Business Beat

By J.J. Cooper
May 18, 2005

When the Braves announced they were bringing their Southern League franchise to the Jackson, Miss., area for the 2005 season, people began offering Jackson Senators general manager Craig Brasfield their condolences.

After all, when an affiliated team comes to town, the independent league club soon is sent packing. Just this season, the independent Central League's Springfield-Ozark Mountain Ducks closed their doors when they learned that the Texas League's Springfield Cardinals were coming to town.

So with a Double-A team coming to a new stadium, many fans and advertisers assumed the Senators, who also play in the Central League, had played their final game.

Instead, the Senators are going back to the minor league marketing methods of 20 years ago. Conventional wisdom in minor league baseball these days says doing giveaways devalues tickets. But with the Senators this season, you could attend every weekend series without ever spending a dime: The Friday, Saturday and Sunday games are all free if you pick up tickets from local sponsors.

"People say you can't sell tickets if you do that," Brasfield said. "Well, I wasn't selling tickets anyway--the most season tickets we've had was 250. Now I know people are coming. I'm getting a little money from them and lot on the other end (from sponsors). In big new markets with shiny stadiums, selling every seat works, but I don't have that.

"This is not the right way to do it in most markets. But we had to do something to get attention. It's working, right now we couldn't be happier."

When the fans walk into the stadium with their free ticket, Brasfield's staff works hard to try to get them to pay for a $2 upgrade to a reserved seat with a chairback. Fans have to walk by three different people pushing the upgrade on their way to the general admission section.

A month into the season, the gamble has paid off, as the Senators were drawing more than 2,000 fans a game, up from last year's 1,400. Obviously, those fans are spending less than they would if they paid $6 for a regular ticket, but it's a definite improvement over the possibility of playing in front of 300 fans.

"I'm in a 25-year-old stadium with a Braves Double-A affiliate 12 miles away. I had to do some things," Brasfield said. "We play up that it's no charge to park. What we're doing is, we sell that we're your hometown team, locally owned, and free to get in. You can watch the game without spending a nickel, but that's not what's happening."

The Senators have also emphasized the versatility of their stadium, which received FieldTurf in a $1 million upgrade before the season. With the new turf, the Senators are booking college and high school baseball, football and concerts, aiming to have 50 other events booked for 2005. According to Brasfield, the other events are crucial to the team's future.

"We're not going to make it just on pro baseball, but if I lose $100,000 on baseball and make $75,000 on others, let's go," he said.

The Jackson market surprisingly seems to have enough baseball fans to keep two team's turnstiles spinning, at least so far. On Memorial Day weekend, the Senators drew 3,894 fans, with many taking advantage of the free tickets, on the same night the Braves drew 3,207. A night later, the Senators drew 3,033, while the Braves brought in 4,344.

Jackson isn't the only place where two baseball teams are trying to survive in one market. The Coastal Bend Aviators--another Central League club in Robstown, Texas, a suburb of Corpus Christi--have drawn 2,100 fans a game this season. That's comparable to last year's attendance, even though the Corpus Christi Hooks have drawn nearly 7,200 fans per game in their inaugural season in the Texas League.

Despite the Senators' early success, there is no guarantee that they will return to Jackson next season. Their ownership group is finalizing a stadium management contract that would extend the current deal through the 2010 season. After that, the owners will wait until the season is over to make a decision about the Senators.

"My gut feeling is we will sign this lease to manage the stadium. I firmly believe there are intentions to play minor league pro ball in Jackson in 2006," Brasfield said.

Washed Away

The Portland Sea Dogs (Eastern) lived up to their nickname during the first two months of the season. As June arrived, the Sea Dogs had endured a franchise-record nine rainouts. The team usually has just two or three a year, and only had one last year. During one six-day homestand, five games were rained out.

"Four of the nine rainouts were on weekends; that didn’t help," assistant GM John Kameisha said. "But if you're going to have them, have them in April and May. Hopefully Mother Nature will look favorably upon us in June, July and August.

"It got to the point where the newspaper was running front-page stories on the weather every day. I guess it was our turn to get the bad weather this year."

QUICK HITS

• At the Winter Meetings last December in Anaheim, Nashville (Pacific Coast) GM Glenn Yaeger said he was excited to have the framework of a new stadium deal worked out. Six months later, the stadium remained in limbo, as well as the Sounds' future in Nashville.

• The Greenville Bombers (South Atlantic) broke ground on their new stadium, which is scheduled to be open for the 2006 season. The Bombers are footing the bill for the $12 million stadium, which will seat 4,500 fans. The stadium will include a replica of Fenway Park's Green Monster, appropriate because the team is now a Red Sox affiliate. The park will be built to be intimate, with no seat more than 12 rows from the field.