I have to admit, I've lost all interest in the Timberwolves. I can't even remember the last time I actually paid to go to a game. The last game I went to, I had received free tickets from the Timberwolves promotions department.
If you've watched any of the pre-season games on TV, there's empty blue seats everywhere. Not like it was when Kevin Garnett was here, there wasn't an empty seat in the house.
I was reading Patrick Reusse's column in the Star Tribune today (click post title to read full article), and he believes the T-wolves need some serious marketing to go along with the new shooters that are part of a team that seems to be in a constant state of re-building.
They've done their best in the past couple years in the area of branding: re-designed jerseys, a re-designed logo (which looks awful) and a new Target Center court. They've done some new things in the ticketing department as well. Last season, according to Reusse's article, the T-wolves had an abysmal season ticket base of 5,000.
When Garnett played here, I remember it being almost impossible to get a seat in the lower seating bowl of the arena. The lower level at Target Center seats about 8,300 people (total capacity is just shy of 20,000). What's even worse, is the team expected to lose another 10 percent of that base from last season.
It may not be the team, however. People still are loving the Minnesota Wild on the other side of the river; even though the Wild's consecutive sellout streak at the Xcel Energy Center has come to an end. And, let's not forget all the hype about the Twins this year with Target Field opening and the overall excitement that was re-generated for the Twins. An excitement, only to be squashed away in three games against the Yankees.
The T-Wolves started things off late last season when they decided to cut season ticket prices. I don't remember too much about that particular campaign, and I can't remember whether ticket prices were cut across the board, or just for new season ticket accounts. Even before that, the team has touted a season ticket up in the far reaches of the arena, that goes for about $300-some-odd a season.
And, apparently, it's worked. The Wolves, instead of losing another 10 percent of their season ticket base, have actually GAINED about 2,000 season ticket holders. Well, that helps, but for the most part still leaves the Target Center well below half-capacity.
If you have 7,000 season ticket holders (banking on the fact that they'd all show up for every game), and 3,000 unlucky fans decide to walk up to the ticket office ten minutes before the tip-off to snag a ticket, that's only 10,000 people. Which leaves the remaining 10,000 or so seats unoccupied.
Granted, the Wolves surprisingly had a decent pre-season. But, that's happened before. I remember getting so excited one year when the Wolves went 7-1 in the preseason. Hardly did anything after that, and to my recollection, didn't even win 35 games that season.
In seasons since Garnett's departure, it's felt very much like the expansion year of 1989 all over again. Only problem was, in 1989, people were so excited to have NBA basketball back in town after an almost 30-year absence, they didn't care how bad the team was.
Now, 22 years later, people do care, and they seem to be proving it by placing their allegiances elsewhere. Even Reusse commented that the one replica jersey he saw in the stands at the Target Center the other night was an Adrian Peterson Vikings jersey. But, if this Wolves team is really as good as it seems, or as Reusse postulates, then the Wolves need to get some serious marketing work done to make these lower ticket prices pay off.
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Showing posts with label arena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arena. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sports Day in Minnesota - an idea
Some of us may know that Fox Sports North (FSN), the regional cable sports network here in the Twin Cities, annually sponsors what they call "Hockey Day in Minnesota." FSN broadcasts peewee games, a high school game, a Gophers game and a Wild game all in the same day.
I was thinking the other day, now that Minnesota's sports teams all have a place of their own to play, what if all four major teams and the Gophers, played at home, on the same day?
It could work. It would be an economic boom for the Twin Cities with all those people. The TV networks would love the revenue. Here's how I envision it would work, and who would broadcast what.
We start the day at 11am with the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium. The game would be carried either by ESPN or the Big Ten Network.
You could have a Wild game at 2pm at the Xcel Energy Center, broadcast by FSN.
It would take some doing with the NFL, but suppose there was a Vikings game at the Dome at about 3pm. Maybe even 4pm. This is where it could get a little interesting. Depending on whether FOX has the Major League Baseball playoffs that year, they might opt to show the World Series instead of a mid-season NFL game.
If Turner Broadcasting had the playoffs that year, just throw a couple million dollars at FOX to broadcast the game.
The overlap with the Wild game wouldn't be too bad.
Then, say the Timberwolves have their home opener at 5pm at Target Center. This one would be broadcast locally on Channel 45, KSTC.
And then, the piece de resistance, the Minnesota Twins play at Target Field at 7pm. For all five of these games to converge like this, it would put this particular day on or around October 28. The NBA regular-season doesn't start until very late October at the earliest.
And, it also assumes that the Twins likely took their season to Game 7 of the World Series that year.
