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Mixing Business with Pleasure
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The Oct. 30-Nov.5th issue of The Baltimore Business Journal features a special supplement on “Sports Business,” and as a red-blooded American male, it’s only natural that I gravitate toward sports, though I usually do this as a way to escape the daily grind of being a PR maven. However, in this case, I have a chance to mix business with pleasure as I reviewed an interesting roundtable discussion by John Moag, Mark Burdett, Howe Burch and John McGuinness regards the question, “Can a down-on-its-luck team compete economically?”
You know, like the Orioles.
I’ve been a fan of the Orioles since 1979 when third sacker Doug DeCinces launched a sudden death, game-winning homer off Detroit Tigers pitch Dave Tobik at old Memorial Stadium, thus beginning what would soon be dubbed “Orioles Magic.”
Of course, we haven’t seen much magic lately. Perhaps the magic of watching oh, so many dollars disappear as we shell out bucks for tickets, hot dogs priced like caviar, and the curiously popular dessert known as Dippin’ Dots (I just can’t get into ice cream in pellet form, sorry).
This esteemed panel (Burdett is VP of corporate sales and development for the Ravens; McGuinness; a Senior Veep for Mid-Atlantic Sports Network or MASN {which, I was surpised to learn, does NOT stand for Mr. Angelos’ Sports Network}; Burch, executive vice president for TBC Advertising; and Moag, CEO of Moag & Company, former chair of the Maryland Stadium Authority) make the very salient point that a lot of the Orioles’ problems would quickly evaporate if the team just started winning again. Put a good product on the field, and “they will come” as it were.
But I appreciated Mr. McGuinness’ comments the most as he went a step further. “What’s different about the fans is they are consuming media differently than they have in the past,” he notes,touching on the penchant of today's youth to multi-task pretty much everything. And yes, people who have an interest in baseball and the Orioles will join the fray once the Birds start playing well again, but unlike the NFL which “is an event, it’s a party,” baseball is “a commitment, whether you are winning or not.”
Like I said, I’m a fan since 1979. Thirty years of cheering dem O’s. That’s a commitment. The key is to try to keep that sense of commitment alive in the hearts of the fans and make it come alive in the hearts of potential NEW fans. Find new ways to reach out to people…like via social media. Get the players to blog about their game, their off season, their hopes for next year, and encourage comments.
The problem with today’s sports players is that they make SO much money they seem totally inaccessible. That wasn’t always the case. Players had to get offseason jobs selling insurance or bartending or working a hay baler (which, as I recall, was an offseason “job/yhobby” of Orioles ace Mike Boddicker back in the day) to make ends meet, so you felt, hey, with a little luck and lot of God’s good grace, that could be ME playing on that field.
Well, now that the almighty dollar has distanced fans from the players, social media offers a way to somewhat bridge the gap.
Basically, it comes down to PR101. The number one question you have to answer is, putting yourself in the role of your target audience, “What does this mean to me?” Or, why should I care? Why should I give a rat’s tookus about the Orioles? How do they impact ME? That’s why sports teams have PR and community relations departments, helping players start charitable foundations (or promoting the ones they’ve started on their own), getting players to visit hospitals, having special autograph signing sessions, hosting events like the annual Orioles FANFEST.
If you show people that the team makes a DIFFERENCE in the town in which you live, that it REPRESENTS or symbolizes the essence of your town (just as the old Unitas Colts came to represent Baltimore’s blue collar-mega-chip-on-our-shoulder attitude of the era), they will support that team…no matter how often they lose. And if you don’t believe me, just check out the Chicago Cubs and THEIR fans. The Cubs haven’t won or been in a World Series since Methuselah had pimples and yet Cubbie fans remain among the most stalwart, loving, adoring fans on God’s green Astroturf.
Yes, what I’m talking about is BRANDING. Baltimore is the brand. The Orioles must BE Baltimore. How about getting some Baltimore icons to come out for commercial spots with the Orioles? Let’s see a spot with John Waters spitting sunflower seeds in the dugout…a shot of the new Schaefer statue with an O’s hat atop it…Ray Lewis doing his Ravens dance in the bullpen to fire up the relievers…you get the idea. Maybe the Orioles and their fans will too as I’d love to see a return of the love affair that once was, when people literally made the stadium rock with stamping feet and shouts and bugle calls...when there really WAS some magic in Baltimore every summer night.
