Instead, it was doubly disappointing.
The Friday night game against Canterbury was abandoned without a ball bowled due to a damp outfield, and the crowds stayed at home for Saturday's match against Northern Districts.
The association had budgeted for crowds of 1500-plus on both nights but had to settle for about 750 on the Saturday.
To make matters worse, Northern won the match by nine runs, bringing Otago's remarkable run of 11 consecutive wins in the HRV Cup to an end.
Chief executive Ross Dykes said it was a gamble to schedule night cricket in Dunedin in November but the potential upside was huge.
The novelty of playing the games under lights, and the fact it was Jesse Ryder's first few games for Otago in the city, should have seen the crowds flock to the venue.
Had it been a rare balmy evening, perhaps they would have come in good numbers. Instead it was freezing and people stayed tucked up at home.
''It was very disappointing, really,'' Dykes said.
''There was lots of expectation because it was such a novelty, but I guess we all knew the risks with playing cricket this early in spring in the South Island.
''When we do our budgeting, we always make an allowance for maybe one rained-off game. Regardless, we thought we would have got a better crowd than what we got on Saturday night.
''It was cold and miserable and you can't expect people to come out in that. But we are significantly down on where we would like to be financially.''
Dykes said the association would be working hard to make up the shortfall. The Volts' next home twenty20 fixture is against Auckland at Molyneux Park on December 27, and in January there are two twenty20 matches at the University Oval.
''If we get fine weather for those three games and the team is performing well ... then we can go a long way towards making up that [shortfall]. It is probably a bridge too far to get it all back. But it was an experiment and I think it was a worthwhile one.''
The six major associations have a collective insurance policy to provide cover for loss of revenue.
However, Dykes said estimated losses from a first rained-off game were not covered by the policy. Any second, third or corresponding incident would be covered.
