The Dayton Dragons
As of July 9, 2001, number of homes games played: 815
Number of home games sold out: 815
They had a 24-game home losing streak last year. In eleven full seasons they have had only four wining seasons. They have never won their division. They have finished 2nd twice, 3rd once, 4th three times, 5th once, 6th three times, and last year 8th. They are currently, however, in first place.
They are listed by Sports Illustrated as one of the top ten hottest tickets to get in ALL of professional sports.Their 2000 inaugural season was sold out before the first pitch was thrown.
Stadium Capacity: 7,290 fans including 29 luxury suites.
Average number of fans per game: 8,375 (115% of capacity).
Number of fans on the Waiting List to buy Season Tickets: more than 9000.
The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees have already drawn more than 2 million fans to their home games this season.
The 2011 attendance figures of the Minnesota Twins and San Francisco Giants sit above 99 percent of stadium capacity. The Boston Red Sox have sold out every home game since May 15, 2003.
Nevertheless, one of the toughest tickets in baseball just might be the Dayton Dragons of the Class A Midwest League.
The economy tanked. The city lost thousands of auto-related jobs. They also lost NCR Corp., one of its icons for 125 years, when they announced in 2009 that it was moving its headquarters to Atlanta. The city's 40% population decline is the 5th worse in the nation. So how does a minor league baseball team in a struggling Rust Belt city sell out 814 games in a row?
A sophisticated, efficient approach to ticket sales, a keen awareness of entertainment value and an unwavering emphasis on customer service. If you need something, just ask. The "red shirts" are everywhere. If your kids drops a Coke or an ice cream cone, within minutes someone in a red shirt appears with mop in hand to clean it up. Seconds later a replacement drink or ice cream appears, also brought by a red shirt. Fans are greeted when they enter, and thanked when they leave, not just by turnstile operators and red shirts, but by management and executives of the club.
There's the female fan with one leg. She comes to nearly every game. And for every one of those games, a ticket representative of the Dragons goes to the parking lot and retrieves the fan's car for her. Not because she was told to or because she gets paid to do it, but because it's nothing more than an employee knowing someone needs help and doing the right thing.
One man realized after the game that he had locked his keys in his car. It was starting to rain. The Dayton Dragons General Manager drove him home.
Season tickets can be bought in an interest-free installment plan where you pay for them over the course of 12 months, except for December, where you skip that one if you like, in order to ensure you have money for Christmas.
There the Home Run for Life, where a seriously ill child gets to run the bases to cheers from players and fans, music and foghorn blaring. It's a big deal that happens in the 5th inning, not before the game, because everyone wants to see it.
Then there's Air Force Captain Jim Thigpen. The Dragons often connect military families with their loved ones serving overseas, who appear on the scoreboard during one of those precious 90-second intermissions between innings. One night Captain Thigpen appeared on the scoreboard from the Middle East and his wife and two young sons were talking to him. Then, suddenly, technical difficulties cut short the conversation. The announcer apologized, the wife's face sagged, the crowd saddened. Then, just as suddenly, onto the field walked Captain Thigpen, roses in hand. The game was delayed slightly to make time for the hug. No one minded.
Dayton Dragons set consecutive sellout record | reds.com: News
Written a week before the record-breaking sellout, here's an excellent article on the Dragons from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/s...ll-team-never-an-empty-seat.html?pagewanted=1
As of July 9, 2001, number of homes games played: 815
Number of home games sold out: 815
They had a 24-game home losing streak last year. In eleven full seasons they have had only four wining seasons. They have never won their division. They have finished 2nd twice, 3rd once, 4th three times, 5th once, 6th three times, and last year 8th. They are currently, however, in first place.
They are listed by Sports Illustrated as one of the top ten hottest tickets to get in ALL of professional sports.Their 2000 inaugural season was sold out before the first pitch was thrown.
Stadium Capacity: 7,290 fans including 29 luxury suites.
Average number of fans per game: 8,375 (115% of capacity).
Number of fans on the Waiting List to buy Season Tickets: more than 9000.
The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees have already drawn more than 2 million fans to their home games this season.
The 2011 attendance figures of the Minnesota Twins and San Francisco Giants sit above 99 percent of stadium capacity. The Boston Red Sox have sold out every home game since May 15, 2003.
Nevertheless, one of the toughest tickets in baseball just might be the Dayton Dragons of the Class A Midwest League.
The economy tanked. The city lost thousands of auto-related jobs. They also lost NCR Corp., one of its icons for 125 years, when they announced in 2009 that it was moving its headquarters to Atlanta. The city's 40% population decline is the 5th worse in the nation. So how does a minor league baseball team in a struggling Rust Belt city sell out 814 games in a row?
A sophisticated, efficient approach to ticket sales, a keen awareness of entertainment value and an unwavering emphasis on customer service. If you need something, just ask. The "red shirts" are everywhere. If your kids drops a Coke or an ice cream cone, within minutes someone in a red shirt appears with mop in hand to clean it up. Seconds later a replacement drink or ice cream appears, also brought by a red shirt. Fans are greeted when they enter, and thanked when they leave, not just by turnstile operators and red shirts, but by management and executives of the club.
There's the female fan with one leg. She comes to nearly every game. And for every one of those games, a ticket representative of the Dragons goes to the parking lot and retrieves the fan's car for her. Not because she was told to or because she gets paid to do it, but because it's nothing more than an employee knowing someone needs help and doing the right thing.
One man realized after the game that he had locked his keys in his car. It was starting to rain. The Dayton Dragons General Manager drove him home.
Season tickets can be bought in an interest-free installment plan where you pay for them over the course of 12 months, except for December, where you skip that one if you like, in order to ensure you have money for Christmas.
There the Home Run for Life, where a seriously ill child gets to run the bases to cheers from players and fans, music and foghorn blaring. It's a big deal that happens in the 5th inning, not before the game, because everyone wants to see it.
Then there's Air Force Captain Jim Thigpen. The Dragons often connect military families with their loved ones serving overseas, who appear on the scoreboard during one of those precious 90-second intermissions between innings. One night Captain Thigpen appeared on the scoreboard from the Middle East and his wife and two young sons were talking to him. Then, suddenly, technical difficulties cut short the conversation. The announcer apologized, the wife's face sagged, the crowd saddened. Then, just as suddenly, onto the field walked Captain Thigpen, roses in hand. The game was delayed slightly to make time for the hug. No one minded.
Dayton Dragons set consecutive sellout record | reds.com: News
Written a week before the record-breaking sellout, here's an excellent article on the Dragons from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/s...ll-team-never-an-empty-seat.html?pagewanted=1