It’s not just about kids and families anymore for the new man in charge of selling the White Sox to Chicago.
Speaking about his goals as the White Sox’s new vice president of marketing, 32-year-old Brooks Boyer said the intense focus in recent years on creating a fun environment for families has left untapped legions of young adults, women and ethnic minorities who follow the team.
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| Boyer |
“The White Sox’s philosophy is going to change,” said Boyer, who joined the club in late April after 10 years with the Chicago Bulls. “We have to understand that kids and families are very important to us, but we have to offer an entertaining experience across gender lines, culture lines and ethnic lines.”
Among his early efforts to energize the game presentation, Boyer overhauled the traditional player introductions. Following an updated highlight reel featuring the team’s current members, each White Sox starter is introduced as he runs out onto the field alone. The idea, Boyer said, is to get the fans better acquainted with the players and to “build that crescendo” to the first pitch.
“We want to create heroes,” Boyer said.
Boyer also has employed the Bucket Boys, a group of pail-drumming youngsters from the Chicago’s South Side frequently used by the Bulls, to perform between the fifth and sixth innings.
Most of Boyer’s other efforts will not materialize until next year because the 2004 marketing budget was set before Rob Gallas resigned as vice president of marketing in April after 15 years with the team.
The additions don’t mean the White Sox plan to scale back their attention to families. Club officials announced last week that the first of five stages of renovations to U.S. Cellular Field would be the expansion and relocation of a baseball and softball instruction area to a 15,000-square-foot section above the left-field concourse.
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| The White Sox plan to expand a baseball/softball instruction area at U.S. Cellular Field. |
But Boyer has made clear the club’s need for a new sales approach. Disputing the notion that Chicago’s long-visible loyalty to the Cubs made his job one of the worst in sports, Boyer said the White Sox have an intensely loyal and passionate fan base that simply needs more attention.
During his time with the Bulls, Boyer saw the NBA club experience both the highs of the Michael Jordan era and the recent lows of the franchise becoming a perennial lottery team. Despite the on-court decline, Boyer and the rest of the Bulls’ marketing staff managed to keep the team near the top of the league in attendance through an aggressive approach to in-game entertainment.
The White Sox, which as of last Wednesday were tied for first place in the American League Central, nonetheless ranked No. 25 of 30 teams leaguewide in average attendance despite a 23 percent increase over average attendance at this time a year ago. Through 19 dates, the White Sox were averaging 20,654 fans per game.
Boyer has never worked for a baseball club, but White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf has had a chance to see a decade of Boyer’s work. With the White Sox, Boyer has devoted much of his time to appearing on radio talk shows and reading letters and e-mails from fans in an effort to learn what gets Sox fans to games and keeps them coming back. A common complaint has been the club’s perceived unwillingness to reach out to fans, specifically as it relates to prices and entertainment options.
“The best part about White Sox fans is they don’t hold their tongue,” Boyer said.
