Friday at CitiField was the alomost perfect exeperience for a New York sports fan. Amazing weather, a salute to to two heroes past…Tom Seaver and Jackie Robinson. A safe, friendly and fun ballpark with friendly and attentive staff. A win by the home team.
All except my usual six month or so quizzical question. In a time where tangible goods and colelctables remain at such a premium, why can’t teams, especially on such memorable days, find a way to do collectable printed tickets on demand, even for a premium.
While I understand the value of collecting data, the transition to smart phones, the ability to share with a community in the digtial space…it was great to scroll through and see so many colelagues and friends and families at the game sharing their memories on Snap, Insta, Twitter and Facebook, we are in a world still where attention is starved and fleeting, and having that cardboard piece to be used as a bookmark, stored in a drawer, mounted somewhere, continues to hold value for many.
This is true even more with a sport like baseball, where the fan base is still decidedly over and more traditional. I counted and listened to more than a few dozen people whose phones were dying (The Mets like most teams have some, but not a lot of charging stations), who got up and left seats and did not have a phone on their ticket, or who just wanted to walk around and not have a device in their hand at the ready, who would have loved to have something in their hand as a reminder of where to go and where others were.
And let’s not forget there is a small part of the population who does not yet have a smart phone, and when asked by a colleague what happens then, the box office attendant did not have an answer as to what you do to gain admission. Also what if your phone died, like mine did during the game?
There was a rumor that the box office, if you asked, could print a stub. The answer was friendly but firm. No we can’t any more, we are not allowed. Not allowed? Why?
The answer was what if everyone wanted it, we didn;t have the stock. Did everyone ask? No. Did a few. yes. is there a revenue stream for on demand printing? Well, if you don’t ask your consumers how would you know? You make the assumption for them, and that’s not good customer service. (There is a company, Ticket Time Machine, trying to solve the issue but the response by teams who own the data and the IP has been slow.)
The irony again is that there were stubs…on premium seat levels where many corporations still ask for, and get, hard tickets. The Mets also sent a beautiful hologram laminate ticket to seaosn accounts. So if they go to that length why not give fans the option to purchase a stub or two? And by the way the suite holders and guests are probably the elast likely to care about ticket stubs...it is the fans in the upper levels, the ones who are most closely associated with product, to want the takeaway.
Yes we have photos on phones from long ago, but we also have the tangible, something which teams, in an era of collectable madness, are missing a growing beat on.
I understand the changing mindset and the ability to have and share digital items and goods. I get it, but the all or nothing route is a disservice to many, including teams trying to build a cross generational fan base that enjoys, remembers and grows experiences in different ways. I have no issue with teams, leagues, events having data, knowing who is in the building and when, but not to have the ability for something tangible, even at a cost I would be willing to pay and leads to the on demand economy that so many are embracing, is shortsighted. In a world where teams are always looking for content, for young creators, isn’t there a place of focus to create and share the tangible, which by the way can also be used in the digital space?
For sure the giveaway collectable world as a means to draw fans may have gone to the extreme with limited interest items in recent years, but to go from overload of Bobbleheads and backpacks every game, to not being able to access simple, shareable and informative items for casual and diehard fans, is a miss at every level from colleges to concerts to professional sports.
This is a transition period, but part of the transition is making sure you are not alienating your base, and giving people a reason to engage more with content in any way. Simple service, which lends itself to technology for on demand ordering. Having no option is a bad one.
Was I glad to be at CitiField and share in opening day? For sure. Would it have been great to have something to remember it by other than the images on my phone. For sure. Again.
