Giveaways
SBJ breaks down the impact of various ballpark giveaways and promotions on attendance. There’s a chart at the link that I’m not going to reproduce here. Suffice it to say, however, that Webkinz night is quite the draw. College Night and Little League Day, however, may as well be replaced by an H1N1 promotion.
(Thanks to Pete Toms for the link)
I’ve had a theory (unproven) that they link the better giveaways to Interleague, propping up the attendance figures (as if they needed to in early summer) thus perpetuating Interleague. Also, MLB’s satellites are watching us constantly.
I know with our college night with the Braves, we do it on Tuesdays/Wednesdays, so I wonder if that’s pretty standard across the board for major league teams.
Nate, in addition, MLB only lets the fans have less valuable giveaways when NYY/BOS is in town so the fans aren’t as excited, therefore they’re not as able to pass their collective energy to the home team, thus more easily enabling NYY/BOS to win more games and reach the post season for TV rating purposes.
By far, my favorite promotion is Fireworks Night, or as I like to call it, “Get The Hell Out Of The Parking Lot In Under 5 Minutes While Everyone Else Is Mesmorized Like A Deadhead On An Acid Trip” Night.
M:TaL – If you are urban dwelling and, like, me, ride a bicycle to the stadium, you call that night: every night.
Also, this chart clearly doesn’t include the most popular Phillies’ promotion (this of course, is pre-World Series championship, because post-championship, the Phils have sold just about every game out regardless): Dollar Dog Night. Now, $1 for a hotdog is what a person SHOULD pay for a hotdog, anyway, so this wouldn’t seem like such a big deal, if it hadn’t become tradition to sit in the upper deck and attempt to eat one hot dog per inning. Naturally, you’ll need something to wash down 9 hotdogs, and tradition also dictates that you should use beer: one per inning.
I had some fireworks explode in the stands three rows in front of me at a minor league game. I also get out of Dodge before the fireworks show starts. For different reasons.
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT ride a bicycle to Turner Field. Trust me.
Thanks for the great link.
With the Red Sox being the sole team not provide a giveaway list, that leaves 29 teams. Yet only 28 gave away caps, so one team did not have a cap giveaway the entire season! Who the hell was that? How is that even possible? That boggles my mind.
I agree that the method of comparison here seems suspect. I can only really speak from my experience as to how the Twins do giveaways, but I really doubt that people are drawn to the park to pick up magnetic schedules. However, teams usually give those out during the opening series, so there is an attendance spike for that.
Additionally, I can confirm that the Twins also do a mid-week student night as well, so it’s hardly fair to compare it to bobblehead games that are usually on weekends.
No cap giveaway? The reason Boston didn’t provide a promotion/giveaway list is because they didn’t have any. They mail a few things to season ticket holders (media guide/baseball), all they give at the park is a calendar on opening day. Also, what they mail depends on the season ticket package you purchase. As long as they continue selling out(the streak is a fraud) they won’t be giving much away.
I think this is a specious exercise, given the ratio of the perceived value of the promotions/giveaways to the diversity of ticket prices. In the minors, it’s often a significant portion of the ticket price, sometimes even 1:1 ($10 retail value giveaway, $10 ticket), but I have a hard time believing that the tipping point for folks going to major-league game and sitting somewhere other than the cheapest seats is a bobblehead.
I’m also suspicious that the methodology is not laid out. Comparing a promotional game to a non-promotional game is meaningless if you’re not factoring in day of the week AND month, if not weather and opponent.
I am assuming that Negro Leagues-related days came under the “cultural” rubric, but they really should be their own category, with a notation of the temperature on the field at game time correlated to the amount of wool/flannel fabric on the players.
Moneyball II: Statistics Driving Marketing for MLB’s Indians
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=a_U6TwV4RDJg
An example: “Using statistical analysis of ticket purchases to understand the preferences and price limits of their fans, the Indians learned that fireworks after a game draw an additional 4,000 fans; every one-degree temperature drop below 70 Fahrenheit costs them 300; and when the New York Yankees come to town, attendance jumps 11,000.”
I agree that this study, if you can call it that, is questionable at best.
For example, it says that fireworks nights increase attendance by 8.6%. Well, I know that the Angels do fireworks night every Friday, and on the 4th of July. Of course the attendance is up on those days, but is it really the fireworks? I am assuming that most other teams follow a very similar pattern.