Phillies attempting to reach out to students
Shawn Gauby
Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: Sports
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Now that the Sixers and Flyers have been put out of their misery, Philadelphia is stuck with nothing but baseball for the next four months. And no, for me, arena football does not count. So, our choices in the professional sports realm are either baseball or nothing, and the Phillies' marketing department is finally beginning to do good job of bringing fans in from local schools like Drexel.
April and May are, by far, the slowest months of the year for attendance, especially for a team perennially in contention. They also happen to be the months that most colleges are still in session. It would be a very convenient marriage to find a way to bring in the college kids from around the city in an effort to fill seats and avoid a half-empty stadium. The Phillies have created a college night promotion where they take $4 off of tickets and have either a giveaway or one-dollar hot dogs. The team had two college nights on their schedule last April and they averaged about 8,000 more fans over the other weeknight games in that month.
This season, the organization has beefed up their college night schedule to six games in an effort to build a solid young fan base. Philadelphia is arguably the best college city in the nation, with the City-6 schools dominating the landscape. Reaching out to the youth in the city would benefit attendance greatly. Cheap tickets and cheap food are always a good combination when trying to convince your average student.
As much as I praise the Phillies for the college nights, there is room for improvement. Promotions fill up 30 out of the 81 home games on the Phils' schedule. That number is a stark increase over the years past, but it still begs the question: what about the rest of the games?
There is no shame in a major league team having giveaways or promotions on a regular basis. As a native of Berks County, I have seen my share of Reading Phillies games. Even on the slowest nights, they come close to selling out thanks to solid events and giveaways for every single game. However, most minor league organizations turn the baseball game into a circus by having wacky on-field antics every half-inning and by plastering advertisements everywhere they can. The Philadelphia Phillies do not have to do that to draw fans in, but giving fans some perk to purchase tickets would be good business practice, especially when one of their strongest target groups are college students.
Filling up the schedule with these perks should not be hard. The Phils play in one of the largest markets in America and if they gave companies more opportunities to sponsor and pay for these giveaways, the Phillies can get away without having to pay for the promotions at all. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved.
In order to maintain that solid fan base, the Phillies need to be competitive. Obviously, they have not been thus far. If the last few seasons are any indication though, the team should be in the thick of the pennant race come September. However, the team's putrid start could be an indication of things to come. If the marketing department continues to implement new ideas and promotions into the schedule, the Phillies will have fans flocking to the stadium even if the team is not so great.
Shawn Gauby is a junior majoring in biomedical engineering. He can be reached through sports@thetriangle.org.
April and May are, by far, the slowest months of the year for attendance, especially for a team perennially in contention. They also happen to be the months that most colleges are still in session. It would be a very convenient marriage to find a way to bring in the college kids from around the city in an effort to fill seats and avoid a half-empty stadium. The Phillies have created a college night promotion where they take $4 off of tickets and have either a giveaway or one-dollar hot dogs. The team had two college nights on their schedule last April and they averaged about 8,000 more fans over the other weeknight games in that month.
This season, the organization has beefed up their college night schedule to six games in an effort to build a solid young fan base. Philadelphia is arguably the best college city in the nation, with the City-6 schools dominating the landscape. Reaching out to the youth in the city would benefit attendance greatly. Cheap tickets and cheap food are always a good combination when trying to convince your average student.
As much as I praise the Phillies for the college nights, there is room for improvement. Promotions fill up 30 out of the 81 home games on the Phils' schedule. That number is a stark increase over the years past, but it still begs the question: what about the rest of the games?
There is no shame in a major league team having giveaways or promotions on a regular basis. As a native of Berks County, I have seen my share of Reading Phillies games. Even on the slowest nights, they come close to selling out thanks to solid events and giveaways for every single game. However, most minor league organizations turn the baseball game into a circus by having wacky on-field antics every half-inning and by plastering advertisements everywhere they can. The Philadelphia Phillies do not have to do that to draw fans in, but giving fans some perk to purchase tickets would be good business practice, especially when one of their strongest target groups are college students.
Filling up the schedule with these perks should not be hard. The Phils play in one of the largest markets in America and if they gave companies more opportunities to sponsor and pay for these giveaways, the Phillies can get away without having to pay for the promotions at all. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved.
In order to maintain that solid fan base, the Phillies need to be competitive. Obviously, they have not been thus far. If the last few seasons are any indication though, the team should be in the thick of the pennant race come September. However, the team's putrid start could be an indication of things to come. If the marketing department continues to implement new ideas and promotions into the schedule, the Phillies will have fans flocking to the stadium even if the team is not so great.
Shawn Gauby is a junior majoring in biomedical engineering. He can be reached through sports@thetriangle.org.
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