All five teams would be very happy of course. All five are taking tickets, at home, in their own place, on the same day. I envision officials from MetroTransit at each venue passing out balloons, making speeches and throwing rice, celebrating the fact that the light rail systems they built and the commuter rail are working at full capacity.
This day probably would work best after the Central Corridor light rail along University Avenue is completed.
Downtown Minneapolis would benefit the most, as you'd have 40,000 for the Twins game. 63,000 for the Vikings game. 20,000 for the Timberwolves game. Another 50,000 just across the river for the Gophers. And, downtown Saint Paul would see 18,000 for the hockey game.
Restaurants and bars would be crowded. Streets would be buzzing with people. Traffic would be miserable (for those that didn't take mass transit). But, that would be one fun day.
I was thinking the other day, now that Minnesota's sports teams all have a place of their own to play, what if all four major teams and the Gophers, played at home, on the same day?
It could work. It would be an economic boom for the Twin Cities with all those people. The TV networks would love the revenue. Here's how I envision it would work, and who would broadcast what.
We start the day at 11am with the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium. The game would be carried either by ESPN or the Big Ten Network.
You could have a Wild game at 2pm at the Xcel Energy Center, broadcast by FSN.
It would take some doing with the NFL, but suppose there was a Vikings game at the Dome at about 3pm. Maybe even 4pm. This is where it could get a little interesting. Depending on whether FOX has the Major League Baseball playoffs that year, they might opt to show the World Series instead of a mid-season NFL game.
If Turner Broadcasting had the playoffs that year, just throw a couple million dollars at FOX to broadcast the game.
The overlap with the Wild game wouldn't be too bad.
Then, say the Timberwolves have their home opener at 5pm at Target Center. This one would be broadcast locally on Channel 45, KSTC.
And then, the piece de resistance, the Minnesota Twins play at Target Field at 7pm. For all five of these games to converge like this, it would put this particular day on or around October 28. The NBA regular-season doesn't start until very late October at the earliest.
And, it also assumes that the Twins likely took their season to Game 7 of the World Series that year.
All five teams would be very happy of course. All five are taking tickets, at home, in their own place, on the same day. I envision officials from MetroTransit at each venue passing out balloons, making speeches and throwing rice, celebrating the fact that the light rail systems they built and the commuter rail are working at full capacity.
This day probably would work best after the Central Corridor light rail along University Avenue is completed.
Downtown Minneapolis would benefit the most, as you'd have 40,000 for the Twins game. 63,000 for the Vikings game. 20,000 for the Timberwolves game. Another 50,000 just across the river for the Gophers. And, downtown Saint Paul would see 18,000 for the hockey game.
Restaurants and bars would be crowded. Streets would be buzzing with people. Traffic would be miserable (for those that didn't take mass transit). But, that would be one fun day.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sometimes...it just doesn't work
I've always been interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of sports business. The team sales, new arenas, relocations - that sort of thing. But, lately, I've been thinking about this fact: sometimes a new arena or a new location just doesn't work.
The National Hockey League's (NHL) Phoenix Coyotes are a great example of how both a new arena and a new location don't really work for a franchise.
The Phoenix Coyotes moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1996. When the franchise was the Winnipeg Jets, they struggled in a fairly bad market with a below-par arena. Matter of fact, the Jets almost moved to the Twin Cities as a replacement for our beloved North Stars, who headed south to Dallas a couple years before.
The Phoenix area beat out the Twin Cities for the struggling Jets. The first couple seasons, the newly-renamed Coyotes shared an arena in downtown Phoenix with the NBA's Suns. A couple seasons later, the Coyotes moved west to Glendale, AZ where they have played ever since.
But now, the Coyotes are even struggling in Glendale at the Jobing.com Arena. And, according to the article linked above (click on "Sometimes...it just doesn't work") and others floating around on the Internet, the Coyotes must find a local buyer by the end of this year, or the NHL will allow the team to move backto Winnipeg.
This is not new. You may remember, several years ago, Los Angeles lost not one but both of it's National Football League (NFL) franchises. The Rams moved east to Saint Louis, and the Raiders, moved back to Oakland; where they had left about 17 years prior. The Rams moved into a downtown domed stadium in Saint Louis, and the Raiders moved back to the dingy, old stadium (albeit some renovations) in Oakland they had left behind.
There have been rumors that the NBA's Sacramento Kings might move back to Kansas City, where they departed in 1985, to a more modern, shiny new arena just outside of downtown Kansas City.
There are the relocation successes: Washington Senators moving to the Twin Cities in 1961. Baltimore Colts moving (to the shock of everyone) to Indianapolis in 1983. Houston Oilers moving to Nashville circa 1996; and these are just a few. But, apparently, relocation to a shiny, new arena in another city, sometimes just doesn't work as well as expected.
