February 2, 2004
Crowd control | Maine's minor league hockey teams try to get fans in the seats
By Sean Donahue
On a recent Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center, the Portland Pirates squandered an early lead against the Hartford Wolf Pack and had to settle for a 2-2 tie. But the final score wasn't the only disappointment for the Pirates that night ˆ only 2,680 fans even came to see the game.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, a sparsely filled civic center, which can hold 6,700 people, is becoming common: Attendance at Pirates games has declined from an average of 4,400 per game last year, which allowed the team to make a small profit, to 3,800 per game so far this season, which puts the Pirates on track to lose money. And that trend recently prompted the team's owners to find out what's keeping people away, and how to win them back.
In January, the Pirates hired Portland-based McClain Marketing Group to conduct a market research survey designed to reveal which factors ˆ from ticket price and team performance to the condition of the civic center itself ˆ have the most impact on game attendance. The first goal is to highlight changes the team can make to help put more spectators in the seats this season. "Ticket sales is the lifeblood of the business," says Brian Petrovek, managing owner and CEO of the Pirates. "It's critical that we focus in on that line item first and foremost."
But the survey also will help the team answer longer-term questions about how to sustain ˆ and grow ˆ a hockey franchise in Maine's relatively small market. It's the same challenge currently puzzling the Lewiston Maineiacs, a new franchise of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League that began playing in September. Despite early interest, the Maineiacs also have experienced weaker-than-expected ticket sales, as well as a crisis with its own facility that led the City of Lewiston earlier this month to hastily buy the Central Maine Civic Center in order to keep team in town.
The teams play in different leagues and different towns, and have their own sets of challenges and advantages. But they're both finding that, as with any business, success in minor league hockey depends not just on what you're selling, but how you sell it. "Putting on a successful hockey game is about 60% dependent on the product on the ice ˆ how well the team plays. The other 40% is all the peripheral items, from promotions to the quality of the facility and concessions, that add up to the experience a fan has at the game," says Matt McKnight, vice president of the Lewiston Maineiacs. "We have spent the past three months working on this other 40%, working to increase our entertainment value."
Going straight to the fans
As the first step in the Pirates' plan to develop a long-term marketing strategy, the team and McClain Marketing Group designed a market survey to gauge public opinion on various aspects of the Pirates experience (available online until Feb. 8 at www.portlandpirates.com or www.mcclainmarketing.com/pirates). The questions touch on nearly every aspect of the experience, from the price of tickets and food to the nature of hockey itself (sample question: "Does the occasional on-ice fighting trouble you?").
In addition to the survey, McClain is also conducting at least two focus groups, interviews with fans at games and telephone interviews with Portland business and community leaders. "The team wants to launch a marketing effort in 2004, but before they do that it makes sense to get as much information as possible," says Sue- Ellen McClain of McClain Marketing. "They may find [attendance] has nothing to do with the issues they think are important."
So far, more than 2,000 people have taken the survey, more than triple the 300 to 500 responses McClain had hoped for. And those results have already revealed a few concerns that neither McClain nor the Pirates had expected, such as complaints that the music played during games is too loud.
Results like that can lead to immediate changes ˆ such as turning down the volume of the civic center's sound system ˆ but other findings may take longer to address. If fans complain about the team's performance, Petrovek says he will have to lobby the team's National Hockey League parent organization, the Washington Capitals, for a stepped-up recruitment effort. Petrovek also expects fans to echo his complaints about the civic center's lack of amenities, adding fuel to his ongoing campaign to convince the City of Portland and the county to build a replacement facility.
Like Petrovek, McKnight of the Maineiacs believes that a tired facility has turned off some potential fans. Now that the City of Lewiston owns the Central Maine Civic Center and has agreed to complete unfinished renovations promised when the Maineiacs moved from Canada ˆ such as new bathrooms, a team office and permanent retail space ˆ the team has signed a 15-year lease. But McKnight still must determine out how to attract spectators to a new team in a league that only hard-core hockey fans have probably ever heard of.
To help do that, McKnight is attempting to forge a tight connection to the local business community from the start. This month, he created a community relations board made up of prominent local business owners who are also season ticket holders. The board will help the team make decisions on future marketing efforts and facility improvements, as well as directly market tickets to their colleagues in the business community. "It's a lot easier for the president of a local company to convince another business owner to buy tickets than it is for me to do it," says McKnight.
Last year, the Pirates set up a similar ticket-holders' advisory committee, though Petrovek says it has been difficult to get the group together to hold meaningful discussions. But with the market survey now bringing direct feedback from the community, Petrovek hopes to have jumpstarted a process that singles out the potential target audiences ˆ such as families and local businesses ˆ that can carry the Pirates back to prominence in Portland. "I still feel strongly that we can succeed in this market," says Petrovek. "There's already a loyalty here, so we just need to tap another constituency or two, find the right factors affecting attendance and people will come back."
