D’Backs Try To Jumpstart Sponsorship Sales With B2B Summit

D’Backs Hoping Business Summit Helps Increase Sponsorship Revenue

The D’Backs, “faced with flat sponsorship revenue,” held their first business-to-business summit last Friday as part of the team’s “efforts to recruit and retain corporate sponsors,” according to Ken Alltucker of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig delivered the keynote speech. D’Backs Exec VP/Business Operations Tom Garfinkel said, “We want to make sure the sponsors we do have are receiving value for their investment in our team.” Sponsors provide about 25% of the team’s local revenue, and while the D’Backs declined to reveal sponsorship revenue, they did say that the number of sponsors declined from 108 in ’06 to 87 this year. But remaining sponsors are “paying a higher rate than they did one year ago.” Alltucker noted last season, the team sold 90% of Chase Field’s ad space but only received 58% of its asking price for the ads. This season, 80% of the inventory is sold at 77% of the asking price. The change is “in part because of the team’s decision to reduce the amount of space reserved for advertising.” With “less clutter at the ballpark, the team believes corporate logos draw more eyeballs and more value” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 5/10).

HISPANIC FANS: In Arizona, Matt Simpson reports the D’Backs have entered into promotional partnerships with media outlets such as Univision and La Voz to market to Hispanic fans and have begun selling tickets at Phoenix Ranch Market, which caters to Hispanic shoppers. Also, the team has added Spanish translations to the English messages on signs around Chase Field. D’Backs President Derrick Hall, a former Dodgers exec, said, “What we found in L.A. was ... most Hispanic fans did not feel welcome to come to the ballpark because they just hadn’t been invited. So we’ve literally had to invite Hispanic fans.” Simpson notes the team has also formed a 100-member “Ambassadors Club” of Hispanic community leaders to “spread the invitation on a grassroots level” (EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE, 5/11).