Post by Banana Cat on Sept 7, 2011 12:14:11 GMT -5
One of the few guys that knows what's going on at this level.
www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/09/06/1723137/5-questions-with-rick-jacobson.html
www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/09/06/1723137/5-questions-with-rick-jacobson.html
5 questions with Rick Jacobson, VP and part owner of the Columbus Lions
Rick Jacobson
Rick Jacobson wanted to be a play-by-play announcer for a baseball team. After an unpaid internship with the New York Yankees’ Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs affiliate after college, he spent his entire savings to travel to Honolulu for the 1977 baseball winter meetings. Jacobson spent six days finding out teams wanted him to first prove himself in advertising and ticket sales. The owners of the Double-AA West Haven (Conn.) Yankees hired him, and he later became a general manager of a team in Spartanburg, S.C., at age 25. Seven cities later, he came to Columbus with the Single-A RedStixx in 1994. Jacobson worked for Maple Ridge Golf Club as well as other minor-league sports team in Columbus -- the Cottonmouths and the Wardogs before returning to the Lions in 2011. He is vice president of sales and marketing as well as being a part owner with the Lions.
What does an minor-league sports organization need to do to be successful in Columbus?
In my opinion, everything boils down to advance ticket sales. All the community relations efforts and on-field performance are important, and the Columbus Lions have worked hard and done very well in both areas, but neither assures success in the minors. Strong organizations guarantee financial success and attendance by selling hundreds or thousands of season tickets. These days, given people’s busy lives, a team needs flexible-game ticket plans and should create a “something-for-every-budget” mentality and inventory. Establishing different types of group outing sales is important, too, as they attract non-season ticket buyers and expose the on-field product to casual fans in substantial numbers. A healthy franchise should probably have at least 80 percent of its gate receipts in the bank before game day. That makes selling advertising a much easier proposition, too.
What would need to happen for minor league baseball to be successful here?
As a 20-year minor-league baseball veteran, it pains me greatly to say that I believe we’re not going to see it here in Columbus for quite some time. Affiliated franchises now cost a minimum of $6 million -- and what logical ownership would move its team to a thrice-failed market? Independent ball has done well everywhere but in the Southeast, so there are really no viable cities to form a league in which Columbus could compete. Not only that, but Golden Park, while still quite nice, is no longer state-of-the-art compared to newer stadiums like the ones the former Mudcats, RedStixx and Catfish now play in. I tell people, and really believe it’s true, that Lions indoor football is positioned to take the place of baseball in the spring, and in the hearts and minds of area sports fans. And that’s a good thing, because it’s hard enough to compete with Atlanta Braves telecasts. Our main challenge is to attract the huge football fan base here at an untraditional time of year for the game -- we just have to capitalize on the year-round interest in major college football and find ways to get folks indoors to see our version.
What has kept you in the Columbus area?
So many people I’ve met over 17 years here have been fantastic. Long-term friendships have meant a lot in keeping me here. The great fall and winter weather means never having to put away the golf clubs, and traffic’s still manageable. I like the way Columbus and Phenix City have attacked their shortcomings over the years, politically, developmentally, culturally and socially. Minor-league sports have a chance to be a major entertainment option in an area like this, and I’ve always felt comfortable in medium-sized markets; I worked for the Boston Red Sox one year and couldn’t handle the big-city congestion. There are lots of interesting things to do and see within an hour’s drive, and more than enough options right here in town.
VITAL STATS
Name: Rick Jacobson
Age: 56
Job: Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Part-Owner, Columbus Lions Indoor Football Club
Education: B.S. in Television-Radio, Syracuse University, 1977
Family: Wife, Lola, three stepchildren in Little Rock, Ark; two brothers and a sister in N.J. and Mass.; mother resides in Sarasota, Fla.
Rick Jacobson
Rick Jacobson wanted to be a play-by-play announcer for a baseball team. After an unpaid internship with the New York Yankees’ Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs affiliate after college, he spent his entire savings to travel to Honolulu for the 1977 baseball winter meetings. Jacobson spent six days finding out teams wanted him to first prove himself in advertising and ticket sales. The owners of the Double-AA West Haven (Conn.) Yankees hired him, and he later became a general manager of a team in Spartanburg, S.C., at age 25. Seven cities later, he came to Columbus with the Single-A RedStixx in 1994. Jacobson worked for Maple Ridge Golf Club as well as other minor-league sports team in Columbus -- the Cottonmouths and the Wardogs before returning to the Lions in 2011. He is vice president of sales and marketing as well as being a part owner with the Lions.
What does an minor-league sports organization need to do to be successful in Columbus?
In my opinion, everything boils down to advance ticket sales. All the community relations efforts and on-field performance are important, and the Columbus Lions have worked hard and done very well in both areas, but neither assures success in the minors. Strong organizations guarantee financial success and attendance by selling hundreds or thousands of season tickets. These days, given people’s busy lives, a team needs flexible-game ticket plans and should create a “something-for-every-budget” mentality and inventory. Establishing different types of group outing sales is important, too, as they attract non-season ticket buyers and expose the on-field product to casual fans in substantial numbers. A healthy franchise should probably have at least 80 percent of its gate receipts in the bank before game day. That makes selling advertising a much easier proposition, too.
What would need to happen for minor league baseball to be successful here?
As a 20-year minor-league baseball veteran, it pains me greatly to say that I believe we’re not going to see it here in Columbus for quite some time. Affiliated franchises now cost a minimum of $6 million -- and what logical ownership would move its team to a thrice-failed market? Independent ball has done well everywhere but in the Southeast, so there are really no viable cities to form a league in which Columbus could compete. Not only that, but Golden Park, while still quite nice, is no longer state-of-the-art compared to newer stadiums like the ones the former Mudcats, RedStixx and Catfish now play in. I tell people, and really believe it’s true, that Lions indoor football is positioned to take the place of baseball in the spring, and in the hearts and minds of area sports fans. And that’s a good thing, because it’s hard enough to compete with Atlanta Braves telecasts. Our main challenge is to attract the huge football fan base here at an untraditional time of year for the game -- we just have to capitalize on the year-round interest in major college football and find ways to get folks indoors to see our version.
What has kept you in the Columbus area?
So many people I’ve met over 17 years here have been fantastic. Long-term friendships have meant a lot in keeping me here. The great fall and winter weather means never having to put away the golf clubs, and traffic’s still manageable. I like the way Columbus and Phenix City have attacked their shortcomings over the years, politically, developmentally, culturally and socially. Minor-league sports have a chance to be a major entertainment option in an area like this, and I’ve always felt comfortable in medium-sized markets; I worked for the Boston Red Sox one year and couldn’t handle the big-city congestion. There are lots of interesting things to do and see within an hour’s drive, and more than enough options right here in town.
VITAL STATS
Name: Rick Jacobson
Age: 56
Job: Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Part-Owner, Columbus Lions Indoor Football Club
Education: B.S. in Television-Radio, Syracuse University, 1977
Family: Wife, Lola, three stepchildren in Little Rock, Ark; two brothers and a sister in N.J. and Mass.; mother resides in Sarasota, Fla.