The Toronto Blue Jays have sold nearly 10,000 season tickets for 2004 during an off-season of heavy marketing that will culminate with a $1.6 million media campaign and a free trip to spring training for 750 fans, a team official said last week.
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| Godfrey |
The team had renewed 86 percent of its 11,000 full-season tickets and added 200 new season-ticket holders as of last week, a significant improvement for a club that generally hovers around a 70 percent renewal rate in late January, said Rob Godfrey, the Blue Jays' senior vice president of communications and external relations.
"For this point of the year, that's amazing for us," Godfrey said. He added that the early renewals have allowed club officials to invest more in acquiring new customers. With this year's cancellation rate at just 3 percent, Godfrey said, renewals for the season likely will exceed 90 percent and could be as high as 94 percent.
Central to the early success is a program that gives fans who paid in full before Dec. 2 a free flight to Dunedin, Fla., to watch the team's Grapefruit League home opener. While the initiative is in its second year, a more aggressive ticketing campaign that targeted season-ticket holders from as far back as four years ago and a successful off-season that included re-signing Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay have bolstered interest from Blue Jays fans.
About 1,500 fans paid in full before the deadline, with about half accepting the free trip to Florida; the rest will get a Blue Jays jersey. Last year, about 1,350 people paid prior to the deadline; fewer than 700 people made the trip to Florida. The travel package includes airfare, a game ticket and a ticket to a barbecue where Blue Jays players will serve food.
The next major marketing push will tie to the team's third annual "State of the Franchise," an open forum where season-ticket holders are free to question, compliment or criticize members of the front office, including President and CEO Paul Godfrey and general manager J.P. Ricciardi. The team expects to draw more than 400 people to the Feb. 11 forum, which will take place at a local restaurant.
"They're encouraged to come at us with their sharpest daggers," Rob Godfrey said. "This is the perfect opportunity to give our highest-value, highest-revenue-producing category a look at our plan rather than picking it up in one of our daily newspapers."
The following weekend, the team will begin shooting television ads for its "Baseball North" campaign, making light of the uniqueness of baseball in Canada. The team spent $1.6 million on the campaign, which will feature TV and radio spots, print ads and some outdoor media.
The value of the media buy is estimated to be significantly greater than the expense, but club owner Rogers Communications' media ownership allows for lower costs to the club.
The Blue Jays averaged just over 22,000 fans a game last season, up about 10 percent from 2002 but still ranking in the league's bottom third.
