The 2010 season marks the 28th anniversary of Eastern League Baseball in New Britain, and the New Britain Rock Cats franchise is stronger than ever. It’s not that the Minnesota Twins affiliate’s record is the best in the league — ask anyone who has attended a Rock Cats game and they might not even know who won.
That’s just fine with Rock Cats President and CEO Bill Dowling, who attributes the teams 2010 Business Champion Award for Innovation to the team’s focus on the experience of attending a game, rather than the baseball itself.
“We’re more concerned with the family entertainment aspect,” Dowling said. “The baseball becomes a little less important.”
That’s not to say true baseball fans aren’t going to see some great baseball in New Britain. Minnesota is a small market team, so Dowling says a good portion of the team’s money goes into scouting. As a result, a lot of big-time players, such as David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox, have made their way through New Britain.
“Almost everyone on the current Twins roster has come through New Britain in the last four or five years,” Dowling said. “The (Twins) office is very supportive of us. They’re very concerned about the performance on the field.”
Dowling said while the team’s performance is essentially out of his hands, team management has turned their focus to creating special promotions to enhance the experience of fans.
Instead of using a baseball player in the team’s television ads, the team used dancers and Rocky the Rock Cat mascot. They started using a jingle, “These Cats Rock.” And they ran their television ads on Nickelodeon and during Oprah, so women and children would see the ads.
“The theory was, the women of this world make the decisions about how the family spends discretionary dollars, even though the man will always want to go to a baseball game,” Dowling said.
The team’s attendance records prove their innovative marketing techniques are working. Dowling said when the current owners bought the team in 2000, the best attendance under the prior ownership was 181,000 in a season. The team increased that to 220,000 in its first season. For the past several years, attendance has topped 300,000, with an attendance total of 375,000 last season and 22 sellouts out of 66 games.
The team has focused on improving the venue. The stadium is clean, the field is pristine, and the scoreboard is new.
“The whole idea is to enhance the whole experience of coming to a game and have them walk out of the stadium and say, ‘I can’t believe this is right here’,” he said.
To entice families out to the ball park, the team runs promotions nearly every night of the week. One of the most popular is the “Family Four Pack” on Wednesday nights, which includes tickets, hot dogs, drinks and popcorn for four people, for a package price of $30. On Mondays, there’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. On Sunday afternoons for “Family Fun Day,” kids can run the bases at the conclusion of the game, and for every Friday night game, there is a fireworks or pyrotechnics show. Average ticket prices are $7, with some tickets as low as $3, a bargain compared to a trip to the movies, the circus or other professional sporting events.
Dowling said one of the keys to the franchise’s success is to focus on what they can control.
“I can’t control what happens on the field,” he said. “If you look at it from a rational marketing perspective, you control what you can control and minimize everything else so you’re not dependent on that.”
In addition to the team’s focus on families, the Rock Cats also does a large group business with Scouts, Little League and other organizations. The team is also active in the community, with Rocky the Rock Cat making visits to schools, and the team joining forces with local organizations for worthwhile causes.
“Not only is it the right thing to do to be involved in the community, but it’s also very good business,” Dowling said.
The Rock Cats franchise is also innovative when it comes to going “green.” The stadium has new, energy efficient lighting and recycling containers this year, and there are discussions about the possibility of installing solar panels in the future. g
