(Photo By Flickr User Nekonomist)

It’s no minor accomplishment.

According to Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal and cinewsnow.com, ranks Peoria 18th in its new list of the country’s top minor league markets.

This ranking is higher than larger cities like Hartford, CT (40th), Omaha, NE (56th), Dayton, OH (66th) and Birmingham, AL (95th).

Quad Cities is ranked the top minor league market while Bloomington-Normal, is ranked 191st.

Rocky Vonachen, president of the Peoria Chiefs baseball team, thinks it’s quite a compliment and a testament to what a minor league sports franchise brings to a community. He also says,

“It adds a lot to the quality of life in the city you live in. That was always the mission of dad when he started the team back in the early ’80s, to improve the quality of life in Peoria and central Illinois.”

The Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal bases its rankings on research in more than 200 minor league markets. Factors include fan base, tenured clubs and the local economy. They say that there’s also an x-factor; the venues teams call home. Dozer Park and Carver Arena give Peoria two first-class facilities.

Jean Guy Trudel, head coach of the Peoria Rivermen hockey team, says,

“Every player we get, when they come into the lobby of the Peoria Civic Center and (then) see the rink they’re pretty impressed; for a small city we have one of the best facilities.”

Peoria was ranked 55th in the previous set of rankings published in 2013.