The Springfield Nor'easters

The Issue

Springfield, Massachusetts, a relatively small city had only two sports of any interest from which to choose for peoples entertainment in the coming season. One was the Falcons, a minor league ice hockey team, the other a new class A minor league baseball team. Things weren't looking too hopeful for the Falcons as planning for the coming season got underway. The General Manager had already made public that they would be out in the cold - literally - unless they could guarantee selling at least 300 season tickets. Since the baseball team was new and baseball is America's best-loved sport, both amateur and professional, the team's marketing director, Larry Buckingham, was hopeful he could come up with a plan that would attract a good-sized audience for his team, the Nor'Easters. For one thing, time was at least slightly in his favor. It was still January and the season would not begin until June. Still a lot of thinking and planning would be needed and had to get underway as quickly as possible. He also had to keep remembering that it would be essential, at least for the first season, to stay within a certain expenditure requirement, or at least break even.

Larry Buckingham had no prior connection with a sports team, having been in the live theater field for many years. However, he knew that some of the needs for the sports team situation would be similar, while others would have no relationship at all. For one thing, the type of audience attracted to theater would probably be quite different for sports events. He reasoned that getting as much information on the area and the inclinations of the sports-minded residents would be the basic foundation for any planning necessary in deciding ticket prices, types of ticket offerings, days and times best for games. He also discovered how important to profitability concession stands were (unlike most theaters).