Lake County Attendance

[wasteland]

[quote=""J.J. Smith""]If these teams are actually drawing the numbers they claim, then there is no reason they couldn't handle in house concessions and do very, very well. It would take an investment in a quality person to run it, that is true, and that is where the problem lies. The quality and competence of the ownership of indy baseball teams is often dismal. The people who could really do the job and bring some new ideas (and does this business ever need some new ideas!) don't get a chance because they either want professional compensation or are not "in the loop", or, probably, both.[/quote]

Sadly, outsourcing saves money at all levels. Rockford District 205 a couple years ago outsourced the janitors and saved a ton of money. Nearby Belividere and North Boone school districts banded together to outsource bus service jointly and saved a ton of money. When you outsource the salary, benifits, wear and tear of equipment, inventory, you save. Has nothing to do with the quality of ownership. If they are indeed drawing thise numbers, its one less thing to worry about. Thats how its done in many industrys in America these days, for better or worse. But this ain't the place for that arguement.

[J.J. Smith]

[quote=""Sam Hill""]And you've effectively set the value of your core product at $0.

You've conditioned people not to "pay for the ticket next time," but to always expect a freebie.

That's no way to run a business.[/quote]

Agree completely. I have no problem with two for one's (on slow days) and other sorts of promotions, but NEVER give your product away for free. Also, it makes people who pay full price feel like suckers when they find out that others have gotten a free pass, a situation that should be avoided at all costs.

The following is NOT the way to build a business, IMO...

July 30th - 6:00pm Doubleheader vs. Winnipeg

“A Propane Road Show” – 11:00am to 5:00pm at Fielders’ Stadium – Join “Da Coach,” Mike Ditka, top fuel NHRA drag racer, T.J. Zizzo and NFL star Tom Nowatzke as they, along with The Lake Michigan Clean Cities Consortium and Fire Em Up teach guests how to save thousands of dollars in fuel expense – all in the name of clean air! The first 800 guests will receive FREE tickets to the Fielders doubleheader and will have access to the vehicle and alternative fuel expo.

[J.J. Smith]

[quote=""wasteland""]Sadly, outsourcing saves money at all levels. Rockford District 205 a couple years ago outsourced the janitors and saved a ton of money. Nearby Belividere and North Boone school districts banded together to outsource bus service jointly and saved a ton of money. When you outsource the salary, benifits, wear and tear of equipment, inventory, you save. Has nothing to do with the quality of ownership. If they are indeed drawing thise numbers, its one less thing to worry about. Thats how its done in many industrys in America these days, for better or worse. But this ain't the place for that arguement.[/quote]

Those were union jobs with high levels of benefits. Apples and oranges.

[wasteland]

[quote=""J.J. Smith""]Those were union jobs with high levels of benefits. Apples and oranges.[/quote]

its all the same concept.

[wasteland]

[quote=""J.J. Smith""]Agree completely. I have no problem with two for one's (on slow days) and other sorts of promotions, but NEVER give your product away for free. Also, it makes people who pay full price feel like suckers when they find out that others have gotten a free pass, a situation that should be avoided at all costs. [/quote]

I hope you guys don't think I'm advocating standing at the gate and just letting people in. When I say freebies, I'm talking radio or TV contests, giving tickets to the local library to give to kids that meet summer reading club goals, schools for perfect attandance, a free ticket for giving blood, etc. Stuff that shows you are concerned about and want to be part of the local community. Amusement parks and water parks do all the above all the time.

My first trip to Road Ranger stadium was via free tickets when a local TV station bought the park out a couple years back. I've been back as a paying customer with my family at least 10 times since. had I never got that free ticket, I wouldn't of made the time.

[wasteland]

[quote=""J.J. Smith""] The following is NOT the way to build a business, IMO...

July 30th - 6:00pm Doubleheader vs. Winnipeg

“A Propane Road Show” – 11:00am to 5:00pm at Fielders’ Stadium – Join “Da Coach,” Mike Ditka, top fuel NHRA drag racer, T.J. Zizzo and NFL star Tom Nowatzke as they, along with The Lake Michigan Clean Cities Consortium and Fire Em Up teach guests how to save thousands of dollars in fuel expense – all in the name of clean air! The first 800 guests will receive FREE tickets to the Fielders doubleheader and will have access to the vehicle and alternative fuel expo.[/quote]

Thing is, The Lake Michigan Clean Cities Consortium and Fire Em Up might have bought those tickets to give out.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

[quote=""BaseballKid3""]The one thing everyone has to realize is that the "paid" number is essentially a made up number by the Lake County people because there were refunds given and essentially every 2010 season ticket holder will get FREE season tickets for 2011. Who is to say that a lot of those people will not ask for refunds after they go through the end of this season and the winter being told more fish stories?[/quote]

I would like to realize. I would like to understand. None of what you're saying adds up though. If you think a lot of season ticket holders will ask for a refund after the season, then why are so many fans showing up for Lake County games now? Attendance for a Friday night, August 6th was 5,703. Those sorts of numbers aren't consistent with people looking for a refund.

