from Amazon
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Do MLB teams know how to treat their fans?
I was intrigued by this post:
Aside from the local media, who are about the worst I’ve seen, management of the team has not improved much under Krivsky. And I don’t mean player management, I mean day-to-day management of a ballclub. I mean promising season-ticket holders first crack at buying extra single-game tickets (such as for the Red Sox series this year), but then opening the sales to everyone, and letting the scalpers take them all.
I mean holding a special “come watch batting practice at GABP” the Sunday before Opening Day, but then not allowing anyone to sit in the outfield. Seriously, ushers prevented anyone from going into the bleachers and catching homeruns. They didn’t sell beer. They gave away hot dogs for free, and cans of pop, but all they had was Diet Pepsi and they had nowhere to recycle the cans.
Speaking of groaning at bunting, the decorative bunting in the stadium was pathetic. It consisted of about 20 half-moons, each about 6 feet long. That’s all. For the entire stadium. When I saw it during the BP fiasco, I said “that can’t be the decorations for tomorrow. That looks like the remains of whatever survived the winter, whatever is still up from the last day of the season.” Nope. Came back the next day, that’s all there was, 20 pieces of bunting.
The bunting may a fitting metaphor for the team. Whether it’s Encarnacion or the decorations, the end result is a half-ashed effort and poor execution in just about everything they do.
I have to say that we are very spoiled by the Montreal Canadiens. Everything they do is first class. Problem with tickets not waiting at the will-call? They’ll hunt, and if they can’t find the problem, offer two seats in the Loge. (Happened to me.) Friend has a cast, and you have tickets for SRO, so it’s first-come first-served? They’ll let you in 2 minutes before they are allowed, so that you and your friend won’t be trampled by the Cup-starved fans. (Happened to me.) They have a between face-off band in the seats, rather than the loud and obnoxious music blaring. Imagine, prime seats intentionally not being sold, so the band can play for you. As for the Expos, they had the best looking ushers around.
What about for you guys? Do you have a good sports town where they care about the fan experience? Or are you just a number?