Baseball 2021 - The Summer of Opening Days
By Ken Troupe
Opening Day is right around the corner and teams are all working hard behind the scenes to figure out how they will welcome fans back this summer. Over the past few months, we have learned from other leagues welcoming fans back is not as easy as just opening up the doors. Teams have learned that just because you can have a certain percentage of seats available does not actually mean that is the number of seats fans will buy.
Reviewing this CBS Sports tracker my first thought was it looks like most teams are focused on the max amount they can make available, and not how many tickets fans will buy. As we can see by reviewing the of all 30 club’s efforts, teams are all over the place with their approach. Most teams look like they are ready to welcome fans with on average 20-25% of capacity, with teams like Red Sox (12%), Mets & Yankees (10%) on the low end, the Rockies in the middle at 42.6%, and the Texas Rangers announced this week that they will be at 100% capacity for two pre-season games and their opener on April 5th against the Blue Jays.
As clubs work to find that balance and the correct percentage of fans to welcome back for Opening Day, here are three things to keep in mind.
1. Your Opening Day will sell out and it is a great day for the club and fans.
2. If your percentage of potential seats available is too high you may open your club up to potential blowback for hosting a super spreader event where some fans actually get Covid19.
3. You don’t sell out Opening Day and you end up looking like you are not in tune with your fan’s needs.
Typically, Opening Day is a slam dunk sellout and a huge revenue day for clubs, but I wonder in the time of Covid if there is not a better way.
Celebrate the Summer Opening Day
Normally, the best attendance and revenue months for any team is June, July, and August when school is out, and baseball can own the spotlight. So maybe this year we all channel our inner Jon Spoelstra and focus on selling the most sellable first, which means your June, July, and August games. Let’s kick off each month with its very own Opening Day. I mean dress it up soup to nuts with all the Opening Day bells and whistles.
If your first thought is this cannot be done, may I present the baseball classic Fever Pitch. I was in Fenway one August day with the Rangers group buyer's annual trip when the Sox (for the benefit of the film) staged all the typical pre-game Opening Day festivities. Complete with a first-pitch from Stephen King. If we can put on an Opening Day for a film, why can’t we do it three times this summer as we work to win back baseball fans?
So, let’s do this! Let us have three Baseball Opening Days. June 1st, July 1st, and August 1st. As we work to understand the capacity for April and May, let’s plan for the Summer of Baseball and allow baseball to own this summer.