This past week at the IMG World Congress of Sports MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred again talked about the need for baseball to find ways to engage young people and keep them avid fans for life. One way he mentioned was for seniors with disposable income to be the advocates of bringing their grandkids, nephews and nieces to games and to use that experience as a common ground to keep young people engaged, an idea which has a great deal of validity.
However this coming weekend an independent team, in the Atlantic League, will hold a contest to literally get at least one young person deeply involved in baseball while getting a brand partner some great exposure as well. The team is the Somerset (NJ) Patriots, one of the standard-bearers of positive promotion in Indy baseball, and this weekend at their kickoff Fan Fest they will select one young fan with great passion and some solid credentials as their Kid CEO for the 2015 season. Now it doesn’t mean a teen or tween is taking the reins for the whole season; what it is (and it’s not the first time) is that a young person from their area will have applied and been given a chance to be a key part of the front office for at least day during this coming season.
The interviews for the Kid CEO will be conducted during the Patriots Fan Fest event on Saturday, April 11th from 12:00-3:00 pm, with all young fans ages 8-15 that are interested attending, each with a chance to have a great first step into the sports business world. From the day, five finalists will be selected to return to a designated Patriots game to address the crowd on why they want to be the Kid CEO. The eventual winner will follow front office staff members during the games to learn about ticketing, merchandising, promotions, media, marketing, and ballpark operations. The Kid CEO will sit in on Patriots staff meetings and write about the experiences he/she has in the position. The Kid CEO will also receive a personalized Somerset Patriots jersey, tickets to five games, a ceremonial first pitch for a game, and a meet and greet with Sparky Lyle and the players.
It is the seventh time that the team will name a Kid CEO.
While the opportunity will be a nice one to create some memories and generate some buzz, it brings even ore added value to a business partner who may seem like a stretch being involved in baseball at the minor league or Indy level. The contest is sponsored by Spearhead Staffing, an award winning IT staffing company privately held and headquartered in the New York metropolitan area. Spearhead specializes in the Life Sciences industries such as Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Biotechnology, which for some may seem light-years away from placing GM’s at sports teams. However Spearhead sees an opportunity to engage a grassroots audience in a very unique way, which will probably get them a competitive advantage in a geographic area heavy in Big pharma and tech recruiting, two areas which are as competitive for talent today than any pro sports league.
By finding a way in, Spearhead gains access to local consumers who may be looking for a career change or who may be looking to engage with a search firm at some point; and the engagement with the Patriots along the lines of an “employment” opportunity could have a certain stickiness for the company that may not have been there with traditional advertising.
More importantly, per Manfred’s thoughts this week, the contest gives the Patriots a great tie to a young audience who may or may not stay involved with baseball going forward and who knows, may also help foster some unique sports business opportunities for those young people who are finalists to be advocates and influencers of baseball and business going forward. Maybe it’s a little gimmicky and some say it is maybe lacking a little substance, but kudos to the Patriots for finding a great way to get a sponsor some ROI, creating some buzz with a renewable promotion and helping grow the game to a young audience who can stay engaged for years to come.
MLB take note of an Indy friend, it’s a contest worth replicating far and wide.
