Pleasing the Crowd (Raley Field Promotions)
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Pleasing the crowd River Cats find many ways to fill ballpark By Gilbert Chan -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 9, 2006 Story appeared in Business section, Page D1 Alan Ledford, the Sacramento River Cats general manager, keeps a close eye on what's happening during games at Raley Field. Since the team's arrival in West Sacramento in 2000, the River Cats have led North America in minor league attendance every year. The team has shattered attendance records for the Pacific Coast League. Sacramento Bee/Autumn Cruz Kim Ponce hurriedly directed her crew, clad in bright red Jelly Belly T-shirts, to gather a group of schoolchildren for a water balloon toss. "Sometimes, the hokier the better," Ponce said. Upstairs, Brooke Robinson stood in an open-air control room and watched with amusement as the youngsters dashed onto the manicured field. A little later, as the stadium speakers thumped out the Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out," Robinson joined the frivolity. Her crew circled the field and lobbed foil-wrapped frankfurters from a "hot dog cannon" into a cheering crowd. "Our goal is to entertain," Robinson said. There's nothing minor league about water balloons and flying hot dogs for the Sacramento River Cats. Such staples of the trade draw the fans whose purchases keep this multimillion-dollar operation among the ranks of the nation's most successful minor league franchises. In the seventh season in the capital, owner Art Savage and his River Cats remain driven when it comes to generating and growing revenue. They offer sports-management consulting services, promote concerts, cater private parties, market consumer products, maintain a 14,600-seat stadium and manage a winning Triple-A baseball club. Where about half of minor league clubs are grappling with red ink, the River Cats consistently operate in the black. Experts say the franchise easily could be worth double the $10 million that Savage paid in 1998 to purchase the club. That doesn't include the organization's $40 million riverfront stadium, Raley Field. "They're seen as one of the great case studies on how to operate a franchise effectively. The modern era of sport is rooted in good business decisions," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. Since Savage moved the Oakland Athletics affiliate from Vancouver, British Columbia, to West Sacramento in 2000, the River Cats have led North America in minor league attendance every year. The team has shattered attendance records for the Pacific Coast League. Yet, the River Cats aren't standing pat because attendance has slipped from 901,214 in 2001 and leveled out to the 760,000 range the past three seasons. "The challenge is to see what we can do to keep people coming. You've got to keep it fresh," said Savage, a past executive with the San Jose Sharks professional hockey club and Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team. The drive to succeed seems to be a part of Savage's DNA, but the former tax manager may also be keeping an eye on paying off the debt accumulated when the organization built its field of dreams. The River Cats financed the deal with bonds backed by local governments but must pay off the debt. Most AAA clubs operate in government-financed stadiums. The expenses don't end here, though. While the Oakland A's pay the salaries of the players, manager and coaches, the organizations share the cost of bats, balls, uniforms and other items. The River Cats pay for the team travel and lodging for the visiting clubs. The club also pays about 5 percent of ticket sales to Major League Baseball. So, the River Cats have used a number of strategies to raise revenue. Besides consulting services and concerts, the club has also hired out the Raley Field grounds crew to work with area sports leagues and gotten ushers to work high school and college graduations and special events at the University of California, Davis, and California State University, Sacramento. The organization also keeps a high profile in the community. With more than 50 full-time employees -- about double the size of other minor league clubs -- the organization fans out throughout the Sacramento region, working with about 50 corporate sponsors, drumming up support at regional festivals and trade shows and conducting school assemblies for 50,000 children a year. "There is a constant need to keep refreshing and redefining yourself," said Branch B. Rickey, president of the Pacific Coast League, which includes the capital ball club. "The River Cats have been eminently successful." River Cats executives and sports marketing experts say the business isn't about just baseball. A club survey has found about 40 percent of the customers are non-baseball fans. "They don't have Barry Bonds coming up four times a night. The smart franchises are realizing that it's not about the game. It's about the entertainment," said Ron Seaver, president of the National Sports Forum, a San Diego-based sports marketing group. Because the major league team assigns players to their minor league affiliates and can call up one of the top players to the big club at any time, minor league clubs can't count on star appeal to attract fans. That means a steady diet of promotions such as weekend fireworks, celebrate-marriage nights and special ticket plans. The competition for the entertainment dollar goes beyond other professional teams, including the Sacramento Kings and Monarchs. It's the restaurants, movie theaters, river rafting, Lake Tahoe and any other business vying for the consumer's attention. "It's a nice little family game. It's a pretty decent price for a family of five," said Jon Remolona of Folsom while sitting in a beach chair in the right field lawn, called Home Run Hill. "The last time we went to the movies it was about $8 each." River Cats tickets range from $6 for the outfield lawn area to $15 for a box seat. For those who want to splurge, a suite for 16 goes for $850 a game and a 50-person party suite costs $2,350. In addition to attracting fans to 72 regular season games, the River Cats must find ways to fill other dates with non-baseball events to help pay down the stadium debt. Last year, the River Cats hosted 35 non-baseball events, including concerts. This year, Raley Field was added to the venue of the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee. The stadium expects about 16,000 for a Dave Matthews concert in September. "We are scratching and clawing every day to bring new people here. The worst thing that can happen for any entertainment venue is to be taken for granted," said Alan Ledford, River Cats president and general manager. Caution comes second nature in the minor league environment, where some teams are still plagued by red ink despite dramatic growth. In the past decade, Minor league baseball has seen its revenue double to $500 million a year. Revenue rose 6.8 percent from 2003 to 2004, the most recent figures available. At the end of the 2005 season, attendance for 176 minor league teams in 15 leagues set a record for the second straight year with 41.3 million fans going through the turnstiles. "Minor league baseball has done extremely well. Franchise values have risen steadily in the last 20 years," said Randy Vataha, president of Game Plan LLC, a Boston investment banking firm for professional sports teams. Minor league baseball franchises have sold for as much as $25 million. "It's really a nice cottage industry." Not everyone is sharing in the success, though. In 2004, 47 percent of minor league clubs posted negative net profits, according to Pat O'Conner, chief operating officer for Minor League Baseball. Of the more than 160 teams affiliated with big league teams, 28 percent lost money operating their franchises. Among the troubled clubs was the Triple-A Portland Beavers, which lost $10 million during its first year in 2001. The Pacific Coast League brought in Savage's management consulting team to turn around the franchise and eventually new owners were brought in. "The number of clubs in trouble slowly improves but still represents a threat to our collective health," O'Conner said in a speech to owners last December. The River Cats, though, represent the elite -- the 16 money-making franchises that produced 60 percent of the $45 million in overall profits in 2004, according to Minor League Baseball. The River Cats declined to disclose financial figures. But experts estimate that large clubs like the River Cats can generate around $10 million a year in revenue. Sports marketing experts said successful franchises understand the evolution of minor league baseball away from being grooming grounds for the majors and toward being entertainment businesses in their own right. That explains why hot dog cannons, water balloons and even Dinger, the River Cats energetic mascot, are just as important to the team's front office as who's playing left field. Samantha Klein, 4, enjoys an outing to Raley Field. The bingo card next to her is one of the many promotions offered. Weekend fireworks and celebrate-marriage nights are others. Sacramento Bee/Autumn Cruz River Cats General Manager Alan Ledford checks out the Coca-Cola Kids Corner, a family-style promotion offered at Raley Field. In addition to 72 regular season games, 35 non-baseball events, including concerts, were held at the field last year, helping to pay down the debt on the stadium.