Rays Chief Business Officer Jeff Cogen, the first person to hold that role with the club, said that his goal is to "set up a long-term growth structure for the team with efforts toward expanding the season ticket base through service and amenity, and 'to make it sustainable as we look to migrate to a bigger, bolder, next-gen stadium,'" according to a front-page piece by Alexis Muellner of the TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL. The Rays in '15 were "last in the league with an average 15,403 attendance, down from 17,857 the year before." Cogen said, "Our group is focused on putting people in the building and adding greater value to our season ticket base and growing our sponsor base ... all in a way that is brand appropriate and culture appropriate." Muellner wrote it was important to team President Brian Auld that Cogen "understand and learn to ingratiate himself into an existing culture of community commitment and an 'employees first' workplace." But Cogen said that the "systematic attention to revenue, growing the season ticket and sponsorship base, 'and wrapping all that together in a world-class experience wherein we could fill the building and generate revenue'" was "less apparent" to him. Cogen’s first real job was "with the circus, and he’s returning to his roots, bringing on 'circus-like' daily promotions, consistent all year, every week, every home-stand." Cogen said that of the 1.25 million in attendance in '15, "roughly 700,000 unique visitors" came to Tropicana Field, meaning those people "go an average twice a year each." He said, "If you get them to come a third time, just by knowing who they are and speaking to them, did we just break 2 million? What kind of story would that be?" (TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/29 issue).