As for the final fate of the Coyotes - stay tuned.
The National Hockey League's (NHL) Phoenix Coyotes are a great example of how both a new arena and a new location don't really work for a franchise.
The Phoenix Coyotes moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1996. When the franchise was the Winnipeg Jets, they struggled in a fairly bad market with a below-par arena. Matter of fact, the Jets almost moved to the Twin Cities as a replacement for our beloved North Stars, who headed south to Dallas a couple years before.
The Phoenix area beat out the Twin Cities for the struggling Jets. The first couple seasons, the newly-renamed Coyotes shared an arena in downtown Phoenix with the NBA's Suns. A couple seasons later, the Coyotes moved west to Glendale, AZ where they have played ever since.
But now, the Coyotes are even struggling in Glendale at the Jobing.com Arena. And, according to the article linked above (click on "Sometimes...it just doesn't work") and others floating around on the Internet, the Coyotes must find a local buyer by the end of this year, or the NHL will allow the team to move backto Winnipeg.
This is not new. You may remember, several years ago, Los Angeles lost not one but both of it's National Football League (NFL) franchises. The Rams moved east to Saint Louis, and the Raiders, moved back to Oakland; where they had left about 17 years prior. The Rams moved into a downtown domed stadium in Saint Louis, and the Raiders moved back to the dingy, old stadium (albeit some renovations) in Oakland they had left behind.
There have been rumors that the NBA's Sacramento Kings might move back to Kansas City, where they departed in 1985, to a more modern, shiny new arena just outside of downtown Kansas City.
There are the relocation successes: Washington Senators moving to the Twin Cities in 1961. Baltimore Colts moving (to the shock of everyone) to Indianapolis in 1983. Houston Oilers moving to Nashville circa 1996; and these are just a few. But, apparently, relocation to a shiny, new arena in another city, sometimes just doesn't work as well as expected.
As for the final fate of the Coyotes - stay tuned.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Too many sports teams?
I read the Twin Cities Business Journal on a regular basis, and this morning, I read an article that caught my attention; apparently, the Twin Cities has too many professional sports teams.
The study was conducted by Portfolio.com, and they tested 82 markets to determine the financial capacity of cities in both the United States and Canada to support professional sports. The professional sports they studied are teams in baseball, football, basketball, football and soccer.
Here in the Twin Cities, we have a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Twins. We have a team in the National Football League (NFL), the Vikings. A team in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Timberwolves, and finally, a team in the National Hockey League (NHL), the Wild.
This is the second time the Twin Cities has had four teams, in four major leagues. This region had four teams from 1989-1993. The Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves and our old NHL team, the North Stars. Of course, the North Stars moved to Dallas at the end of the 1993 season.
So, we've done this before, and we've done well - in my estimation. The reason the North Stars left had nothing to do with attendance (having been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs a couple years earlier). The move had a little to do with the arena (the Met Center was getting old, and with the Timberwolves' new Target Center having opened a year earlier, made it hard for the Bloomington arena to stay competitive). The move had a great deal to do with Stars' owner Norm Green and personal issues he was dealing with, including his marriage.
I read somewhere that Norm's wife (I believe it was in Jay Weiner's 2000 book Stadium Games) gave Norm an ultimatum: either sell the team, or move to Dallas. And to the disappointment of many Minnesotans, Green chose the latter.
The Twin Cities got an NHL franchise back on June 22, 1997, to begin play in 2000, and we've been a four-team market ever since. The Twins stuck it out and waited 11 years to get a new ballpark to keep them competitive. The Wild sell out every game at the Xcel Energy Center. The Timberwolves are happy, just uncompetitive on the court.
This is just my opinion, but instead of complaining about having too many teams, wouldn't that be considered a good business model? A market this size, supporting four teams? The Twin Cities isn't the size of Los Angeles, and yet, we have an NFL team, Los Angeles doesn't. Saint Louis is a good-sized market, as is Kansas City; and neither has an NBA team. Kansas City had all four teams back in the 70s, but lost their NBA team to Sacramento in 1985; and their three-year-old NHL team to Denver in 1975.
I don't quite understand why soccer was thrown into the mix. Yes, we do have a pro soccer team here, the Minnesota Thunder, but they are in a minor-league type situation. They are not a member franchise of MLS (Major League Soccer), which sometimes uses NFL stadiums for their games; although, many teams are building smaller, soccer-specific stadiums.
