Ice Dogs Launch Campaign to Lure Latino Fans
Anxious to boost dismal attendance, the Long Beach Ice Dogs are testing a Spanish-language advertising campaign, hoping it can turn the region’s Latino residents into ice hockey fans.
The minor league team is promoting Saturday’s home game on KSSE-FM, which plays pounding rock-en-espanol to a daily audience of 350,000 listeners. Two hours before the game begins, KSSE will conduct a ticket giveaway during a live broadcast from the Long Beach Arena, where the team plays.
Print ads announcing Saturday’s game will run Friday in the El Economico weekly which circulates mainly in the Long Beach area.
The team plans to use the same tactics to promote at least two home games in March.
The Ice Dogs’ attempt to cultivate Spanish-speaking sports fans is part of a growing trend among professional hockey teams in cities with large Latino communities.
“The Latino community is growing by leaps and bounds in Southern California,” said Joann Klonowski, CEO of the Ice Dogs. “It’s important that we touch them in some way and get them interested in hockey.”
And the sooner the better. The Ice Dogs currently have the third-lowest attendance of all 18 teams in the International Hockey League. Average attendance for its first 30 home games is 3,326. The Long Beach Arena seats 11,200.
The low turnout is taking a financial toll on the team. It expects to lose $2.5 million in the 1997-98 season, following a $3.8-million loss in the 1996-97 season.
Financial woes haven’t tarnished the team’s success on the ice. Last year, the Ice Dogs made it to the IHL championship series, and it’s among the top four contenders for the title this year.
Despite its winning record, the 3-year-old franchise has had a hard time getting attention in Southern California’s crowded sports marketplace. Think hockey, and chances are the two National Hockey League teams--the Los Angeles Kings and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim--come to mind.
The Kings and the Ducks are also reaching out to Spanish-speaking sports fans. The Kings buy air time on Santa Ana-based KWIZ-FM to broadcast home games in Spanish. The team also conducts clinics to teach Spanish-speaking children about the game.
“You put a stick in their hands when they’re 8 and chances are they’ll be a fan when they’re 20,” said Kings vice president of marketing John Cimperman.
The Ducks have hired a Spanish-speaking public relations specialist to encourage Spanish-language media to report on the team. The Ducks hope more stories will translate into more Latinos in the stands.
The Ice Dogs’ are focusing their efforts on Latino sports fans under age 35. People “40 and up are probably too set in their ways to pick up hockey,” said Malu Santamaria, a representative of the Ice Dogs’ advertising agency, RLR Advertising of Pasadena.
She is betting that the Ice Dogs will be an easy sell. “It’s not like the game is completely foreign to them,” she said. “A goal in one is a goal in the other.”