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Just Thinkin'...

Posted by Troy Harrison at 09:45:24 PM

First of all - a disclaimer.  Most of my posts have a pretty well-defined purpose; a beginning, a middle, and an end.  They're like a short trip with GPS guidance.  Think of this one more like a college road trip with your buddies, where you're just hoping to pool enough gas money to get home.  But - hopefully - at one of our stops, we'll find a good idea.

I made my first visit to Kauffman Stadium last night for the Royals' win over the Mariners.  It's truly an incredible renovation.  And as I walked around, the businessman in me couldn't help but think, "Wow - they sure figured out a ton of ways to separate fans from their money!"  The racer in me thought, "I wonder what parts of this could be carried over to short track racing?"  And hence, the purpose of this post.

As it was explained to me, the renovation had three purposes:  1.  To expand the fan experience by giving fans more ways to entertain themselves.  2.  To deepen the fan experience by allowing fans to feel more part of the proceedings.  3.  To increase revenue opportunities for the Royals.  I think they succeeded on all 3 counts.  So how do we bring this over to racing?

Let's start with something easy - printed material for the fans.  One thing that I've noticed is that the quality racing program seems to be a lost art.  I collect racing magazines and programs, and to be honest, it's been a long time since I've seen a short track program worth keeping and archiving.  What's ironic is that during the time period that the quality of the program has declined, the technology to allow higher quality program production at lower prices has actually become more widely available.

Most programs consist of a generic cover, several photocopied pages in the middle that are mostly ads with perhaps some results and poorly reproduced photos, and well, that's it.  They sell cheaply because they're cheap.  At Kauffman, you can buy a game program for $5 that has well written player profiles, stats, photos, and yes - ads; you can buy a Royals yearbook for $10 that has a recap of the previous year; and for $20 you can buy a comprehensive media guide with extensive past season recaps, stats, records, and current roster bios.  All of these can be done well and profitably using current technology.

I have a client/vendor relationship with a company that does digital on-demand printing, and they could produce quality programs, yearbooks, and media guides in short quantities (tens or dozens, not hundreds or thousands) that could be sold very profitably at the above price points.  I'm sure there are others out there that can do just as well.  With a little effort and a little desktop publishing knowledge, tracks could produce something really nice that could justify $5, $10, or $20.  The best part is that the programs or media guides actually add value to the fans' experience.  Most of us here are experienced and knowledgeable fans, and when we go to a track, we have a pretty good idea what the classes are, what they mean, and who's fast.  BUT - imagine being a first-time fan, plopping down in a seat, and trying to figure out what's happening.  Well done programs can help bridge that gap, and can even help turn a first-time fan into an addict both to the program and the track.

Kauffman also has an incredible amount of ways to entertain fans besides the ballgame, too.  I've seen racing simulators at race tracks - what about going a little deeper, having several racing consoles linked together for a "race each other" type experience, with the computer mapping for YOUR track?  Of course, it wouldn't be free to do - but it wouldn't be that expensive to set up.

Amenities are also there for an upgraded fan experience, if one wants to pay for it.  The Stadium Club is an obvious way.  What if a track set up a Speedway Club?  An indoor environment overlooking the race track with an upgraded food and drink menu, something like a sports bar.  Such a club could be charged for in a variety of ways; you could simply charge an annual membership fee, you could combine the membership fee with a per-race ticket price, or you could have an upgraded single-race ticket price.  Or you could combine all three.  For instance, you'd have an annual member fee that covered everything.  For the one-time guests (for instance, the racer that wanted to entertain sponsors), you could have one-time prices.  If the average race ticket price is $10, what would it be worth to some fans to be able to view the races from an air-conditioned sports bar?  $25?  $30?  I honestly don't know - but I have a feeling that when the mercury hit 90 degrees, a $30 ticket wouldn't be nearly as tough a sell as some might think.  Make it a "Cheers" type weekly-gathering atmosphere, and you might be surprised how many people would pay for that kind of experience.

No need to leave the racers out, either.  We already know that a lot of racers are willing to pay $100-150 extra to reserve a pit stall; what would they pay if the pit stall had full hookups and amenities - say, electricity, water, and compressed air?  I know some tracks already have this, but for others, it might be a revenue opportunity in the making.

Of course, these are just ideas, and some are more practical than others.  We haven't even touched concessions and souvenirs, and these are major revenue streams for Kauffman.  Some of these ideas would be rendered less practical simply because a track doesn't have a large enough fan base to support it - but studies have shown that in other sports, increased amenities not only increase fan spending on a per-fan basis, but they actually help attract and retain fans.  Not a bad bonus, huh?  I'd encourage every promoter to take a trip to Kauffman and look to see what could be imported.  The great thing about a lot of these ideas is that they could be "named" or "sponsored," which means that it's done with other people's money.

I do believe that as short-track racing looks to the future, owners need to stop thinking of their facilities as race tracks with rudimentary spectator facilities around them, and more as full entertainment facilities.

Reader Comments

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May 08, 2009 11:57:55 AM by cws9

Troy, Funny that you brought up programs. The series I run with, MOLS, just received our programs and will be available for tonights racing at Valley Speedway. Since we are somewhat of a traveling series it helps the fans to be able to look up a drivers number since many PA systems are hard to hear. We invested in these programs so the fans can identify the drivers and get to know them from their profiles which is listed for every driver. The program also has points standings, race results, sponsers, and of course local advertisements. I would invite you to pick one up on the way into the track. Let us know what you think and ways to improve upon it. Chris Schofield MOLS #1x and #9s

 

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