The Detroit Tigers front office is well aware that the club is likely to struggle for wins this year, but there are still tickets and sponsorships to sell at Comerica Park, marketing campaigns to develop, and new fans to be won.
The Tigers sunk to a 98-loss season last year after a run of success that included seven winning seasons, five playoff berths and two American League pennants between 2006 and 2014. With former franchise stalwarts such as Justin Verlander, Justin Upton, Ian Kinsler and J.D. Martinez now departed via trades, the Tigers have fully committed to a youth-driven rebuilding process, and all the initial pain that comes with it. The situation could get worse and drop the Tigers beyond 100 losses this year before it gets better.
“We’ve been very transparent and open about where our plan is and where we are,” said Chris Granger, president of sport and entertainment for team owner Ilitch Holdings. “We’re not hiding what we’re doing. There are no shortcuts here, and we’re looking to do things in the best long-term interest of the club and set ourselves up for sustained success.”
The Tigers, whose player payroll will be slashed from nearly $200 million last year to around $135 million for 2018, are just one of a growing collection of MLB clubs embarking on a major rebuilding process, or what more cynical reads of the situation this past winter called tanking. Estimates around the sport vary as to the number of clubs on a similar path as the Tigers but anywhere from a third to more than half of MLB clubs have been deemed as not true challengers for the postseason, much less the 2018 World Series title.
First Look podcast, with MLB discussion at the 18:10 mark:
That focus on rebuilding through the draft and international player development seeks to replicate the multiyear blueprint the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs used to win the last two World Series after suffering through 100-loss seasons.
But it’s also created a nasty flashpoint in the relationship between MLB and the MLB Players Association, highlighted by an ongoing labor grievance by the union regarding the use of revenue-sharing funds by Miami, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay. The union believes the quartet of clubs is not in compliance with revenue-sharing rules, but has not provided more details on the alleged violations.
After a historically slow free-agent market that generated only three contracts of at least $100 million and left many notable veterans still unemployed, MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark angrily and publicly said last month that “a significant number of clubs are engaged in a race to the bottom” that represented “a fundamental breach of the trust between a team and its fans and threatens the very integrity of the game.”
The league responded that the player signing activity, or lack thereof, simply reflects the cyclical nature of clubs’ on-field competitiveness and pointed to “the failure of some agents to accurately assess the market.”
While the league-union tension rises and club rebuilding plans unfold, there’s no escaping the fact that baseball has by far more games and thus more tickets to sell than any other sport. MLB attendance already has fallen four of the last five seasons and local TV ratings were down last year for more than half the clubs, with rebuilding franchises such as the Tigers and Marlins showing the most severe declines. Thus, the trend toward large-scale rebuilds and the lower-caliber baseball likely to occur in multiple markets this summer present major tests of baseball fandom.
“We’re selling the journey,” of player development, said Brooks Boyer, Chicago White Sox senior vice president of sales and marketing. The White Sox have cut payroll significantly, falling from $99 million last year amid a 95-loss season to around $75 million for 2018. Several early projections point to the White Sox looking at another 90-loss season in 2018. But club officials said their rebuild this year remains anything but a tanked season.
“There’s no tanking with the Chicago White Sox. It’s not in Jerry’s DNA, and it’s not in Ricky’s DNA,” Boyer continued, speaking of club owner Jerry Reinsdorf and manager Rick Renteria. “But a rebuilding process, when done properly, takes time and requires patience. There’s a real youthful energy we now have, and we want our fans to be a part of that all along the way.”
But whether fans will be with them, either in spirit or at Guaranteed Rate Field, remains to be seen.
Data-driven approach
Karen Forgus, Cincinnati Reds senior vice president of business operations, didn’t start her career in sports, instead producing Sunday worship services for a local megachurch before joining the Reds in 2006. That prior focus on the emotional journeys of attendees, as well as the club’s proximity to the consumer research community that supports corporate giant Procter & Gamble, has led Forgus to a much more detached view on marketing the club’s rebuild.
“We’ve really sought to not rely on team performance to solely drive the business,” Forgus said. “We’re really in the time business, and our goal is to connect with people and earn their time.”
Working with Cincinnati brand agency Hyperquake, the Reds two years ago studied their fans’ motivations on coming to Great American Ball Park and the sources of the club’s brand equity. Even after having five World Series titles and nine National League pennants in its history, and reaching the playoffs three times this decade, near-term winning was not foremost in the results.
Teams such as the Cincinnati Reds have seen attendance dip as they revamp their rosters.getty images
Instead the three key takeaways were the fans’ desire to be a shareholder of sorts with the club and firmly connected to a broad strategic vision; a deep civic pride in the Reds’ status as the first all-professional baseball team and 150-year history with baseball; and the ballpark’s status as a place to connect with family and friends, particularly given Cincinnati’s status as a more multi-generational fan market.
