"220, 211; Whatever it takes"4 Ways to Save Baseball

One of the more interesting things that I've come to discover about South West Florida is that the people down here love their football. They talk about football any chance they get. College, Pro, Arena, High School, it doesn't matter. The Bucs, the Gators, the Dolphins, the Noles, the Hurricanes, the draft and yes, even the combines come before all else. So during these god-awful months of post-football tedium, the sports radio talk show people down here search for something else to get their arms around.

Couple that phenomenon with the fact that the Devil Rays (they play in Tampa for those who didn't know that Tampa had a Major League Baseball team) will forever play like an expansion team and the Florida Marlins gave away all of their players this off season and you end up with almost nothing to talk about. This past Wednesday, though, the South West Florida sports talk morning guy, Mark Miller, tried his hand at asking people what it would take to fix baseball. He took suggestions from all of the football-starved listeners and let them suggest anything albeit to pass the time until the NFL training camp. The fact that these suggestions were coming from blood thirsty football fans interested me in its simplicity and I couldn't help but notice that the baseball problem is a very compelling business brainteaser.

Just to let you know, the overwhelming majority made 2 suggestions: make the season shorter and bring in a salary cap, but with that cap include a salary minimum. I know that this topic has been discussed countless times every day all over the country, but for some reason, this day I was glued to my radio thinking about all the wonderful suggestions that the public could make to the eternally aloof baseball owners. So, with blogging at my disposal, here's my 2 cents.

First off, let's not forget about the customer service triangle, or the "triple constraint". A company can produce 2 of the 3; quality, cost, and speed, but never all 3. In other words, if something is of good quality and gets to you in a timely manner, it will be expensive. Conversely, if something is cheap and it gets to you fast, it won't be very good in quality. Finally, if something gets to you cheap and has good quality it won't get to you fast. Good business owners know how to balance this triangle and they can change their strategy at a moment's notice when the market demands it. Go to a fancy restaurant and get quality food fast and pay dearly. Go to a fast food restaurant and get mediocre food fast but cheap.

Take the NFL, for instance. People are constantly comparing the other 3 major sports to the NFL, but the sad truth is that there really is no comparison. Football is darn near perfect, or better said, the NFL has balanced this triangle perfectly (whether they meant to or not). The product gets to you fast with the action of each game and the season being so short. The product is the best in quality from media coverage to player uniforms to beer commercials. And finally the cost is expensive, but under control with a salary cap and tons of effective marketing. Baseball, conversely, does not balance this triangle at all. The game and the season is painfully slow, the quality of the product is not the natural draw it used to be and the spending is out of control, which directly affects the frustrated fans. No wonder the NFL is silently becoming the national pastime... hold on a sec, I have to duck from the lightning headed my way.

Baseball will never be fast. It just isn't. Which may be part of what makes it special. There have been suggestions from pitch clocks to batters not being allowed to leave the batter's box at will, but it would all take away from the game. It also wouldn't make much of a difference if the season is shortened unless they shortened it to 17 weekends like football. Look at hockey and basketball. They have half the games and find the same challenges. Besides, I kind of like being able to turn the T.V. on every day and possibly being able to catch a game, but I'm in the minority. Therefore, baseball, the owners that is, has to concentrate on the other 2 legs of the triangle; cost and quality. I have 4 suggestions. I know the owners are too arrogant to take them, but here they are anyway, my Dad will enjoy them.

First Base: Embrace your Stadiums.

Baseball has something that football doesn't even have and hockey and basketball will never have: the aesthetic allure of a beautiful baseball field. Thank God baseball owners have had the wherewithal to destroy the concrete bowls covered in astro-turf that were built in the 70's. Nobody misses Veteran's Stadium or Three Rivers or the like. We seem to understand that a beautiful stadium will bring fans in, but baseball owners need fans to keep coming back and they need fans from other cities to come take a look. What makes your stadium special? Why would I travel all over the country just to see your stadium? Give me a map of North America and places to hold ticket stubs from all the baseball cities that I've been to. Include your city's stadium in more vacation brochures and tell me why this is a city landmark rather than just saying "the home of the Oakland A's". Give me history. Give me stats. Give me cheesesteaks in Philly from a greasy hole in the wall deli that looks just like the greasy hole in the wall delis all over the city. Give me knockwurst in Milwaukee at the same price I can get it on the street. Give me corned beef in New York, deep dish pizza in Chicago, chili in Cincinnati and something big and beefy in Texas served by someone who smiles and who gives a crap. And then let me sit and enjoy the game while looking at the city skyline and talking to a fan that grew up right down the street and is proud of his stadium. The PGA does a really good job of proving this strategy. I can't tell you how many golf courses I want to visit before I die solely because of what they took the time to show me on T.V. I don't even have to play these courses, I just want to see them. Why can't baseball do that? Tempt me. Lure me in.

