Frequent-Fan Plan Looks Like a Hit

Professional baseball teams, already looking ahead to spring, are stealing an idea from the airline industry to boost lackluster attendance.

The San Francisco Giants expect to become the second team in baseball with a frequent-fan program that rewards attendance at home games with coupons and prizes. It will be modeled on a similar scheme introduced by the San Diego Padres last year.

The programs are inspired by frequent-flier plans, in which air travelers accumulate points that can be exchanged for rewards--usually free airline tickets. The deals build customer loyalty while providing businesses with useful information about their consumers. The concept has spread to such diverse businesses as department stores, credit card companies and long-distance carriers, but has been slow to catch on in sports.

The Padres brought out the Frequent Friars plan to boost flagging attendance, which had sunk to an all-time low of 1 million for the strike-ridden 1994 season.

“We knew we had to do something to develop loyalty and get our fans back,” said Don Johnson, marketing vice president for the Padres.

He credits the frequent-fan offers with lifting attendance last season and bringing in more than $700,000 in additional ticket revenue.

More than 60,000 Padres fans signed up for the program, and one-third of them attended up to five extra games because of the incentives, a survey conducted by the Padres showed. Attendance soared to 2.2 million for the 1996 season--no doubt because the Padres emerged as National League West champions.

The Giants are working to put a similar plan in place for 1997, hoping to match the Padres’ results.

“What the Padres have accomplished is very impressive,” said Pat Gallagher, senior vice president of business operations for the Giants.

(The Los Angeles Dodgers have discussed a frequent-fan program, but have no plans to implement one soon).

In the Padres program, fans receive points for attendance by swiping their bar-coded membership cards at an electronic kiosk inside the stadium. As fans collect points, they qualify for prizes ranging from cents-off coupons at stadium concessions to invitations to exclusive autograph signings with players.

Besides increasing attendance, the program helps the Padres learn about its fans. Fans complete membership forms that indicate how to contact them, including via e-mail.

Fans also provide demographic information that is helping the Padres attract stadium advertisers.

Padres executive Johnson said the team is close to an advertising deal with a large pet-care company, thanks to information showing that a high percentage of Frequent Friars own pets.

Sean Brenner, editor of Chicago-based Team Marketing Report newsletter, said more teams are likely to adopt similar plans to reconnect with fans.

“A lot of teams are trying to get to know their fans better,” he noted. “If you can get a couple thousand fans to come to two or three more games, that has an immediate impact on ticket revenue.”

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