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Year 3 a huge one for Silver Knights

By Staff | May 7, 2013

NASHUA – The goal is simple: Be better than they were in Years One and Two, because Year Three is always the critical year in a franchise’s plan.

“This,” Jon Goode confirmed, “is a big year for us.”

Goode is the Nashua Silver Knights vice president in charge of marketing and promotions. The Knights’ big year begins in exactly one month with the Holman Stadium opener for the Futures Collegiate Baseball League team on Friday night, June 7. The Silver Knights have been a huge success on the field, winning the first two Futures Collegiate Baseball League Championships.

Off the field, they’ve achieved and surpassed some goals, and have fallen short on a few others. Overall, there’s no doubt that they have made huge progress since their inception in December 2010.

“It’s a completely different feel,” said Silver Knights general manager Tim Bawmann, who holds the same title for the team’s professional minor league ownership, the Class A Lowell Spinners. “Year Three is the year we laid it out, the year we definitely wanted to turn the corner.

“We’re looking for 1,000 fans a night in the seats (not just tickets sold, but actual people in the park). Last year we had about 850. So we need about 150 more a night. If they’re not in the seats, it’s because we didn’t do something right. … There’s no reason not to draw well. It’s definitely on us.”

The club is in the third year of a five-year, renewable by year, lease with the city. They’ve done a lot of right things in their first two years, but Bawmann feels there’s a lot more to be done.

Yet the response in the off-season ticket and business sales/sponsorship-wise was much improved from the first two years.

Many “show me” businesses have, according to Bawmann and Goode, felt the Silver Knights have shown them what they needed to see and have bought in.

“A lot of them took the wait-and-see approach but have now been receptive when we’ve called – or they’ve called us.”

Corporate sales, Bawmann said, are ahead of where the team was last year at this point, “but not ahead in terms of budget, so we have some work to do there.” Goode added, though, that a couple of major companies have doubled their sponsorship.

Ticket sales? They are up. Remember, the team averaged around 900 its first year in tickets sold per game, and last year crossed the 1,000 plateau at around 1,100 per game. Goode credits the team’s increased visibility but also an increase in group sales, which Bawmann said are up 20 percent from a year ago, and were basically nonexistent two years ago.

“We’ve had people call up to get involved in group tickets, much more than before,” he said. “People seem to be excited and groups know when the season starts. … People know who the Silver Knights are. … Nashua is wrapping its arms around this team like it’s their team. They know we’ve won (the FCBL title) the last two years, and we don’t have to explain.”

Holman Stadium turned 75 years old a month or so after the Silver Knights season ended, and this year there are plans to celebrate that birthday. The Silver Knights plan to honor the teams such as the Nashua Dodgers, Nashua Pride, Nashua Pirates and Nashua Angels, either by returning guests, wearing those teams’ uniforms or other promotions.

“We waned to do it,” Goode said. “Holman is historical, and we’re the main tenants here. To not do it would be very disrespectful to the stadium.”

The promotional schedule is jam packed, more than the first two years, and, as Bawmann said, “it’s like a minor league promotional schedule.” Twenty-six dates, 26 promos, some as simple as two-for-hot dog/Family Nights to more elaborate, such as fireworks, Roy Campanella bronze statue giveway and “Princess Night” on the same date. The team will continue its dollar beverage nights on Thursdays, fireworks on Fridays, etc. Actor-comedian and Bishop Guertin alum Mike O’Malley is scheduled to make an appearance on Aug. 2, the same event last year doused by rain.

That coupled with what should be another talented team put together by VP-Personnel man B.J. Neverett is something Silver Knights management is counting on to increase fan awareness and sales all around.

Meanwhile, it’s sell, sell, sell. Opening Night will feature a ring ceremony to celebrate the 2012 title.

“We’re doing exceptional (with ticket sales),” Goode said. “There’s an outside shot of possibly having a sellout. We have a ways to go, but at the same time, not a crazy thought.”

Meanwhile, Bawmann feels that he’s learned more about the market and thinks the team sold itself short in terms of staffing the area, mainly because a lot of the work has been done out of the Spinners’ offices in Lowell. Two new staffers, Ronnie Wallace (concessions) and Taylor Gillette (merchandising) have been added but their sales ability will be used as well.

“In the past, I don’t think we’ve gotten the right people on the bus,” Bawmann said. “If Jon Goode and I had been able to spend a day or two a week there, perhaps things might be better. As the franchise grows, there’s a strong possibility we’re going to be needing to be (more fully staffed).”

Besides the monumental promotion schedule, the team is looking to enhance the Kids Area, and also may add from time to time an “Animal Adventure” area in the pit just outside the visitors bullpen.

As for the Futures League itself, it’s image is growing. It remains at nine teams, but as Bawmann said, “We have a very reputable and marketable league,” he said.

The best example of which came as Bawmann drove back from the FCBL preseason meetings in Brockton, Mass., last week with commissioner Chris Hall. Hall got a call from a college coach who was looking to place a couple of players.

“He said two years ago, a lot of those guys weren’t taking his calls, and now they’re calling him,” Bawmann said.

Brockton, because of the size of the market, Bawmann said, will continue to likely rule the league in attendance (1,714 last year). But he believes Nashua (1,125) should surpass Pittsfield, which finished second at 1,344.

What’s next?

“Honestly, just keep selling tickets,” Goode said. “People are making decisions later and later to do things. We’ve got beautiful weather and this is a prime opportunity to reach people.”

“I think we still have to be patient,” Bawmann said. “Nashua is a fantastic market.”

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