Best of 2007: The Gameops.com Review

Our annual review of all things operations and entertainment was done by polling a dozen of our most trusted non-biased industry pros.
Of course in an industry so spread out and diverse it impossible to find a large group of people who have see it all, but effort was made to find people who have seen a lot. We also took note of stories and reviews from web sources and industry literature.

In the past six categories were considered. There was a change this year in our awards, Best Vendor Category has been removed as a category due to limited response. Also, in 2008 two new categories will be added and they are introduced below.

The selections are in:

Best Mascot:

The mascot whose work was creative and enthusiastic, serving as a valuable tool for their team and in their community. All sports team characters and college mascots are eligible.

Winner: Parker (Fresno Grizzlies)

Parker is an integral part of the game-day experience in Fresno, as well as a popular community ambassador. It's a great example of a team unabashedly promoting and positioning their mascot as a star. A great sense of humor, fun-loving and popular with fans. It's a winning formula that Fresno is playing perfectly.

Honorable Mention:

• Benny the Bull (Chicago Bulls)

The Bulls have tweaked the Benny character to match their new performer and the character is coming into his own as one of the NBA's premier mascot characters.

Best Act:

The touring act or halftime show that excels in providing quality entertainment for your fans. Consider drawing power, quality, cooperation of the act, media, and value. All touring acts and non-team affiliated shows and performers are considered.

Winner: Red Panda Acrobat

On thing is for sure: the Game Operations and Entertainment community loves Red Panda Acrobat. This one woman show features a woman riding a unicycle and flipping bowls onto her head....and it's as unique as it sounds.

Red Panda Acrobat has been the only winner in every year of the Gameops.om awards. Named Best Act in 2004, 2006, and honorable mention in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. The 2007 Award winner makes Red Panda Acrobat the only three time winner.

Fans marvel at this amazing show and by all accounts this is one of the easiest to work with acts touring.

Honorable Mention:

• Myron Noodleman

Long-time macho-man Noodleman is the featured entertainment for many minor league baseball teams.

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Best Game Promotion:

What single game night promotion was most effective and creative. An example would be "President's Night" where a team builds an game day promotion around a them like "President's Night", perhaps handing out US flags and having namesakes like "George Washington, Richard Nixon, and George Bush" dropping the puck for a game held on President's Day. Consider creativity, entertainment value, media exposure, drawing power, and execution of the operations.

Winner (tie): Bob L Head Bobblehead Giveaway and 150 years of Toilet Paper

Bob L Head Bobblehead Giveaway

In February Portland announced a nationwide search for baseball fans named Bob L. Head. The Beavers planned to pick the most qualified fan, regardless of home town, and put their face on a bobble-head doll.

The Beavers whittled six entries down to the top three and allowed minor league baseball fans everywhere to vote on the winner via their website. Bob Leroy Head’s 51 percent of the vote bested Bob Lee Head (34 percent) of Evansville, Ind. and Bob Louis Head (15 percent) of Vallejo, Calif. Nearly 30,000 people participated in the voting.

“Thousands and thousands of new people who had never been to our website have visited there,” Portland assistant general manager Chris Metz said. “We’ve had promotions that have gained national attention before. Overall, though, this was more than we expected.”

All three finalists will be flown to Portland for a weekend’s worth of promotions. The actual Bob L. Head bobble-head giveaway is slated for Aug. 18 at PGE Park. The first 2,000 fans to pass through the gates for the Beavers’ Pacific Coast League game against the Las Vegas 51s will receive the doll. Bob Leroy Head will also throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

The Beavers front office is already receiving requests from people around the nation wishing to purchase the doll. Portland is entertaining the idea of producing extra dolls, selling them, and donating the proceeds to a charity determined by Head, a chaplain. “National attention is kind of cool for minor league team, but our main concern is, how do we do things locally to get people to come out for a game?” Metz said. (Chuck King/Minor League Dugout.com)

Summary: A creative promotion with huge media attention tied to a premium giveaway and well executed. Our panel was all left searching ebay for a Bob L. Head bobblehead.

• Portland Beavers Bob L Head Summary
• ESPN Story on Bob L. Head Night

150 years of Toilet Paper - Pensacola Pelicans

Toilet paper only seems like it’s been around forever. In fact, TP was introduced in the USA 150 years ago. To honor the pseudo-anniversary, the Pensacola Pelicans handed a roll of toilet paper to each fan as they enter the ballpark. They also rolled out the “white carpet” for the fan throwing the ceremonial first pitch. Instead of the dizzy bat race, contestants were mummified in toilet paper and forced to race. To continue the bathroom theme, a couple of fans will bob for Baby Ruth’s – Caddyshack style.

Our panel loved the combination of irreverence and creativity. Changing all the in-game promotions was also ambitious and creative.

Honorable Mention:

• Billy Donovan Night

The Fort Myers Miracle made choosing to see a Miracle game an easy decision, while spoofing University of Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan. Donovan changed his mind after accepting the Orlando Magic coaching position and returned to his job at the U of Florida.

The team quickly pounced with this promotion: After buying a ticket, if anytime during the game fans are not sure they want to be at the game they can leave and negotiate a release from their ticket purchase.

Patrons that experience a "Billy Donovan" moment had the option to sit down with a local attorney and strike a deal for an out-clause from their ticket purchase. Part of the negotiating process involved making a free throw into the teams on-site basketball hoop.

Fans that made the decision to stay were entered into a drawing for tickets to a Florida basketball game. Fort Myers own Billy Donovan was scheduled to throw out the first pitch and waffles were available at the concession stand.

