Steelheads, You still need to market the team!

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

...especially since the Steelheads requested a schedule without back-to-back Friday and Saturday weekend home games. Well, when you turn your back on weekend dates then you get choice Monday night dates like last night. It was so quiet in the Genesis Center that I could hear the johns flushing on the balcony level...at least when the crickets weren't drowning-out the few fans in attendance.

A Steelheads staffer asked me at the game why I haven't been posting about the Steelheads lately on this message board. My reply was, because I don't have anything positive to post.

Why invite a select group of fans (and maybe a sponsor or two) to provide feedback after the 2003-2004 season, if you are going to completely blow these people off? This sort of thing places me almost completely in I told you so mode of operation.

...and why, after nearly two seasons are 16 oz. Budweisers for $2 (weekends only) still a secret? Forget that the Genesis Center keeps all profits from beer sales. Get over it! If you expect to attract more of the SWF (the real Budweiser drinkers) that attract the SWM, then the Steelheads had better learn to support others (like the Genesis Center) to further their own cause.

Go back to marketing your team, Steelheads!

[not so fast]

Ken, whats going on in Gary? I have been busy with going to college basketball games, I have not had a chance to follow the CBA closely this year. But the Steelheads signed Snap Hunter, they have jemiel rich, whats the problem over there?

Ticknor has had freedom to do whatever he wants, since he was hired three years ago, and yet this franchise is still struggling. Is ownership really happy with this teams production this season?

[Pounder]

Gary is part of the Chicago media market, correct? How have they been marketing there, anyway?

Meanwhile, in a spud hut somewhere out there...

Back on December 23rd, posted attendance 2,552, actual about 1,000.

This last Monday night, posted 1,333, actual (per perusing TV) looked to be in the neighborhood of 200.

I tend to overestimate.

The Stampede aren't so bad as to merit an attendance drop on performance. The numbers don't indicate a drop. The REAL numbers are another matter... and I still submit that "paid" attendance isn't always a more important figure.

There IS a marketing campaign out here, on television on network stations, in an obviously cheaper market. Where's the return?

Thing is, I'm not sure any amount of marketing can sell a Monday night game, especially right after the holidays. In Idaho's case, it's an attempt to avoid competing with Boise State basketball and Steelheads hockey as much as possible. I can't imagine Gary's issues with back-to-back games.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

What's going on in Gary? The same old Gary, Indiana stuff that has been going on since the beginning of time--I won't support you because you didn't support me and I'm willing to cut off my nose to spite my face because of it.

By the way, the Steelheads requested NO back-to-back Friday/Saturday games this season because they felt Friday games took away from Saturday attendance. No my friends, you just didn't market Fridays. Kobe, Shaq, and Iverson weren't/aren't coming to Gary to draw-in fans. You can't just open the doors and say, Fun Fast and Affordable is all you need. You have to offer some sort of discount/freebie on almost a nightly basis to keep them coming back.

...So if you hear some spin about the home schedule being as lousy as it is because a new team (Michigan) has been added to the schedule, then don't believe it.

Performance on the court:
The Steelheads have only one true point guard, Jemeil Rich, and he has been out for six games (ankle injury, then spider bite). The Steelies have been lost without him. Snap Hunter can't play point. David Graves has been logging lots of minutes, but he always looks like he is ready to pass-out by the end of the third quarter and is therefore less effective.

The good news is that Paul McPherson is leaving the Steelheads to play in Italy. He whined too much about the contact. The European game has less contact, so maybe he will flourish there. He did win one game for the Steelheads though by blocking a last second shot to preserve a one-point victory.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Pounder,
The Gary Steelheads marketed in the Chicagoland area through cable-tv ads, strategically placed billboards, direct mailings (in the form of a newsletter), newspaper advertising (Northwest Indiana only), pocket schedules, Steelie the mascot participating in just about every parade, and most importantly--Saturday night home games were televised on CLTV, which reaches 1.5 million viewers in and around Chicago.

There is no cable-tv advertising this year, can't remember the last time I received a newsletter, no newspaper advertising, pocket schedules came-out late, Steelie the mascot needs needle and thread to sew-up his costume, and most importantly--there are no televised games whatsoever this year.

I'll bet the sponsors are really happy about the no televised games thing. :roll:

Yeah, I've struggled to understand why having multiple back-to-back Friday and Saturday night home dates is such a horrible deal. Obviously, Monday night with a few Sunday afternoons thrown-in will be a better draw. :roll:

I still plan to attend every game though.

[lightning fan]

I feel your pain Ken. I can not believe arena and teams can not get together on promos. That kills the teams. Not to mention hurts the arena. I thought Steelheads had a good working relationship with genesis center?

