Kansas City Royals rewarding loyal fans

[franksolich]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124105291169271341.html

It's all good.

Loyal Fans Are Batting Cleanup
As Corporate Sales Slide, Teams Look to Reward Long-Ignored Season-Ticket Holders

John Brandon never dreamed of owning season tickets to the Kansas City Royals, let alone four in this location: First row, upper tier, directly above third base. A few nights ago, the 52-year-old baseball fanatic caught his first-ever foul ball in these seats. "I thought you had to be rich to have seats like these every game," says Mr. Brandon, a machinist, his arms dangling outside the railing.

The cost of his four tickets: $30 a game -- or $7.50 each -- which is a 50% discount.

In an age of fallen circumstances and concerns about revenue, major-league baseball teams are training their attention on a long-overlooked and increasingly endangered species -- those unfailingly loyal fans who buy tickets for every game.

In addition to offering lower prices, clubs around the league are rewarding season-ticket holders with other benefits, such as early entrance to games, access to services that resell unwanted seats, exclusive gatherings with players and team executives, and concierges to address their every need.

Wooing baseball's hard-core fans reflects a major-league seat change. In the past, when attendance was rising, the clubs' marketing departments focused on big-dollar sales, such as corporate suites and stadium-naming rights. But last year, attendance at ballparks fell 1% even before the economy crashed.

Suddenly, clubs remembered that nobody matters more than loyal fans -- people like Frances Ingemann, a retired linguistics professor who drives 50 miles from Lawrence, Kan., to every Royals home game. "Even if the Royals aren't playing well, you see other teams playing well," says Dr. Ingemann, a 24-year season-ticket holder who fell in love with baseball as a girl listening to games on the radio......

[Odin's Hand]

I have always liked going to a game at Kauffman Stadium in the summer. I've been there a couple of times and there is plenty of room to stretch out usually.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I have always liked going to a game at Kauffman Stadium in the summer. I've been there a couple of times and there is plenty of room to stretch out usually.

It's been a fairly vacant park since George Brett retired in the early-mid 90's.  Reminds me of the good old days at Arlington Stadium.  $4 outfield seats and always plenty of them, unless Nolan Ryan was pitching.

[BlueStateSaint]

It's been a fairly vacant park since George Brett retired in the early-mid 90's.  Reminds me of the good old days at Arlington Stadium.  $4 outfield seats and always plenty of them, unless Nolan Ryan was pitching.

Seeing the way that the Royals' pitchers are pitching this year, I'd hazard a guess and say that their tix #s are going to go up this year, no matter if BlueStateSaint himself was pitching for the Royals.  (I've got a nasty running fastball, a slurve that makes RHBs drop to their knees trying to hit it, and a curveball that freezes LHBs.  Any takers? )  Zack Greinke is absolutely awesome, and I can see him winning a Cy Young--maybe this year. 

Thing is, the Yankees will be gunning for him with all they have, when Grienke becoimes a free agent.  (I'd love forthe Mets to get him.  It won't happen, but I can dream.)