I went to see the Blue Jays and Red Sox at Skydome yesterday. The game was ok, Jays won with a "walk off" home run by Brett Lawrie. But, that's not the point of this post. Every time I go to a game I find it a depressing event. I have been going to Skydome since it first opened and have been there for the Allstar game, the World Series, Wrestlemania (the first one) for football games and concerts. When that place is packed it is an event, lately it has had the ambiance of a cavernous mausoleum. Half empty, it is lacking in the electricity it used to have even when the game is exciting. I think the Jays are a long way from playing games that matter until they get some pitching that can get the job done consistently but, the team's youth makes for some exciting games.
So, if you can't fill the stadium with an exciting young team, what can you do? Well, I have some thoughts:
1) lower ticket prices by 25% across the board. In fact, seats in the 500 level outfield should not be any more than $5. The rest of the 500 level should not be more than $10. This would allow families with moderate working class income (you know, the ones your fan base is built on) to consider the game over a movie for their entertainment dollars.
2) Get a grip on reality and lower the price of concessions by 40%. The idea that a bag of popcorn should cost $6.50 is ridiculous. A pizza slice from a pizza chain that is half the size of the slice at their stores should not cost 3 times as much. And a can of domestic beer for $10? Really? I purchased nachos, two pizza slices and a diet coke and it cost $20 dollars and the price of laundering the pants I shat.
3) Improve the crap you call food at your concessions. The trend around baseball has been to improve quality and selection at stadiums with everything from lobster rolls to pulled pork sandwiches so, why aren't the fans in Toronto treated with the same respect. The selections available on the 200 level beside the HSBC VIP seats were: hot dogs (which were horrible), pizza, nachos (which tasted like salt chips covered in salt sauce - when a 14 year old doesn't finish them you know there is a problem), popcorn, peanuts, ice cream, french fries and fountain drinks. The hot dogs were puny and cooked in a rotating heat lamp heated cooker. The condiments were extremely limited and the stand I was at didn't even have relish. The pizza slices were flavourless hunks of bread with a hint of tomato sauce and a dusting of cheese. I have had better concession food at small town ballparks run by high school kids.
Now, I know the Blue Jays have some challenges that other teams don't but, this is a reason to be more aggressive in enticing fans back to the park. There is still resentment at the league and players for the lockout/strike season and many fans feel the team will never compete due to the Yankees and Red Sox being in the same division but, the retiring of Robbie Alomar's number proved the fans want a reason to and will come back. So, the best way to overcome those challenges is to reach out to the fans, the community and the city, Take a page out of the Chicago Blackhawk's book and give unsold tickets to the players and tell them to hand them out to people they come in contact with every day; ask the players to be team ambassadors. Maybe ask your partners, HSBC and TD Canada Trust, to install bank machines throughout the building and maybe wave the service fees for fans, or at least install debit machines at concessions.
Improve the experience at the park by improving the second most important product you market: your food! And, don't make people have to hunt all over the stadium for decent food which seems only to be available on the 100 level. If a guy on the street can offer a decent hot dog or sausage and provide 26 different condiments, surely the big leagues can do at least that. I don't think it would take a lot to offer other foods, maybe local favourites, or expand your historical base by offering ethnic foods to draw from those communities; try hanging out at a sports bar and watch what people order during sporting events and offer the same. I applaud the stadium for allowing people to bring in opened cans of soft drinks, but you wouldn't have to if you just lowered the cost at the concessions.
I want to like this team, I really do. But, the company that owns it is relying on an old Canadian business model that says "ignore supply and demand, raise prices until you are out of business then blame the consumer for a lack of loyalty." They also have no motivation to improve things at the stadium because they own the television rights across Canada and have a strong television fan base to rely on for revenue. As long as the game can be marketed to a television audience - and I have learned my lesson, it's better on television than at the park - the owners have no motivation to improve the experience at the park. I am going to write to the Blue Jays with most of my complaint from this post, but I expect them to give the same rat's ass about it they have toward complaints about their other commercial interests.
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