guests throughout the year, not including player and umpire rooms.

National and regional Exposure for City & State

Bismarck and North Dakota were highly visible on television and social media this year during Larks games generating millions of impressions through the following:

• 8 of the 36 Larks home games were featured on ESPN+, the popular streaming app which as of 2023 has over 24.9 million subscribers.
• The remaining home and away games are featured on the Northwoods League’s free streaming platform which received tens of thousands of impressions
• KFYR-TV televised 2 games on NBC across the state of North Dakota
• Bismarck’s moniker (BIS), the Larks logo, along with game scores were featured on the bottom ticker during all Minnesota Twins games on Bally Sports North.

Workforce Recruitment & Retention

In 2024, the Larks and sister company Funatix Events expanded to a front office of 14 full-time staff members with 10 now calling Bismarck home after moving from outside the state for their position. The Larks also had three employees celebrate their 8th season with the organization and three employees celebrate their 5th season.

In addition, the Larks employed 145 individuals part-time during the season. Over 19% of the seasonal employees were new to the workforce and chose the Larks as their first job in the summer of 2024.

The team’s internship program offered 23 students the opportunity to receive college credit in their field of study. Interns gained hands-on educational experience in areas including operations, sponsorship, media, and tickets. Of the 23 interns, 21 of them moved from out-of-state, choosing Bismarck as their home for the duration of their internship. These individuals moved from Canada, Florida, California, Washington, Wisconsin, Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, Oregon, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, New York, Montana and Michigan.

The team also had a total of 70 Larks players, over 300 visiting players, 3 coaches, 27 visiting coaches, and 24 umpires come to North Dakota between May and August 2024 exposing them to our beautiful city and state.