Second Base: Make Concessions with your Concessions

If I think about the last 10 baseball games that I've gone to, I can say that 6 of them were free tickets, 3 of the outings were just me and some friends and 1 outing was all expense paid. My point being that I've never gone out of my way to call the stadium, buy 6 tickets for myself, my wife and my kids, paid for parking and spent over $100 on bad, poorly rationed food. I consider myself a more than average fan. Hockey's my first love, but I'll follow the Phillies every year enough to have a conversation about them at a bar. And with that in mind even I wouldn't think about buying everything without something being reasonably priced... or free for that matter. Remember the triangle. Baseball's product isn't good enough or fast enough to be expensive too. Something has to give. Baseball people dismiss expensive hot dogs and $7 beer as just part of what it takes to enjoy a baseball game, but hear me out here. Baseball needs me to take my family to the park. Baseball isn't competing with hockey, basketball and football. Baseball is played in the summer. Baseball is competing with playgrounds and community pools and fireworks at local state parks and carnivals and walks on beaches and city zoo's and everything else families do in the summer. So keep the ticket prices the same and price the food to compete with what I can get on any street corner. Otherwise I won't go. And I don't go. If I could pay $80 to get my family into the park and then spend $1 for a hot dog, $1 for a soda and maybe $2.50 for a beer, I would happily make multiple trips to the concession stand for more. And I would probably spend the same amount in the end anyway. AND I WOULD BE THERE... NOT SOMEWHERE ELSE!! Baseball also needs my family there because it needs my kids there. It's bad enough my generation is shying away, but what makes baseball think that the next generation will take it upon themselves to flock to the stadium having not been raised consistently going? They won't. Baseball doesn't have a choice here. And the sad thing is, if they thought about it, they'd end up getting more butts in seats and making money anyway.

Third Base: Target Women

One of my favorite authors, Tom Peters, has preached extensively about the effect women can, do and will have on business. I can sum up why I wholeheartedly believe him in 2 words: Ladies Night. As much as we hate to admit it, women run the show on so many levels. I cringe to think of what a bar crowd would look like if there was no cover charge for men and women had to pay full price for everything. Neither the women or the men would go. You see "Hooters" restaurants popping up all over the place and women and men alike eating in them, but as far as I know, there's not a restaurant called "Pectorals". If there is it won't be around long. But beyond that, women have a soft, silky smooth leg up on almost everything else important. They are trend setters; we follow them around like puppy dogs. They are creative. They aren't afraid of their feminine side and they are the real consumers, not us guys. What they buy is what's important. So why doesn't baseball target them more? I'm not talking visor night where women 15 and over get an ugly one size fits all half hearted attempt at a stylish hat. I'm talking female creative directors at the top. I'm talking marketing strategies to target getting women of all ages to the park. I'm talking female MBA's who can create a must have jersey, or hat, or halter top. Trust me, the guys will follow. Open your eyes and realize that many of the players are sex symbols. Target that. Do you think that all of the Chipper Jones jerseys that females strut around in were chosen because they too used to play 3rd base and then were asked to move to the outfield? NO. Women wear Chipper's jersey because they happen to find him hot. Bring the personable players out in the open for women's sake. Trust me, the men will follow. NASCAR does this... and it works... quite well. Why can't baseball? Trust me the men will follow.

Home: Owners as One Happy Family

I may be dating myself here, but I can't help but sum all of this up by comparing this situation to the tuna ad in the movie "Mr. Mom". In that movie, Teri Garr played a homemaker turned ad exec who pitched a campaign to a tuna company. Her strategy was to note that stupid incentives and empty promises were not going to make people buy their product. The product was purchased by women (see third base), women who wanted fair prices (see second base) and Teri Garr wanted the tuna company to show how proud they were of their product (see first base). "Mr. Mom" ended with the tuna commercial. The owner of the tuna company testified on camera by admitting that they were wrong, vowing better prices and solidifying pride with a wave of the American Flag. All I can imagine here is a commercial with all the baseball owners sitting in stadium seats as one. Standing in the front is George Steinbrenner speaking for all of them. George says that he wants us back. He notes that all the owners are bringing something to their stadiums that we will all want to see. He mentions that revenue sharing money will pay for 50% of all concessions so that consumers don't have to endure outrageous prices. And he invites women as well as men to the park. And after the commercial airs, the owners come together and make this really happen. They work together as a whole for the good of baseball. They don't just worry about their own stadiums, but all stadiums. They don't just bring prices down in the big arenas but all arenas. And they brainstorm and come up with solutions together. With all its faults, the NHL has done this part semi-right. They are trying to thank the fans and bring them back. There's still quite a bit of work to do, but as long as the NHL owners stick together as a whole, they have a better change of healing old wounds. Baseball owners may think the commoners are too stupid to see what's going on. But I think its the other way around. Baseball isn't good enough for baseball's sake anymore. It can't survive just because its baseball. Even a winner can't keep the interest for long. So something has to be done.

The sad thing is that nothing will be done. Baseball will always be there. It's just a question of how many teams will be able to survive the thin years. My 3-year-old son was looking at some pictures of kids playing sports the other day and he knew that the kid playing soccer was playing soccer. He knew the kid playing hockey was playing hockey and he spotted a football player and a golfer. When he came across the baseball pitcher delivering a pitch, however, he asked me, "Daddy, what's he doing?". I was shocked. Don't American boys just know this stuff? Have I failed as a father? Maybe I have. But frankly, I'm not going to take him to the ballpark this year unless I get a free ticket. Have you ever tried to sit through a 9-inning game with a child who wants to eat but you can't afford the $5 bag of popcorn? Without Mommy there to help? At a stadium that he could care less about because the Phillie Phanatic only makes an appearance for about 4 or 5 innings? Give it a shot. And then budget accordingly. In the meantime, I'll send this article to Mark Miller, the sports talk radio host in South West Florida and see if we can start a revolution. I figure it will last until about August, just in time for the beginning of the football season.

"Jose Can You See"

I don't want to say too much about the immigrant migratory march today because my stance has always been the following:

"SHHHH, the business owners might be held accountable".

I do, however, have one question. I was stuck in traffic today watching this march in Florida. As you can imagine, Florida had quite a large amount of participants. My question is the following:

"Why so many flags from other countries?"

Take that as you will.