[quote=""BaseballKid3""]
...
I have become friends with a couple of the front office staff (paid staffers) at Lake County. They said that a couple of people on staff have already left.
There are a few that are owed thousands of dollars in commision that they haven't seen a penny of at all yet this season.
...
[/quote]
Problems with the front office staff?!? If so, then why haven't these problems blossomed into problems with attendance?

[quote=""BaseballKid3""]
...
One bad thing, I had my 9yo daughter at a game at the new place and we went to the area that players go after the game to get autographs. Players dress in a double wide trailer, only have porta potties and portable showers which brought this problem when we were back there. Players going from dressing room to showers in only a towel and one player , a bigger guy with blonde hair, went from dressing area to showers with his towel in his hand. You can only imagine my surprise and dismay after that. I still don't know if my daughter saw it and don't want to know.
...
[/quote]

Well yes, THIS part adds up. If you're going to take your nine year old daughter back to the portable clubhouse, portable toilets, and portable showers then the two of you are likely to see men in various stages of undress.

[J.J. Smith]

Wow, 5,703 tickets "sold"! That's very impressive. On the other hand, could it be that the Fielders bookkeepers are graduates of the Dave Kaval school of baseball accounting?

[nlfan]

There's a one word needed to explain Friday attendance: Fireworks

The same was true the Friday before. If you ignore those dates, the trend is clearly (and unfortunately) downward. Even after last Friday's "big crowd," attendance settled back to what it was during the week (Saturday, 7.Aug.10: 3,628; Sunday, 8.Aug.10: 2,538 ). This might suggest that everyone has had a chance to check out the Fielders (and decided that once or twice was enough for now).

The ironic thing is that "paid attendance" has been lower the last homestand WITH the lights were installed than during the time while they weren't (and games were rescheduled). The opening week had games mainly around 3K, now they're around 2.5K (again ignoring the effect of fireworks shows).

Still, this only represents a total of 20 openings (6 w/o lights, 12 with) over 3 homestands. It might still rebound before the end of the season but there are now a lot fewer excuses (other than the facility being unfinished).

Problems with the staff (and payment) only impact fans and customers when they can see it. As long as the ushers and concession staff are happy no one realizes a low- (or high-) level staffer or a couple interns are gone.

The problem with freebies, some posters here to the contrary, is that once you lower the price you have a lot of trouble later getting full price later. That applies to tickets and advertising. Completing the ballpark may allow them to "reset" the pricing scale so everyone will be willing to pay full price for the full quality experience. But that requires they complete the stadium (and there are plenty of people wondering where the money's coming from).

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

[quote=""nlfan""]There's a one word needed to explain Friday attendance: Fireworks

The same was true the Friday before. If you ignore those dates, the trend is clearly (and unfortunately) downward...[/quote]

...but why should someone ignore those dates when looking at attendance?!? Why ignore ANY date, especially a Friday night? Friday night fireworks have been a longtime staple of minor league baseball. It's a proven formula to draw-in fans.

[quote=""nlfan""]...Even after last Friday's "big crowd," attendance settled back to what it was during the week (Saturday, 7.Aug.10: 3,628; Sunday, 8.Aug.10: 2,538 ). This might suggest that everyone has had a chance to check out the Fielders (and decided that once or twice was enough for now).
...
[/quote]

If attendance settled back to numbers like 3,628 on a Saturday and 2,538 on a Sunday during rain, but sun later in the afternoon (and I know because I was near Zion Sunday...well, I was in Schaumburg ) then this might suggest a franchise with a lot of return customers. These are very good independent league numbers and better than most minor league numbers. Did you really mean everyone or only the curious? EVERYONE checking out the Fielders and deciding once or twice was enough for now defies logic, in my opinion. Only the curious deciding once or twice being enough makes all the sense in the world to me. That's why they are considered only curious.