Our backward dumba** arena rolls up and ties all Lightning banners (conf/div champs and retired players)after every Lightning game. No one sees those banners except Lightnig fans. What a joke. Only arena in the world that does this. Only in Rockford. It is wearing them out and they lost one stick on bottom of older banner already. Arena told me it was due to sightlines. Sure it is. The Lightning ads on opposite side just get hoisted up behind curtain during Icehog hockey games. They could move them or whatever. I can't believe I am even having this conversation. Metrocentre told me the banners are made to be rolled up, sure, so is the carpet in your living room. Does not mean we do it before we use the room. You watch when Icehogs hockey team earns banners they will not be rolled up EVER. Lightning are treated like dirt in their home arena. I would be looking to move out ASAP!!

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

lightning fan,
The relationship between the Rockford Lightning and the Rockford Ice Hogs sounds a lot like the relationship between the Gary Steelheads and the Gary Southshore Railcats. However, neither Gary team seems the least bit interested in directing their marketing toward the other's fan base. Never mind that these are fans they KNOW are willing to come to downtown Gary. You don't support me, so I won't support you is a more important concept to both parties.

The most disturbing thing about these I'm willing to cut my nose off to spite my face attitudes is that the Steelheads play primarily in the winter and the Railcats play in the summer. They would not be stealing fans from one another.

The deal the Steelheads have gotten from the Genesis Center doesn't get any better. The taxpayers (casino revenues) have been very, very goooood to the Steelheads over the years. The problem with the Genesis Center has always been incompetent management. Compare the Genesis Center website with the Bank of America Center (Boise, Idaho) website. Which venue would you rather book for an event based on that comparison? The last time I spoke on the phone with Genesis Center management, the response to my important (in my opinion)question was, "...I think, maybe, we might, I dunno, we'll see". :roll:

The Steelheads need to take control of their own destiny in the face of such incompetence. That's not being done this year.

[Pounder]

However, neither Gary team seems the least bit interested in directing their marketing toward the other's fan base. Never mind that these are fans they KNOW are willing to come to downtown Gary. You don't support me, so I won't support you is a more important concept to both parties...

...The most disturbing thing about these I'm willing to cut my nose off to spite my face attitudes is that the Steelheads play primarily in the winter and the Railcats play in the summer. They would not be stealing fans from one another.

I think the only cross-marketing you see anymore is when the same owner owns the two franchises... and that's not very often. I think organizations are finding out that the sponsor-level "consumers" are only willing to promote one. The sponsorships and the suites and what-not seem to be priced to preclude it; I'm not totally sure why that's happening.

Furthermore, I'm not sure that the baseball and basketball teams you talk about believe what you say about stealing fans from one another. Their first desire is to sell season tickets. There aren't too many people in these markets buying season seats for both IMO. Hence the competition.

Let's put this another way- here in the Boise area, the baseball, hockey, and basketball teams ALL attributed turn-of-century attendance declines at least partially to a waterpark in suburban Meridian that opened right then. They were selling season passes as well. Of course, this also timed right with the decline of the economy (something a lot of people here still forget). Don't discount the big picture.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

It's the economy. I honestly believe there would be more cooperation if there was more loose money floating around. However, here in Gary the economy always seems to be in decline.

Many season ticket holders in Gary seem to purchase season passes for both Gary minor league teams. I see a lot of the same bodies planted in the same seats every game at both the Genesis Center and U.S. Steel Yard. Of course, we don't have hockey or arena football to add to the mix.

Here's my solution to the Steelheads' marketing (money?) problems though:

Give control of the Genesis Center to the Genesis Center's largest tenant, the Steelheads. Why not? The city handed control of U.S. Steel Yard over to the Railcats long ago. Let the Steelheads collect revenue from parking, suite rentals, and the Red Ribbon Lounge (the bar inside the Genesis Center). The Steelheads in turn would sign a fifteen year lease, pay all utilities, pay all Genesis Center staff, then pay the city of Gary $100,000 per year (a token amount) for the priviledge of doing business.

A deal like this won't happen anytime soon though.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Hmmmm!

http://nwitimes.com/articles/2005/02/24/sports/top_sports/28c61fc85efb0e8686256fb2000cef86.txt

"The (Steelheads) absolutely will not be sold," Harris Sr. said. "I will say this to you: There is no question I'm going to do everything in my power to try to 'expand' ownership and increase corporate sponsorship.

Considering the current state of affairs with the Steelheads' owner and the city of Gary, "expanding ownership" sounds like a great idea.