Joe Schulman is the author of a new column in the Kansas City Star about becoming a fan of a new baseball team. He has written for ChopTalk, the Atlanta Braves' magazine. Joe is a freelance writer in Atlanta, and he and his wife, Cady, are avid Braves fans.
Monday, March 19, 2007
A Buyer's MarketIt's been quite a spring so far. I always love spring training for the first few weeks but then I start to get a bit antsy. By St. Patrick's Day, I'm ready for the games to start counting. You can only practice and scout so much. Eventually you just have to strap on batting gloves and make that long walk to the batter's box.
This past week has been crazy. I had big changes at my job and my wife and I started house hunting. There's nothing so disheartening as looking at loads of houses and saying, "Nope, we can't afford that either."
That's what it must be like to be a general manager of a small market team. CT on the message boards wondered how do you defend the team to a bunch of teenagers when all they ever see is the team finish at the bottom of the division. The answer is easy.
You don't. Not in the same way a Yankees fan defends his team(not all the players are overpaid and over the hill). Instead, you show them everything on this blog and all over the fan sites for the team. People are excited. Sure the team's track record the last few years hasn't been great, but fans are looking forward to April.
It's tough being a kid and the fan of a really bad team. I was there for the late 80's of the Braves when the team couldn't draw a crowd if they gave away tickets. True story:Ted Turner drove a chariot led by ostriches at one game. Those were the things they tried to bring in fans.
I don't think there's much that has to be done this year to bring fans to the ballpark. By May, they'll know what this team is made of.
Question now: Minor league teams are infamous for doing creative marketing. What are some of the best ideas you've seen for bringing fans to the stadium?