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How holiday festival is proving a home run for Knights

CHARLOTTE — Home plate for the holidays is turning into a popular, and profitable, venture for the Charlotte Knights.

The Triple-A baseball team has not disclosed specific financial results but attendance gains for its “Light the Knights” Christmas village at Truist Field speak for themselves.

Through Dec. 11, attendance was 77,000. Knights executives set a goal of attracting 100,000 people for the winter holiday event. It opened Nov. 23 and closes Jan. 6.

“It is very important to do outside events from a financial perspective and a community relations perspective,” said Gary Loewenstern, principal at accounting and consulting firm HBK. Loewenstern has served as a financial and business adviser to dozens of minor-league clubs during his career; the Knights are not, and have never been, one of his clients.

Loewenstern told CBJ that minor-league teams benefit from non-baseball events because they can catch the attention of people who may not have been to a game and who become curious after visiting the ballpark.

Read more here.

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