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www.HartfordBusiness.com April 11, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 3 Yard Goats sell baseball 'experience' to lure fans By Keith Griffin kgriffin@HartfordBusiness.com I t hasn't been easy to market the Hartford Yard Goats. The team's $63 million stadium — Dunkin' Donuts Park — is opening two months late in its inaugural season due to problems with cost overruns and project delays. There are suburbanites leery of issues like downtown traffic and parking. Attracting corporate dollars in a tentative Connecticut economy is a chal- lenge, as is selling season tickets to what has only been a virtual stadium experience for fans. All of that is happening amid the political melodrama over the team's very existence in the Capital City. Since shutting down shop as the New Britain Rock Cats late last summer, Yard Goats General Manager Tim Restall and the Double-A baseball team's staff have spent the winter and early spring largely engaged in selling the team to anyone who will listen. It's been a constant buzz of behind-the- scenes marketing. Once it was announced in January that the team was losing 40 percent of its home games due to construction delays, the Yard Goats engaged in crisis marketing, trying to assuage concerns of ticket holders and corporate sponsors who may have questioned the season's viability. Restall said no season-ticket holders were lost, possibly through loyalty or the fact that season-ticket prices suddenly got lower. "We've seen an increase in season-ticket sales, which is great," he said, for the 6,100- seat stadium. The team doesn't share atten- dance or revenue projections. Restall acknowledged during an inter- view at his temporary office on Trumbull Street in Hartford that it's not the strident fan who is going to make his team succeed. "Minor league baseball is like having a pic- nic and a baseball game breaks out. That explains the atmosphere of the ballpark. It's about the experience. Most people won't remember who won and lost. It's about the entertainment experience," he said. What's going to set Dunkin' Donuts Park apart from most minor-league stadiums, Restall said, are amenities like a 360-degree concourse; dugout suites that rent on a nightly basis to groups where guests will be sitting closer to the batter than the pitcher; and a 7,000-square-foot stadium club used for non-gameday events. They'll ultimately measure return on their marketing investment by how the team per- forms at the box office and its impact on the community, Restall said. To be successful in attracting fans, the Yard Goats will need to use all the marketing tools at its disposal, including its website, social media and the press, said Martin S. Roth, dean of the Barney School of Business at the University of Hartford. It needs to keep building awareness of the new stadium to draw in fans. The delayed stadium opening, Roth said, might end up being a good thing. "One of the challenges in the early season is inclement weather," Roth said. Restall said he and his staff have been pro- moting the team tirelessly with the mascots (Chompers and Chew Chew) during events like the St. Patrick's Day parade in Hartford and national anthem auditions in Manchester. Roth said there are opportunities to embrace the influx of young people moving into downtown Hartford. He said the sta- dium's opening works well with the cycle of summer interns and new hires starting their post-graduation careers. "There are lots of ways of leveraging … the more and more young people living downtown," Roth said. "They're looking for fun things to do." He added the Yard Goats must coordinate events with large organizations to attract more fans. That includes the University of Hartford's business school. "We'll think of ways to do it that might make sense for us," Roth said, which could include events involv- ing faculty and staff or student orientation. Roth said marketing to groups like Hart- ford Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs (HYPE) would also help. Julie Daly Meehan, HYPE's executive director, said the Yard Goats have already reached out. "We've absolutely been in touch," she said. Continued DESIGN/BUILD SOLUTIONS…ONE SOURCE The company that builds and installs the critical systems in virtually every type of facility is the same company you can rely on to maintain them. For 50 years, our clients have trusted us to manage projects from concept to completion. We are experts in: Design/Build Pre-Construction Services LEED Capabilities 860.871.1111 Toll Free: 800.741.6367 nemsi.com License #'s: E1-104939 • S1-302974 • P1-203519 • F1-10498 • SM1-192 • MC-1134 MECHANICAL • ELECTRICAL • PLUMBING • SHEET METAL • BUILDING AUTOMATION • FACILITIES SERVICES 196 6-2016 196 6-2016 Building a Fan Base P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D Yard Goats General Manager Tim Restall said the team's most effective marketing tool will be word of mouth.