Friday, February 13, 2009

Spring Training Sponsorships Selling Like Coldcakes

Remember we told you the Dodgers are selling naming rights to parts of Dodger Stadium? Well, they're doing the same thing at Camelback Ranch in Arizona. Or at least trying to. Writes Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times:

The Dodgers and White Sox, who share the facility equally, were so excited about their new home's potential as a revenue producer that they ignored the proven spring training model of seeking local advertisers and instead focused their efforts on finding national sponsors.

The concept -- called "The Starting 9" -- was designed to allow nine major sponsors paying $200,000 annually to secure the naming rights for different parts of the facility. [...]

So far, the sales force is 0 for nine in selling them.

Whoops. Hernandez also cites sluggish ticket sales in Arizona, as the economy seems to be affecting many aspects of spring training. So this story either goes away, or it becomes the first in a series about how the Dodgers, and baseball in general, are losing money this season.

And if the Dodgers fail to sign Manny Ramirez? Then expect the story to come from not only the media, but also from the Dodgers front office.

7 comments:

thirschb said...

Sorry for the unrelated comment, but Torre's on KROQ right now if you guys want to give it a listen. I just got into work so I can't. I doubt he'll say anything important on KROQ anyway, probably just promoting his book.

They did make a good crack yesterday though: "Heard he's a bit of a coward. Some call him 'Chicken catcher-Torre'." Hey now!

Rob said...

Having sprung for the $90 spring training tickets on a lark, I found it amusingly predictable that there were, on top of that, an additional $25 per ticket of BS service fees and the like, which were almost certainly being kicked back to the Dodgers.

Orel said...

And yet no one raises an eyebrow when Live Nation and Ticketmaster plan to merge.

Rob said...

The Boss raises an eyebrow, and maybe a fist.

Unknown said...

Orel,

My roomie works for Live Nation out here and was saying it would be an outrage if the whole monopoly thing wasn't seriously investigated and then we got in a heated argument when he thought the government had better things to do. Sigh.

Orel said...

Fight the power, Bruce! Unfortunately, it'll make little difference. Ticketmaster has always been, and will continue to be, a racket.

Steve Sax said...

Andrew, can your roomie hook us Sons up with some sweet tickets? Let's chat.