ways to increase attendance?

[mvalentin]

attendance is brutal across the board, only people betting on games or Red Sox, Cards and Cubs fans appear to be watching games, any ideas what you would do to increase attendance

I'm guilty as charged too, I like having MLB.tv and getting to watch 4 games at once instead of coming to the park live. I even have access to the In The Action tix at the Sky Dome (yes Sky Dome) but prefer to watch on my laptop at some hipster coffee shop instead, Sky Dome gives me a headache.

Anyways Baseball is in desperate need of help I honestly don't know what I'd do to change baseball to increase attendance. Here are couple minor suggestions


1. Have more forms of disguised betting
Every park already has a 50/50 ticket contest , but simply announcing the ticket winner is boring. There should be more gimmicks like buy tickets to hit over/unders, or buy tickets to see if your guy will hit a home run or if your team will have 6 or 7 Ks. The prize doesn't even have to be money, it can be a free beer or chowder. While it is my dream to have ballparks turn into horsetracks with live betting, I know that this will never happen, but you can disguise betting in many forms.

2. Everyday should have a "giveaway"
I remember as kid my parents wouldn't take me to a game unless they were giving something for free. Franchises are willing to give people like Mike Lincoln million dollar salaries but only give fans a free toy every thrid game. Also people love free stuff:

ie) observe individuals during t-shirt tosses, they are animals

3. MLB should encourage more players to go on Twitter

Anyone know why John Mayer's record sales and Shaq'a popularity have increased? Honestly how sweet would it be to have Manny do live updates on twitter during games.


4. Don't take any suggestions from traditionalist

One of the big suggestions going around right now is to decrease the amount of regular season games and expand the playoffs.

OMG guess who would have a heart attack should this occur?
Same people who don't know what "OMG" or Twitter means and the same people that cringed at interleague play and adding the wild card playoffs. I'm sorry but I like watching White Sox Cubs every year and love the intensity during any form of playoff baseball. The records mean nothing anyway now and maybe with a shorter season more teams would switch to a four man rotation and we'd see Aces more often. But yes I know the traditionalist are looking forward to writing a book about the beauty of a useless Rockies Nationals game in August

5. Take suggestions from ethnic communities

If it weren't for the Asian and Latin communities boxing would be dead, baseball is heading in the same direction. Whenever I hear people talk about improvements in baseball it pretty much from the same brass that love the BCS. Atmosphere at the WBC was pretty sweet and the outfield in Dodgers stadium was the most fun I've ever had at a baseball game. This is the same demographic that loves the game, so take suggestions from them.

anyways I'll have more later, but what would you guys do.

[sirpickalot81]

cut the price of beer in half

[Will]

Originally Posted by sirpickalot81

cut the price of beer in half

[Seanie Mac]

soon players/coaches are going to be tweeting on the bench and shit

ticket prices are the real prob and theres really no way to fix it. fans are sick of paying 50+ for a mediocre seat and seeing their team throw out a makeshift team, or teams like pitt and sd, who are surprising everyone, their fans gave up on them 3 years ago.

the giveaways are shit, its getting to the point where middle relievers are getting bobble heads, and what do i want with a phillies umbrella?

[Windy City Irish]

topless women beer vendors!!

[jbsjlu]

Price of tickets is the problem. Most parks it'll cost ya well over $100 to take a family of 4 to a game. Add parking and concessions and ......

well you get the picture.

I remember back before 3 rivers closed I could take my kids (under 12) to the games with me for a $1 each. Find some way to let families bring the kids to the ballpark cheap and not only do you have more people today but you develop your next generation of fans!

[Seanie Mac]

yea the vet was $5 general admission and i knew a guy who worked a gate at a private entrance and he just let us walk on in, and give us the free giveaway

[PigSkinTerror13]

price of tickets IS the problem.. I agree... a guy can no longer take his family to a game for under $200

also, free beer and handjobs would help!

[Romanowski]

its the economy period, otherwise those empty seats would be filled by corporate customers and their clients

corporations buy most tickets, which is why the average joe cant afford it

tv contracts are a very large % of the teams revenue anyway

[white_tiger]

Originally Posted by Windy City Irish

topless women beer vendors!!

That's too far but they can get couples of casinos waitress will be nice.