Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | April 18, 2022 | Worcester Business Journal 9 PHOTO | GRANT WELKER As for the Bravehearts, Peterson is hopeful for attendance numbers to increase in the future, but he did offer caution. e WooSox have "forced us to change our business model in order to compete, because if we are not differentiating our product, we probably will lose," said Peterson. A need for change With the Bravehearts no longer being the only baseball team in town and the need for differentiating becoming an utmost priority, the Bravehearts decided a new business model must be adopted to continue to thrive. Last November, four employees of the Bravehearts visited the Savannah Bananas, a summer collegiate baseball team based in Georgia. e Bananas adopted an entertainment business model, straying away from what is perceived as typical in traditional baseball. Peterson, who has been in the local baseball scene since his tenure as emcee for the former Worcester Tornadoes, said seeing this model at play created a new vision for the Bravehearts. e visit "opened our eyes to how the Bravehearts can be different," said Peterson. "How we don't have to be baseball, we can focus on entertainment. … We're going to push the limits of everything that people have come to expect at a baseball game." In the past, the team focused more on the traditional side of baseball, but fan and community involvement was still integral. is primarily consisted of mascot promotions and other fan services during games, and in the off season this included school visitation, such as reading to children and pen-pal programs. e new model aims to expand upon this, both on and off season. is new entertainment and fan- oriented model will correspond with the launch of the Bravehearts' Twenty- Twenty-You promotional campaign, an effort to run through the entire season, which starts May 26. e campaign hopes to create a platform where fans, particularly children and families, can have a say in matters that they normally wouldn't be able to, such as promotions from designing the jerseys to making the rules for select games. is model is designed to make the games more of a show than a traditional ballgame, but Peterson did emphasize it will not interfere with the competitiveness of the sport. "I'm not going to get in the way of the competitive nature of baseball. But I am definitely going to enhance it with ridiculous stuff going on in the background, so that people who are going to go to work the next day will tell their co-workers about it because they've never seen anything like it before," Peterson said. To advertise this new initiative, the Bravehearts have introduced more mass media involvement. is includes marketing through social media platforms, and in particular, a further emphasis on video production. e video production investments will allow the team to have a far greater reach, as they can continue to broadcast both online and on the New England Sports Network, as they did in the 2020 season. is media plan has created several new positions at the Bravehearts, including both an operations manager and a director of media. ese business measures have been especially beneficial for sponsorships, said John Creedon Jr., president and owner of the team. With support from the Better Business Bureau, the Bravehearts have been reaching out to small businesses throughout Greater Worcester to pitch their new model. According to Peterson, they have signed 16 new sponsorships for this season so far, an increase he primarily contributes to the new campaign. A competitive future Even with these new investments, Matheson, the Holy Cross professor, remains skeptical about the future of the Bravehearts. e primary reason collegiate and minor-league teams survive is by offering a more inexpensive alternative to professional leagues, he said. e WooSox have filled this position, as an alternative to the Boston Red Sox, placing the Bravehearts in an indiscernible market. Furthermore, while Matheson did maintain that entertainment programs have been successful in the past, nothing prevents them from being co- opted by their competitors, rendering the Bravehearts' efforts null. "ere's nothing stopping the WooSox from stealing any of the promotions that tend to work, and leaving out the ones that don't," Matheson said. Regardless of the uncertain future, both Creedon and Peterson remain confident in the Bravehearts' longevity. "If we do this the way it's supposed to be done, and we turn this into a show, we will be selling out Fitton Field almost every single night over the course of the summer," said Peterson. "And I firmly believe that in five years, we're going to be millionaires." John Creedon, Jr., president & owner of Worcester Bravehearts W

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