The All You Can Eat sections and free food giveaways tied to baseball have become very effective and pretty widespread. The Dodgers and White Sox were among the first to offer up the food in select sections, and many others followed. Like the buffet that's All You Can Eat, the incremental value placed on the average consumer is a miniscule spend compared to the good will and perceived added value of the section. Therefore, more tickets sold, balances lost concessions. Still, in the minors, where concessions are the lifeblood of the business, every hot dog counts. So last year when the Lakewood (NJ) Blue Claws began giving kids eat free vouchers for Monday night games, the risk taken was balanced off in the amount of distressed inventory of seats that may not have moved on a Monday night. It was also a good giveback to those who came on a Monday, and the response, the subsequent sponsorship by Pathmark, made it a win for everyone. Now fast forward through the economic crisis and the worries of those incremental disposable dollars now going to food as opposed to game tickets. So the Blue Claws again take a risk, and have offered up free food for kids at every game this coming season. The response from fans and the media alike has been outstanding, and again puts the minor league brand in the offseason front and center. Any loss to the bottom line won’t be felt for months at those concession stands, and the good will for that voucher is already showing up in community support and ticket sales. Now could Major League franchises follow suit with a give back on a nightly basi. Hard to say, because the sheer volume of lost revenue could be very large becuase of the larger attendance at games, and many teams already package vouchers into promotional plans. But to do it for EVERY Game got the Blue Claws some great cred and a nice pop in a cold Jersey winter. Well calculated, well planned well placed.
And on to some other hot stove pieces…Fortune had a good piece on what the Diamondbacks are doing to battle the recession in Arizona (yes lower hot dogs are in the mix)…the News Journal has a good look at MLB's Urban Baseball event last week in California, and how it is a great push for inner city baseball…Bleacher Report has a whistful look at the glory of baseball AM radio broadcasts…and the Detroit Free Press has a great piece on Tigers star and baseball ambassador Curtis Granderson.
