The MLB Cardinals are hoping to host “more events beyond baseball at Busch Stadium,” according to Kelsey Volkmann of the ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL. The club is spending $200,000 on “new staff and a contract with St. Louis marketing agency Switch to beef up its special events business with the aim of eventually doubling the 180 events held” at the ballpark in ’10. Cardinals Manager of Special Events Julia Row said, “In the past, we had just been reacting to requests that came in. Now we are making a more aggressive strategy to get the word out.” Row said that one of the challenges “is educating potential customers that it’s not as expensive to hold an event at Busch as they might think and that a variety of packages with different pricing options exist, depending on the choices in catering, location within the ballpark and event size.” Row wants "to attract more trade shows, corporate events, retirements, weddings, holiday parties and other celebrations” to Busch Stadium. The ballpark last year “held more than 183 special events, including 35 weddings.” Row has “talked with her counterparts" at the Red Sox and Royals “about how they have expanded their special events businesses.” Maryville Univ. Program Dir for Sports Business Management Jason Williams estimated that baseball teams “can bring in anywhere from $500,000 to $7 million a year from special events” (ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/15 issue).
KEEP OFF THE GRASS: In St. Louis, Dan O’Neill noted Busch Stadium last Sunday hosted a U2 concert, bringing "more than 50,000" fans to the ballpark. When the Cardinals return to the ballpark Monday to open a series against the Astros, “they will be playing on a vibrant -- and entirely new -- natural grass field.” O’Neill: “At least, that’s the plan.” The Busch Stadium crew over the next three days “will be laying the new field, unloading 14 trucks full of sod each night.” The “bluegrass blueprint” was to have the infield down by yesterday, “with the remaining sections of the diamond to be in place by early Friday morning” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/19).
