I
want our entertainment people to
be beholden not to a sponsor, but
to what is entertaining.
-Jon
Spoelstra |
Gameops.com: Ambiance
didn't doesn't draw fans by itself, but once they buy
a ticket you want them to remember the experience. Which
is much more insightful than anything I would ever say,
so that must be from the book.
Spoelstra: Probably.
If you didn't have the game and just brought in the music,
dancers and mascots....you wouldn't sell any tickets,
or very few. So we really need the game, but we also
need more than just the hard core fan.
Gameops.com: My
former boss Tim Leiweke (now President of the LA Kings/Staples
Center) used to say if you cater just to the purist,
you'll fill 10% of the building each night.
Spoelstra: Yeah.
You can do it all easily just in the time outs. That
is enough entertainment. Now with video boards it possible
to entertain throughout without infringing on the game.
I think you can do it without angering the purist...as
long as the music isn't too loud.
Gameops.com: In
another Ground Rule you suggest that if you mimic the
market leaders, you just add to their dominance. To me
that suggests just following everyone else you don't
differentiate yourself, especially with more than one
team in the market.
Spoelstra: I
have felt that for a long time. If you just model yourself
after someone and follow the leader you won't last. I
am not sure about in game ops, since we steal ideas all
the time. But in the business world, if you model your
after number one you can get eaten alive in short order,
since they have all the advantages...so you really can't
do that.
But
in game ops, like here in Frisco, we do our stuff far
different than the Stars, Mavs, or Rangers which sets
us apart.
Gameops.com: How
much to do see the game entertainment as advertising?
Both for who you are as a team and for sponsors.
Spoelstra: We
don't look at game entertainment with any commercial
aspect at all. My feeling is that when a fan walks into
the area or ballpark its the teams job to entertain them.
We would never run a replay on the video board. We would
never to a commercial read as a PA announcement. We would
never do a drop in on the PA.
There
are commercial elements at our games, because there is
signage. But our entertainment, like a between innings
contest like Spin the Bat would never be brought to you
by a local advertiser. When we give out caps or baseballs
we never have them sponsored.
Gameops.com: So
you just spend that money outright?
Spoelstra: Yes,
I want our entertainment people to be beholden not to
a sponsor, but to what is entertaining.
Gameops.com: So
for a minor league team looking to derive revenue from
entertainment, is there a replacement piece you offer
or you just think the value comes via the better entertainment?
Our
entertainment people have it easy. They are told
they have one boss. The fans. Entertain them.
-Jon
Spoelstra |
Spoelstra: Our
sponsorship revenues are the highest in minor league
baseball. But what we won't do is sell the entertainment.
Our entertainment staff is held accountable to how well
they entertain the fans.
Why
would you sell a schick between innings of baseball that
isn't good or entertaining just because the sponsor likes
it and the fans don't? Now you have a conflict. Your
job is to entertain the fans.
Our
entertainment people have it easy. They are told they
have one boss. The fans. Entertain them.
That's
the only way I have ever seen it really work. there are
enough ways to make sponsorship dollars and where ever
I have worked we have always done well with that....but
not at the expense of game entertainment.
Gameops.com: I
hear about a lot of teams who may have sold a bad piece
of entertainment for the season. Either the fans don't
like it or have grown tired of it. While your model never
sells anything, do you think there is a good measure
of how often any certain game element or contest should
be used? [Read the March 2001
Interview with David Frost which also discusses this
rotation].
Spoelstra: That
depends a bit on the sport. Let's say in minor league
where you 70 games...no one except maybe retired folks
go to every game. So we de-emphasize season tickets by
design. We have 12-18 game plans, which means you are
at about every 4th game. We keep a grid of formats, which
4 sets of shticks that we rotate things so people wouldn't
see the same things until the 3rd month of the season.
There
are something's we do nearly every game, like the dancing
umpire....so fans begin to expect that. But we don't
do where it become predictable. We change the time of
the game, or which umpire it is.
Gameops.com: So
explain that element.
Spoelstra: The
mascot tries to get the home plate umpire to dance....and
stands there like a statue. So the mascot goes to the
first base umpire and tried to get him to dance. Then
the ref makes a little more, and it progresses until
the umpire is dancing like crazy. The fans they get fooled
and they love it.
To
wrap it up, the mascot goes back to tease the home plate
umpire for not taking part. As the fans follow the mascot
the first base umpire goes in for a squirt of water....and
the real umpire returns from the dugout.
Gameops.com: So
you see the entertainment not as a chance to sell, but
strictly as the opportunity to entertain?
Spoelstra: There
are plenty of opportunities to sell sponsorships. The
lifeblood of our industry is selling tickets. The best
way to sell tickets is to really be entertaining I see
a lot of breaks that are not very entertaining and are
clearly done just to gain revenue.
Like
the dancing umpire, which has been really successful
for us. What if we ended it with the PA, "...
tonight's dancing umpire has been brought to you by 7-UP!" It
would tip people off and ruin the effect.
