When the Toronto Blue Jays commence their 1999 season on April 6 against the Minnesota Twins, there will, as always, be a few new faces in the dugout.
This year, there’s a prominent new face in the front office as well. It belongs to Terry Zuk, who joined the franchise in February, as vice-president of marketing.
As the players began their annual spring training ritual in the Florida sunshine, Strategy’s Sinclair Stewart spoke to Zuk about what he considers the challenges of the year ahead.
Q. Prior to joining the Blue Jays, you were director of public relations with Labatt Breweries of Canada. Will that experience help you in your new role as a baseball marketer?
A. I think it will. You always think about how you’re going to market the team, but you also wonder, ‘OK, what can we do from a public relations perspective that draws attention to what the club does or has done in the community? And how do we develop a better relationship with certain groups that might have an impact on bringing people into the stadium?’ We’re very active in the community – whether it’s our involvement with cystic fibrosis, drug awareness, literacy or food drives – but I don’t think we’ve talked about it enough. We’d like to dial that up this year.
Q. After the disastrous players’ strike in 1994, baseball has slowly begun to regain fan enthusiasm – helped along in part by last year’s home-run derby between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. How much easier does that make your job?
A. I think you have to play on that, obviously. But from the Jays’ perspective, we had a great finish to last year. Although we didn’t get a wild-card [berth], we made a really good run and there was an increase in attendance in the back end of the year. So we want to capture that spirit – we have to continue to sell the excitement of the sport, and we have to continue to sell fan involvement.
Q. Torontonians may have become a little spoiled, having witnessed the Blue Jays win two World Series titles back-to-back in the early 1990s. How difficult is it to bring those fans back to the park when the team then fails to make the post-season for several years running?
A. We have a very interested and educated fan base. But we have to continue to provide value, and stress the value of coming to a game. If you look at professional sports, baseball is still the cheapest ticket. It’s a great family outing, and it’s a place where bringing the family is still affordable. In this business, you’re competing for entertainment dollars, so one of the things we really have to do is rekindle the idea that there’s a value relationship here.
Q. You mention the fierce competition for entertainment dollars. How do you make going to a baseball game more of an ‘event,’ and sell it to families?
A. We have plans to add value [in the area of] promotional days, which will be announced shortly. We’re looking at special theme nights that will run throughout the year, and more in-stand entertainment, which we started last year. Hopefully, we’ll also be providing better access to see the players at batting practice and that sort of thing.
Baseball has a wide demographic, so our target is the 18-59 range, although we’re aiming more specifically at the 35- to 40-year-old, because they have families.
Q. The uncertain SkyDome ownership situation – which was only recently resolved – has cast a bit of a pall over the building. If fans feel disenchanted about the ballpark, how do you keep them coming?
A. The building is still the same one people were excited about last year. With that behind us, we’re looking to create an atmosphere within the building that says, ‘Hey, we’ve got something going on in here.’ We’d like to change the game experience, and repackage the way we look – everything from the JumboTron, to how we walk onto the field. We’ve restricted seating in the 500 level to create a more intimate atmosphere, so people aren’t spread all over. And we’re also going to have more events outside of the stadium before the games to make it a more memorable place to visit.
