Texas is known for its heat, but this is ridiculous.
The Amarillo Sox of the American Association are claiming the sweltering summer in the Lone Star state has caused losses of close to $100,000.
Fifty times this summer the temperature in Amarillo reached triple digits. The previous mark for 100-degree days there was 26 in 1953.
Sox GM Mark Lee tells the Amarillo Globe-News that the heat killed the team's books. "This was probably -- attendance wise, financially -- our worst year since I've been GM (six years)," Lee said.
Average attendance for the minor league team was down slightly from 2,869 to 2,834 this summer, but the real problem is not tickets sold, it's no-shows.
Even the celebrity mascot known around the world as "The Famous Chicken," wasn't enough to bring fans out during the heatwave.
Lee told the Globe-News the team sold out club seats for the fowl fan favorite but "nobody was sitting in them," because of the heat.
It's estimated Amarillo fans actually in the stands are worth between $5 and $6 in revenue for the team. In addition, the team has spent extra cash (between $8,000 to $12,000 each month) for water and electricity.
Add it all up and that's a lot of lost cash due to the Texas toast.