Unfortunately for the Pirates, a sparsely filled civic center, which can hold 6,700 people, is becoming common: Attendance at Pirates games has declined from an average of 4,400 per game last year, which allowed the team to make a small profit, to 3,800 per game so far this season, which puts the Pirates on track to lose money. And that trend recently prompted the team's owners to find out what's keeping people away, and how to win them back.
In January, the Pirates hired Portland-based McClain Marketing Group to conduct a market research survey designed to reveal which factors ˆ from ticket price and team performance to the condition of the civic center itself ˆ have the most impact on game attendance. The first goal is to highlight changes the team can make to help put more spectators in the seats this season. "Ticket sales is the lifeblood of the business," says Brian Petrovek, managing owner and CEO of the Pirates. "It's critical that we focus in on that line item first and foremost."
But the survey also will help the team answer longer-term questions about how to sustain ˆ and grow ˆ a hockey franchise in Maine's relatively small market. It's the same challenge currently puzzling the Lewiston Maineiacs, a new franchise of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League that began playing in September. Despite early interest, the Maineiacs also have experienced weaker-than-expected ticket sales, as well as a crisis with its own facility that led the City of Lewiston earlier this month to hastily buy the Central Maine Civic Center in order to keep team in town.
The teams play in different leagues and different towns, and have their own sets of challenges and advantages. But they're both finding that, as with any business, success in minor league hockey depends not just on what you're selling, but how you sell it. "Putting on a successful hockey game is about 60% dependent on the product on the ice ˆ how well the team plays. The other 40% is all the peripheral items, from promotions to the quality of the facility and concessions, that add up to the experience a fan has at the game," says Matt McKnight, vice president of the Lewiston Maineiacs. "We have spent the past three months working on this other 40%, working to increase our entertainment value."
Going straight to the fans
As the first step in the Pirates' plan to develop a long-term marketing strategy, the team and McClain Marketing Group designed a market survey to gauge public opinion on various aspects of the Pirates experience (available online until Feb. 8 at www.portlandpirates.com or www.mcclainmarketing.com/pirates). The questions touch on nearly every aspect of the experience, from the price of tickets and food to the nature of hockey itself (sample question: "Does the occasional on-ice fighting trouble you?").
In addition to the survey, McClain is also conducting at least two focus groups, interviews with fans at games and telephone interviews with Portland business and community leaders. "The team wants to launch a marketing effort in 2004, but before they do that it makes sense to get as much information as possible," says Sue- Ellen McClain of McClain Marketing. "They may find [attendance] has nothing to do with the issues they think are important."
So far, more than 2,000 people have taken the survey, more than triple the 300 to 500 responses McClain had hoped for. And those results have already revealed a few concerns that neither McClain nor the Pirates had expected, such as complaints that the music played during games is too loud.
Results like that can lead to immediate changes ˆ such as turning down the volume of the civic center's sound system ˆ but other findings may take longer to address. If fans complain about the team's performance, Petrovek says he will have to lobby the team's National Hockey League parent organization, the Washington Capitals, for a stepped-up recruitment effort. Petrovek also expects fans to echo his complaints about the civic center's lack of amenities, adding fuel to his ongoing campaign to convince the City of Portland and the county to build a replacement facility.
Like Petrovek, McKnight of the Maineiacs believes that a tired facility has turned off some potential fans. Now that the City of Lewiston owns the Central Maine Civic Center and has agreed to complete unfinished renovations promised when the Maineiacs moved from Canada ˆ such as new bathrooms, a team office and permanent retail space ˆ the team has signed a 15-year lease. But McKnight still must determine out how to attract spectators to a new team in a league that only hard-core hockey fans have probably ever heard of.
To help do that, McKnight is attempting to forge a tight connection to the local business community from the start. This month, he created a community relations board made up of prominent local business owners who are also season ticket holders. The board will help the team make decisions on future marketing efforts and facility improvements, as well as directly market tickets to their colleagues in the business community. "It's a lot easier for the president of a local company to convince another business owner to buy tickets than it is for me to do it," says McKnight.
Last year, the Pirates set up a similar ticket-holders' advisory committee, though Petrovek says it has been difficult to get the group together to hold meaningful discussions. But with the market survey now bringing direct feedback from the community, Petrovek hopes to have jumpstarted a process that singles out the potential target audiences ˆ such as families and local businesses ˆ that can carry the Pirates back to prominence in Portland. "I still feel strongly that we can succeed in this market," says Petrovek. "There's already a loyalty here, so we just need to tap another constituency or two, find the right factors affecting attendance and people will come back."
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