With the stadium issue of the Minnesota Vikings once again waiting to rear its head in the 2010 Minnesota State Legislative session, and the NFL deciding to cut its revenue-sharing program for smaller-market teams (i.e. the Vikings), it will be interesting to see how much longer the Twin Cities will remain a market with four (five if you throw in the Thunder) pro teams. But, so far, I think we're doing well.
To read the article from the Twin Cities Business Journal, click here:
http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2009/12/14/story9.html
Thanks for reading, and have a great Christmas season.
The study was conducted by Portfolio.com, and they tested 82 markets to determine the financial capacity of cities in both the United States and Canada to support professional sports. The professional sports they studied are teams in baseball, football, basketball, football and soccer.
Here in the Twin Cities, we have a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Twins. We have a team in the National Football League (NFL), the Vikings. A team in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Timberwolves, and finally, a team in the National Hockey League (NHL), the Wild.
This is the second time the Twin Cities has had four teams, in four major leagues. This region had four teams from 1989-1993. The Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves and our old NHL team, the North Stars. Of course, the North Stars moved to Dallas at the end of the 1993 season.
So, we've done this before, and we've done well - in my estimation. The reason the North Stars left had nothing to do with attendance (having been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs a couple years earlier). The move had a little to do with the arena (the Met Center was getting old, and with the Timberwolves' new Target Center having opened a year earlier, made it hard for the Bloomington arena to stay competitive). The move had a great deal to do with Stars' owner Norm Green and personal issues he was dealing with, including his marriage.
I read somewhere that Norm's wife (I believe it was in Jay Weiner's 2000 book Stadium Games) gave Norm an ultimatum: either sell the team, or move to Dallas. And to the disappointment of many Minnesotans, Green chose the latter.
The Twin Cities got an NHL franchise back on June 22, 1997, to begin play in 2000, and we've been a four-team market ever since. The Twins stuck it out and waited 11 years to get a new ballpark to keep them competitive. The Wild sell out every game at the Xcel Energy Center. The Timberwolves are happy, just uncompetitive on the court.
This is just my opinion, but instead of complaining about having too many teams, wouldn't that be considered a good business model? A market this size, supporting four teams? The Twin Cities isn't the size of Los Angeles, and yet, we have an NFL team, Los Angeles doesn't. Saint Louis is a good-sized market, as is Kansas City; and neither has an NBA team. Kansas City had all four teams back in the 70s, but lost their NBA team to Sacramento in 1985; and their three-year-old NHL team to Denver in 1975.
I don't quite understand why soccer was thrown into the mix. Yes, we do have a pro soccer team here, the Minnesota Thunder, but they are in a minor-league type situation. They are not a member franchise of MLS (Major League Soccer), which sometimes uses NFL stadiums for their games; although, many teams are building smaller, soccer-specific stadiums.
With the stadium issue of the Minnesota Vikings once again waiting to rear its head in the 2010 Minnesota State Legislative session, and the NFL deciding to cut its revenue-sharing program for smaller-market teams (i.e. the Vikings), it will be interesting to see how much longer the Twin Cities will remain a market with four (five if you throw in the Thunder) pro teams. But, so far, I think we're doing well.
To read the article from the Twin Cities Business Journal, click here:
http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2009/12/14/story9.html
Thanks for reading, and have a great Christmas season.
Friday, October 9, 2009
When tragedy strikes at the arena
Some of you might have heard it on SportsCenter this morning, like I did. As fans were leaving the St. Louis Blues' (NHL) game at the Scottrade Center in Saint Louis, one of the escalators carrying fans malfunctioned and several were injured in the accident.
No one was killed, thankfully. Thirteen people were injured, according to the story at http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/958726.html . Things do happen, even at the sports arena. Several years ago, Wayne Gretzky's wife was struck in the head by a piece of plexiglass that had come loose after a hockey player slammed an opponent into it. About 12 years ago, a section of bleachers, loaded with fans collapsed at a San Jose Sharks home game. And in 2002, a 13-year-old girl was killed by an errant hockey puck that flew over the plexiglass, and hit her in the head.
These incidents have just happened in the National Hockey League (NHL). Other professional sports have had similar incidents at their games in various arenas.
A gentleman from Belleville, IL, Shayne Hill, was seriously hurt in the accident. His foot got caught at the bottom of the escalator where two of the stairs collapsed into each other. His shoe had to be cut off to get him free. If being caught at the bottom of an escalator, "with nowhere to go" as he put it wasn't bad enough, other fans on the escalator had started falling on top of him.
Another fan had pushed the emergency stop on the escalator to prevent further injuries. If that hadn't happened, Hill said, "It could have been a lot worse." The Blues, while seemingly not issuing much in the news release category (at least that I saw) did spring into action. Dave Checketts, an executive with the team visited injured persons in the hospital. “He apologized for the incident in person, which I thought was a very nice gesture," Hill said.