Those tenets will be put to a stiff test this season. With the Reds in the midst of a large-scale rebuild under Dick Williams, president of baseball operations, and competing in a stacked division that includes the Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and sharply improved Milwaukee Brewers, the prospects of wins are slim. But the same attributes are still guiding the Reds’ business activities, as among the club’s marketing taglines this year is “Better At The Ballpark.”
“It’s not just the food and the venue experience; though those things are certainly very important as we look to create demand,” Forgus said. “It’s also about seeing these phenomenal athletes live and how things simply just look and sound and feel different when you’re there in person.”
Like everything else in baseball, data is heavily informing other club rebuilds and the marketing around them. Surveys and team input within several franchises have found that, despite the recent attendance data, fans are becoming more tolerant of large-scale rebuilds.
“Fans look at what Houston did, the Cubs did, even the Royals in ’15, point to what those teams did and say, ‘We want that, too,’” Boyer said. “And you can also look at other sports like basketball, what Scott O’Neil and the Sixers did around ‘Trust The Process’ and what that created.”
Boyer spoke with unusual candor about his crosstown rival Cubs.
“The Cubs’ process really helped us here,” he said. “They’ve obviously got Wrigley [Field] and the tourist traffic that goes there. But fans in our market obviously saw what they did to rebuild and how that happened.”
It can’t be overlooked, though, that by the time the Astros reached their 111-loss nadir in 2013, attendance was barely half what it was in better times at Minute Maid Park, and still had not fully rebounded before the club’s march to last year’s title. The Cubs are indeed more insulated with the perennial popularity of Wrigley Field. But the club still shed more than half a million in annual attendance during the depths of the Theo Epstein-led on-field rebuild.
After several years of similarly ebbing attendance, Boyer said initial 2018 revenue targets set this past fall for White Sox season-ticket renewals, new ticket sales and sponsorship sales have all been exceeded. The Reds similarly pointed to double-digit percentage increases in TV ratings for spring training games, which have often featured the club’s stable of prospects. But those markers remain the earliest of indicators.
“We are banking on the baseball IQ of our fans,” Forgus said.
Marketing the future — and the past
Wayne Partello, San Diego Padres senior vice president and chief marketing officer, sits in a somewhat more enviable position than his counterparts at other rebuilding clubs. He has newly signed free agent Eric Hosmer, one of the heroes of the Royals’ 2015 World Series title, to use as a foundational name-brand piece to market the club. But Partello and the Padres, like many other rebuilding clubs, have begun to marshal sizable resources around promoting minor-league prospects.
The San Diego Padres stage a game each season highlighting prospects.
The Padres have a regular online feature, entitled #PadresOnDeck, penned by former San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Bill Center, chronicling the development of the club’s prospects. The franchise the last two seasons has staged a season-ending game at Petco Park, similarly titled the On Deck Game, pitting the Padres’ minor league talent against Texas Rangers prospects. Partello has also overseen regular features on the team’s up-and-coming talent on Fox Sports San Diego.
“The basic idea is a notion of waves of talent. We’ve had one wave of talent come in with guys like Wil Myers, and we are letting people know regularly that more waves are coming,” Partello said.
Boyer and the White Sox tell a similar story as they brought in prospects for their winter SoxFest and are increasing the number of Chicago-area broadcasts of their Class AAA affiliate Charlotte Knights from 14 last year to 17 in 2018.
“We want our fans to know who they are, so by the time they get to the majors and are core parts of the big league club, there are already connections to them,” he said.
The Detroit Tigers have used former stars such as Jack Morris (right, with pitcher Michael Fulmer) to remind fans of past milestones and anniversaries.Getty images
While the selling of prospects continues and the major league-level losses likely amass, the rebuilding clubs plan this year to be very active selling anniversaries and milestones. The Tigers are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their 1968 World Series title and the forthcoming induction of former stars Jack Morris and Alan Trammell in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Padres, similarly, are marking 20 years since their 1998 National League pennant and former closer Trevor Hoffman’s upcoming enshrinement in Cooperstown.
“We can celebrate the past in addition to being in the present and looking forward to the future,” Partello said.
The Rays are celebrating the two decades of their existence with a series of historically themed giveaways and ballpark events. Team owner Stuart Sternberg said those activities represent “a celebration of a lot of exciting times we’ve had,” even as he has sought to shake off accusations of impropriety or tanking tied to the union grievance. Sternberg insists the club will win this year “more than you think,” despite four straight losing campaigns.
Another key marketing strategy among the rebuilding clubs will be a tried-and-true one for any club selling in lean times: an increase in activities on the promotional calendar. Premium-level giveaways in many markets are being joined by a growing level of family days, dollar hot dog nights, increased numbers of fireworks displays and other similar activities.
Most of the rebuilding teams will also be active in the emerging realm of Ballpark Passes that sell tickets on a monthly subscription basis. The White Sox several years ago were one of the originators of the concept.
“The focus is to make every game an event,” Boyer said. “And when we’re competitive again, many of these things like the family days will absolutely remain in place.”
