An enthusiastic crowd attended the Marlins' BankUnited FanFest at Dolphin Stadium on Saturday to gather player autographs and check in on the status of stadium talks and this season's centerfielder.

The team reported that more than 15,000 attended the annual event in perfect baseball weather. That’s a far cry from last year’s sparse and bewildered crowd, who showed up in the rain only to wonder what had become of their Marlins – after a payroll gutting – and how many more FanFests there might be after the team had begun its tour of potential relocation locales, without a stadium deal on the horizon.

What a difference a year makes. Fans were excited to greet players whose names they now recognize. They heard that centerfield will be a competition in spring training and the players who had surgery are progressing well.

When asked by a young fan if the Marlins will make the World Series this season, pitcher Dontrelle Willis responded: "Most definitely. Get your playoff tickets right now."

Marlins President David Samson told fans he expects a stadium deal to be announced this year: “Stay tuned, stay ready."

Samson said downtown Miami – a site north of the Miami-Dade County government center east of I-95 and a few blocks southwest of Miami Arena – is the focus, but that spots in Pompano Beach and Hialeah are not off the table.

“As we’ve always said it doesn’t matter where the stadium is because, this is my favorite line, the stadium is the opposite of a nuclear power plant, everybody wants it in their backyard,” Samson said. “And so we’re not going to be able to do that, we’re going to have to put it somewhere and we’d much rather have it in South Florida than somewhere else.”

Samson also stressed the team’s new “Super Saturdays” program, which will include pregame parties and postgame concerts, followed by fireworks. The idea is to create an event of every Saturday game.

The first seven concerts are: American Idol Finalists (Nadia Turner signed autographs at FanFest) (April 7); Cheap Trick (April 21); Kansas (May 5); El Gran Combo (May 26); Disco Fever featuring Gloria Gaynor, Tavares and France Joli (June 9); Jo Dee Messina (June 23); and Joan Jett (June 30).

“Thirteen times this year it will be as though we’re hosting the Grammies, in terms of the music, the buzz, the desire to be there,” Samson said last week. “Baseball is a form of entertainment that stands on its own, but what we’re doing is trying to welcome even casual fans to our stadium.”