Best Contest or On-Field Promotion:

What promotion or contest is the most entertaining. For example, a "Chuck-a-Puck" contest. This is a repeatable on-field promotion that is held in-game. Consider entertainment value, sponsorship possibilities, cost, and repeatability.

Winner: Presidents Race - DC

The Presidents Race is a promotional event held at every Washington Nationals home game at RFK Memorial Stadium during the fourth inning.. The Presidents' Race features four former Presidents of the United States, namely those found on Mount Rushmore: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt; their nicknames per the race graphics are George, Abe, Tom, and Teddy. The Presidents are dressed in period costumes and topped with giant foam caricature heads. (wikipedia)

The promotion has been so popular that the four presidents have even had their own bobblehead giveaway night. The team also sends the characters out for appearances.

The Nationals have been very creative with Teddy Roosevelt, creating a two-season long losing streak (he has never won). The team creates different scenarios for him to lose each night, prompting some fans to sell "Let Teddy Win" Shirts and keep game by game stats. The race has spawned a few blogs even like blog.letteddywin.com.

Like Milwaukee's Racing Sausages this piece of game entertainment is a home run for the Nationals.

• Washington Nationals: Presidents Page
• wikipedia: President's Race
• Race Facts
• LetTeddyWin.com

Best Team Operations:

Which team is doing the best job in their game operations and game presentation. Consider creativity, value to fans, overcoming sport and budget limitations, quality of presentation, and attention to detail. We level the playing field by considering budget constraints to minor league teams.

Winner: New Orleans Hornets

August 2005 changed the face of the New Orleans Hornets franchise. The devastating Hurricane Katrina badly damaged the Hornets' Arena and sent the entire team scrambling. The team needed new place to play, the employees needed housing and opening night loomed. What has been accomplished by the Hornets staff since the storm is nothing short of miraculous.

For game presentation this meant juggling dual sets of entertainment groups, home games in different cities, travel between games, and starting from scratch on many promotions due to damaged props and lost resources. And this does nothing to speak of their personal lives.

When you see the quality of the show the Hornets put on for their fans its easy to forget about the storm, the rebuilding and chaos. That's also what made their show so special. The Hornets helped people forget for 3 hours a night of the real problems outside the arena. They also helped the city regroup and rebound through their cooperative efforts with their own Community Relations efforts.

The Hornets didn't earn this award because of what they endured and overcame in the wake of Katrina. The Hornets Game Presentation Staff earned this award. The fact they did it all in the wake of Katrina just makes it more amazing.

Honorable Mention:

• Fresno Grizzles

This minor league team is delivering one of the most complete packages of entertainment in sports. Taking risks, being creative, providing great value to fans, and linking their entertainment brand into the community helped the Grizzlies rise to the top in team operations.

• Phoenix Suns

The longtime leaders in the NBA continue to impress with great attention to detail. The Suns show is one of the most refined shows in the NBA with winning elements that help connect the excellence on the court with the passion of their loyal fan base.

Video:

Here are YouTube Videos of several winners and related content.

Category News:

Farewell Best Vendor, Hello Best Entertainment Group and Best Team Introduction Categories

This year due to low response and interest we are canceling the Best Vendor category.

We had several panelists comment and suggest on new categories, so in 2008 we are adding two new awards:

New in 2008: Best Entertainment Group and Best Team Introductions

Entertainment Groups have been exploding on the game presentation scene in the last few years. What was once an aberration for a handful of teams has now become as common as mascots and dance teams. In addition to the push for the category our panel had a few groups that topped their list of examples. We decided against deciding a winner, since no criteria had been established. For 2008 the categories will be added and judged on the following:

Team Introductions are also being a more signature element. Teams are focusing extraordinary time and resources to this part of game presentation and the explosion of on-line video is creating a great tool to see these elements and judge accordingly.

Best Entertainment Group:

Performance Group whose work was fresh, creative and interesting, serving as a valuable tool for their team and in their community. Providing quality entertainment and additional value for fans. All sports team performance groups are eligible. Consider quality, uniqueness, and marketplace value.

Teams noted for excellence in 2007:

• Miami Heat Dancers (Miami Heat) (web)
• Scream Team (Cleveland Cavaliers) (web)
• Drag Kings (Fresno Grizzlies) (web)
• PHX Percussion (Phoenix Suns) (web)

Best Team Introductions:

Which team introduction is the best produced, executed, fresh and innovative. Consider creativity, value to fans, execution, quality of presentation, fan interaction and attention to detail. We level the playing field by considering budget constraints to minor league teams. The category will consider focus primarily on the standard introduction (opening night variations will be considered, but the focus is on the standard game production). Due to the category we will also rely heavily on video reviews (YouTube, etc.)

Teams noted for excellence in 2007:

• Portland Trailblazers Opening Night 2007
• Atlanta Hawks
• Ottawa Senators

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Best of Awards Notes:

Winners may use the "Best of 2007" logo and "The Golden Steagle™" award designation in there promotional material or web site.

Winners will receive an award and letter from Gameops.com. If you receive any publicity or post the award announcement on your website, please let us know.

Thanks to our panel for helping sort through all the great submissions and for sharing their time and insight.

Related Links:

Matt Malm, Ultimate Sports Fan
Debra Belinsky & Cheryl Benson-Guanci of DCB Productions
Pat Williams on "How to be like Mike"
Portland Trailblazers
Best of 2003: The Gameops.com Review