EL1 Trenton Thunder

Pilot Fan Survey Shows Trenton & Lakewood Fans Are Emotionally Attached to Teams

Published on May 25, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
Trenton Thunder News Release


Lawrenceville, NJ --- A new fan satisfaction survey indicates that the games of the only two Minor League teams in New Jersey affiliated with Major League Baseball are almost unanimously considered "reasonable and affordable" and a better value proposition than attending other professional and college athletic events.

The surveys were conducted by the Chuck Rose Group with fans from the two New Jersey teams, the Trenton Thunder, a Double A Eastern League affiliate of the New York Yankees, and the Lakewood BlueClaws, a South Atlantic League Single A Affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The teams share a common ownership.

"Trenton and Lakewood have set a very high standard for fan satisfaction, bonding and commitment," according to Chuck Rose, president of the market research firm: "An astounding 90% plus of the thousands of fans who completed our online survey said they received better entertainment value from the Minor League Baseball games they attended than they did from other sporting events they pay to see."

Dr. Jonathan Rich, a Ph.D. clinical psychologist, assisted Chuck Rose Group in creating the statistically-validated 40-question fan survey which employed true/false and agree/disagree questions and scales about satisfaction with prices, entertainment value for adults and children, cleanliness, the variety and quality of food, and courtesy/helpfulness of stadium personnel.

Meaningful and valuable insight also was gathered when more than half of the survey respondents typed in more than 31,000+ words of "advice" when they were asked for comments and suggestions, Rose said, adding "Both Jon Rich and I observed that the language/words used to answer the open-ended questions indicated that the fans in both communities were emotionally bonded and committed to the organizations, which is extremely important in terms of loyalty and repeat attendance."

Chuck Rose Group employs a program where statements/verbatims gathered online from answers to open-ended answers are scrutinized by a language analysis program to assess a group's level of "emotional" (and personal) engagement and commitment.

The main motivations for men and women attending games

While two-thirds of the fans surveyed said a main reason for attending a game is because of on-field competition. An even larger percentage of women and younger fans said their prime motivation was for "social" reasons---to attend with family members, be entertained and have fun. About 70% of these audiences said they selected a particular game because of the quality of the entertainment (and the giveaways).

About half of women and younger fans surveyed said having entertainment and game venues for children was an important reason for attending a game.

60% said it was very important that the team was affiliated with a Major League Baseball team and only 9% said that this was not important. Two out of three men surveyed indicated that affiliation with an MLB team was very important, compared with 51% of women surveyed. An even higher percentage of men said they attended games hoping to "see prospects" who may someday play in the major leagues.

"The Trenton and Lakewood teams have set a high standard for customer satisfaction and loyalty," Rose said. "There will be different norms to measure fan satisfaction and emotional attachment and commitment for other higher level professional and college baseball, basketball and football programs but we now have a norm for measuring ultimate fan satisfaction."

Currently, he said, his group is in the final phases of developing an online survey to measure the level of satisfaction and commitment of current and potential partners, sponsors and advertisers.

All Trenton Thunder tickets are on sale now at trentonthunder.com. All Thunder games can be heard at 91.3 FM and online at trentonthunder.com.

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Eastern League Stories from May 25, 2011


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