Hill also said that he had tickets for this Saturday's (Oct. 10) game in the 300 level of the arena. With an injured foot, it's all but an impossibility to get up there. "[The Blues] graciously offered to upgrade my seats to be (team President) John Davidson's personal guest in his suite," Hill said.
I did not see a written statement or a news release on the Saint Louis Blues website. This surprised me; just because so many people were involved, and if nothing else, to reassure fans attending future Blues games at the Scottrade Center, that it is safe to attend events there.
"The safety of our fans is always our first and foremost concern. We are hopeful that they are well and being taken care of and we have already begun to investigate the cause of the accident," was the only 'statement' I could find regarding the incident (quoted in the article link above). It was made by Eric Gelfand, a spokesman for SCP Worldwide - the group that manages the Scottrade Center.
However, FOX2 in Saint Louis, reports that Peter McLoughlin, CEO of Blues Enterprises did make a statement saying, "The safety of our fans and customers is always first and most in our minds." That is almost identical to what Gelfand said.
Actions do speak louder than words-or a press release even. The Blues organization did visit injured fans in the hospital. The Blues president did make a very nice gesture to Hill by allowing him to sit in the owner's suite as a replacement for his Saturday game tickets. But, what about someone like Kim Muren, also of Belleville and injured in the accident, who said in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she, "never plans to ride an escalator again after this."
So, given Muren's comment, it seems that a little damage control is in order for the Saint Louis Blues. Which leads me back to my statement earlier, that a press release or a written statement by the organization posted on the website would have gone a long way for fans like Muren, who now, will think twice when deciding where to buy seats for events at the Scottrade Center.
No one was killed, thankfully. Thirteen people were injured, according to the story at http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/958726.html . Things do happen, even at the sports arena. Several years ago, Wayne Gretzky's wife was struck in the head by a piece of plexiglass that had come loose after a hockey player slammed an opponent into it. About 12 years ago, a section of bleachers, loaded with fans collapsed at a San Jose Sharks home game. And in 2002, a 13-year-old girl was killed by an errant hockey puck that flew over the plexiglass, and hit her in the head.
These incidents have just happened in the National Hockey League (NHL). Other professional sports have had similar incidents at their games in various arenas.
A gentleman from Belleville, IL, Shayne Hill, was seriously hurt in the accident. His foot got caught at the bottom of the escalator where two of the stairs collapsed into each other. His shoe had to be cut off to get him free. If being caught at the bottom of an escalator, "with nowhere to go" as he put it wasn't bad enough, other fans on the escalator had started falling on top of him.
Another fan had pushed the emergency stop on the escalator to prevent further injuries. If that hadn't happened, Hill said, "It could have been a lot worse." The Blues, while seemingly not issuing much in the news release category (at least that I saw) did spring into action. Dave Checketts, an executive with the team visited injured persons in the hospital. “He apologized for the incident in person, which I thought was a very nice gesture," Hill said.
Hill also said that he had tickets for this Saturday's (Oct. 10) game in the 300 level of the arena. With an injured foot, it's all but an impossibility to get up there. "[The Blues] graciously offered to upgrade my seats to be (team President) John Davidson's personal guest in his suite," Hill said.
I did not see a written statement or a news release on the Saint Louis Blues website. This surprised me; just because so many people were involved, and if nothing else, to reassure fans attending future Blues games at the Scottrade Center, that it is safe to attend events there.
"The safety of our fans is always our first and foremost concern. We are hopeful that they are well and being taken care of and we have already begun to investigate the cause of the accident," was the only 'statement' I could find regarding the incident (quoted in the article link above). It was made by Eric Gelfand, a spokesman for SCP Worldwide - the group that manages the Scottrade Center.
However, FOX2 in Saint Louis, reports that Peter McLoughlin, CEO of Blues Enterprises did make a statement saying, "The safety of our fans and customers is always first and most in our minds." That is almost identical to what Gelfand said.
Actions do speak louder than words-or a press release even. The Blues organization did visit injured fans in the hospital. The Blues president did make a very nice gesture to Hill by allowing him to sit in the owner's suite as a replacement for his Saturday game tickets. But, what about someone like Kim Muren, also of Belleville and injured in the accident, who said in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she, "never plans to ride an escalator again after this."
So, given Muren's comment, it seems that a little damage control is in order for the Saint Louis Blues. Which leads me back to my statement earlier, that a press release or a written statement by the organization posted on the website would have gone a long way for fans like Muren, who now, will think twice when deciding where to buy seats for events at the Scottrade Center.
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