OUr
job is to entertain. We have other people to sell sponsorships...and
still others to sell tickets. The one area we don't violate
is the entertainment. It is the holy grail.
Gameops.com: Talk
about failures. In Ice
to the Eskimos you tell the story about the
roll the ball up a ramp promotion....tell us about that.
Spoelstra: We
has a ramp that led up to the basket that we would bring
out onto the floor. We tested it out several times, people
made like 10 out of 10. We wanted fans to win. We wanted
a contest that anyone could win....man, woman, child.
We wanted winners. So if you picked a 5 foot woman, we
wanted a promotion she could win. So this was simply
rolling the ball up a ramp into the basket.
The
first night we did this we had a guy who had practiced
it several times a few days prior. He was pretty athletic....and
he never missed in practice. But in front of our full
house, he missed completely. The next time...same thing.
Miss. We kept doing it...and we had miss after miss after
miss. People started to boo.
Our
sponsor (Safeway Grocery) wasn't too happy about being
booed. We decided to blow it up....and I suggested we
blow it up publicly. In front of fans...and really blow
it up.
So
we brought it out one night at the end of the 3rd quarter,
and the boos started to roll through the crowd. The PA
guy says "Hey fans we are going to blow it up!" We
had three fake TNT detonators and had a woman from the
crowd come out as our contestant. We asked her to select
Detonator #1, #2 or #3. We also had a pyro guy rig the
ramp with a concussion and smoke.
I told
the pyro guy that we were going to have a marksman up
in the rafters aiming at him....so he wasn't to screw
this up. I told the pyro guy that whatever detonator
she chooses first, it will do nothing. And whatever one
she chooses on the second one will actually blow it up
and he should set-off the pyro. I told him that if he
messes it up the guy in the rafters is going to shoot
you. I actually think the guy believed me.
Gameops.com: At
that point I am sure he thought you were nuts anyway.
Spoelstra: So
our lady goes out and pushes the first plunger ....nothing
happens. The boos were deafening.
The
PA Guy asks the crowd if we should give her another chance?
And the crowd goes nuts. The teams couldn't hold the
players in at this point and both huddles are turned
to the ramp to see what was going on.
So
she hits the second plunger and the ramp blows up....to
the absolute delight of the crowd. It just shows that
you might as well have fun when you fail.
In
part one of the Gameops.com Interview with Jon Spoelstra,
Jon explains why it's so important to entertain, tells
how he alomst gave a jockstrap to every man, woman and
child coming to New Jersey Net games and turns down the
volume. Click
to read Part One.
In
Part Three of the Gameops.com Interview with Jon Spoelstra,
Spoelstra shares why it's okay to fail, names the team
he would want to watch for an entire year, and answers
a challenging multiple choice question from Gameops.com. Click
to read Part Three.
Thanks
to Jon Spoelstra for sharing his time for this month's
interview. It was an enjoyable 45 minutes talking to
a legend in sports marketing, and he did not disappoint.
Thanks also to David Raymond for helping to arrange the
interview.
- Books
by Jon Spoelstra
- Marketing
Outrageously
by Jon Spoelstra, Mark Cuban
Ice
To The Eskimos by Jon Spoelstra
Jon Spoelstra, who pushed sponsorship and fan revenue to unprecedented
heights for the lowly New Jersey Nets basketball franchise, shows
how to put big-league marketing expertise to use off the court
in Ice to the Eskimos: How To Market a Product Nobody Wants.
- Books
by George Lois
- Portland
Trailblazers website
- Dayton
Dragons - The Dragons began play in the 2000
baseball season as the Class "A" affiliate
of the Cincinnati Reds organization. This team plays
in a state-of-the-art stadium that is a part of a
$30 million complex located in the heart of downtown
Dayton. The stadium has been designed unlike a minor
league stadium and will include amenities such as
premium and club level seating, 30 luxury suites
and the first upper-deck in Class A baseball.
- Las
Vegas 51s - The 51s are the Triple A affiliate
of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Las Vegas 51s, formerly
the Las Vegas Stars, are the longest standing professional
sports franchise in the city as they are entering
their 18th season of baseball in Las Vegas. These
unique properties lend credibility, standing in the
industry and the ability to leverage these properties
to avail new opportunities and businesses.
- Frisco
Rough Riders - Professional baseball in Frisco,
Texas.
- The
Famous Chicken - Official website
- Read
The two-part Gameops.com Interview with the Famous
Chicken
- The
Zooperstars! -
Official website
- Reggy -
Official website
Other
Notes
- Update: We have been emailed by Gameops.com friend former head coach of the OSU Women's basketball team Judy Spoelstra. According to geneology insight provided by Judy's mom, the two Spoelstras are indeed related (which we had earlier claimed they were not).
- Raymond
Entertainment Group: Thanks David for connecting
us with Jon Spoelstra
