The St. Petersburg Times reported on September 28 that the Tampa Bay Rays’ President Matt Silverman plans to give 20,000 free tickets to their game on Wednesday, September 29 at Tropicana Field. They will be given away on a first-come, first-serve basis in an attempt to pack the house in preparation for a possible play-off berth.
This public relations tactic was put in place after Monday night’s game only attracted a crowd of 12,466 people. The Rays are one win away from clinching a post-season position in the play-offs. Many of the players responded to reporters and posted on their Twitter accounts how “disheartening” and “embarrassing” the low attendance numbers was for Monday night’s game.
The situation that Silverman finds himself in is a rare one, considering it is extremely unusually for a professional sports team to deliver such a generous offer. He stated, “Two years ago when we clinched against Minnesota the players celebrated with the fans, it was a packed house, and it's that type of celebration of this season that we're looking for. You see it in the record - the players really respond to the energy and the noise and the excitement when the fans are in this place, and we're looking to do that tomorrow with these free tickets.''
The goal of this public relations event is to generate an excitement at Tropicana Field to help cheer on the Devil Rays as they secure their opportunity for a post-season. Silverman stated that they plan to have all 20,000 tickets redeemed and are hoping for a packed house for Wednesday’s game. He also expressed that encouraging fans to attend has been a challenge in the past, and knows that even this free offer is no guarantee that the stands will be full.
The publics involved in this event are mostly nontraditional, but may also affect some of their traditional publics. This is the case because traditional publics in this situation are going to be their season-ticket holders and their die-hard fans that will never miss a game. Therefore, they are encouraging their nontraditional publics to attend the game courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays in hopes to spark an interest in this group to attend future games. Other publics involved are the latent and aware groups. They are less likely to be targeting the active group because they are counting on their attendance already; considering, after all, they still have approximately 12,000 fans they are counting on in addition to the 20,000 they hope to attract. However, a member of the active group can still gain from their promotional offer.
The message of this event is actually quite complex. There has been much talk about the player’s reaction to the empty stadium seats, including pitcher David Price’s Twitter comment that has produced negative feedback. In one aspect of this event there is a sense of crisis communication, but for two different reasons. On one hand Silverman is attempting to please his disgruntled employees, the players, by promoting attendance to the game. On the other hand it appears that this move is an attempt to create a positive buzz about the attendance rather than the negative talk bouncing around after the Twitter post. Overall, the message comes down to one core significance: the Rays want fans in the seats.
The issue of the poor crowd turn out was a highly discussed topic on ESPN on September 28. The promotional offer was announced on ESPN as well as on the Tampa Bay Rays’ website, and many media outlets including their social media pages. The issue of poor attendance at MLB baseball is not only a problem for the Rays, but for many other programs across the nation. Therefore, the Rays’ promotional event has picked up numerous news coverage opportunities with this rising concern among Major League Baseball.
The Tampa Bay franchise obviously values their employees, and realizes the importance of competing in front of a large home crowd. The franchise also values the fans, and empathizes with their economic situations and lack of disposable income. The values of the publics is being fiscally responsible and understanding that when money is tight, purchasing entertainment is not going to be possible. These two values meet with this promotional offer, which has the potential to satisfy all parties.
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