The Atlanta Braves is the longest operating franchise in the history of all professional sport leagues in America. They are the only organization to field a team every year that professional baseball has been in existence (“Story of the Braves”). The organization begin in 1871 as the Boston Red Stockings and overtime changed the name several more times before landing on what we know today as the Atlanta Braves. The organization began in Boston, moved to Milwaukee for a decade or so before finally making the move to Atlanta in 1966. It was at that time, the organization changed the name to the Atlanta Braves. Years later after the move to Atlanta, Ted Turner purchased the Braves and helped put them on a national platform. During this …show more content…
time, the Atlanta Braves were known as “America’s Team” due to games being broadcasted nationally (“Story of the Braves”). In addition to games being nationally broadcasted, the Atlanta Braves were also the only MLB team in the south for a long time. This helped create a large regional and even national fan base. The Atlanta Braves also had some of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game, such as: Babe Ruth (Boston Braves), Warren Spahn (Milwaukee Braves), Hank Aaron (Atlanta Braves), Greg Maddox (Atlanta Braves), Bobby Cox (Atlanta Braves) and John Smoltz (Atlanta Braves). The Atlanta Braves have won three World Championships (1914, 1957 and 1995), five West Division Titles and twelve East Division Titles (“Story of the Braves”). The purpose of this paper is to understand why the Atlanta Braves no longer have the fan base they have had in previous years and examine how to improve attendance with the transition to a new stadium. This paper will discuss the challenges currently effecting the Braves organization and different theories that may provide some insight as to why these issues are occurring. This paper will also provide possible solutions for the Atlanta Braves to consider. Challenges The Atlanta Braves are currently facing several challenges. These challenges can be linked to poor performances over the past couple of years, the move from Tuner Field to SunTrust Park and the lack of retaining key players. The challenges that this paper will focus on are: declining attendance from Atlanta fans, disgruntled fans (new stadium/old stadium) and the lack of star players. According to ESPN’s website, the attendance for the Atlanta Braves has declined over the past three years. They are currently ranked #22 in attendance out of 30 MLB teams. In previous years, the Atlanta Braves fluctuated anywhere between #13 to #15 in attendance rankings (MLB Attendance Report). The graph below shows the average attendance per game and the attendance ranking for each year over a ten year period.  Another challenge for the Atlanta Braves are the disgruntled fans over the move from downtown (Turner Field) to SunTrust Park in Cobb County. Due to the stagnant attendance experienced beginning in 2014, the Atlanta Braves have decided to move their stadium to Cobb County. There are many other factors that played into to this decision but for the purposes of this paper, we will focus on the biggest motivating factor which is attendance. Braves fans are not happy about the move. Fans are concerned with lack of public transits in Cobb County, traditions that will be lost during the move and the overall idea of separating a predominately white fan base from its downtown community. The last challenge that will be discussed in this paper are the lack of star players. The Atlanta Braves currently have three players that can be considered franchise or star players. These players are Freddie Freeman (1st baseman), Julio Teheran (pitcher) and Jason Grilli (pitcher). In recent years, the Braves have had star players such as Jason Heyward, Andrelton Simmons, and Brian McCann. Facts When it comes to attendance in Atlanta, the Atlanta Braves are not the only team struggling. An article by ESPN in 2012 sited Atlanta as the worst sports town in America (Parker, 2012). The article goes on to discuss the lack of sports fans in attendance for playoffs games, for not only the Braves but for the Hawks and Falcons as well. In addition to not showing up for huge playoff games, Atlanta sports fans are also known for showing up late and leaving early. So you can see that the Atlanta Braves are one of many teams struggling to increase attendance in a very unresponsive and unenthusiastic sports town. The Atlanta Braves are working hard to run the organization like a business. MLB organizations are no longer just competing on the baseball field, they are also competing for television rights, corporate sponsorships, merchandise and ticket sales (Sarstedt, Ringle, Gudergan, 2014). For the Braves, this means focusing on customer satisfaction, also known as fan satisfaction, which is creating memorable experiences for fans (Sarstedt, 2014). This is crucial for the overall success and hence one of the many reasons why the new stadium was a good move financially for the team. In addition to running the organization as a business, building a new stadium will increase revenue and attendance. The Atlanta Braves are moving to Cobb County in order to increase attendance and revenue by moving closer to a majority of its season ticket holders. Currently a majority of the season ticket holders live north of downtown Atlanta where the current stadium is located. Moving the stadium will increase the likelihood of these season ticket holders attending more games than they currently attend downtown. The figure below shows the Atlanta Braves season ticket holders during the 2012 season (Coleman, 2013). Theories There are two main theories that will be addressed in this paper. The first theory is the Disappointment Theory that will be used to help examine and understand the factors that play a role in the decline of Atlanta Braves’ attendance over the past three years. The second theory that will be discussed is the Honeymoon Effect. This theory will address the future of the Atlanta Braves at their new home, SunTrust Park in Cobb County, and what we can expect over the next couple of years. Disappointment is a combination of shock and sadness used to explain the emotional reaction of sports fans. Disappointment Theory occurs when an individual forms an expectation about an uncertain outcome, and the outcome turns out to be worse than expected, the individual will experience what we will refer to the rest of the paper as, disappointment (Yost & Rainey, 2014). In this paper, disappointment will be used to explain a fans expectation, identification, and investment with the Atlanta Braves. A fans expectation of success for the Braves can be contributed to the probability of winning their division, probability of winning a wild card, and probability of making the playoffs (Yost & Rainey, 2014). Fans’ expectations of the Atlanta Braves are probably not that high considering the last time they made it to the playoffs was 2013, which would explain the drop in attendance thereafter for 2014, 2015 and 2016 (the current season). Fan identification can be measured by the number of games watched on television, talking with other fans about the team, and the number of website visits (Yost & Rainey, 2014). According to Atlanta Journal Constitutional in 2015, the Atlanta Braves television ratings were down 32% which was the second largest drop in television ratings among the entire MLB that year (Tucker, 2015). The final factor used to explain the Disappointment theory is fan investment. Fan investment can be measured by home games attended, games watched on television, and memorabilia purchased (Yost & Rainey, 2014). As stated early, attendance has declined over the past three years so we can assume that Braves fan’s are not nearly as invested as they have been in previous seasons. It should be noted that the greater the investment, expectation, and dedication for a team, the greater the disappointment is experienced by a fan when that outcome does not occur (Yost & Rainey, 2014). The decline in attendance, television ratings and losing records over the past couple of years is indication that fans have stopped investing in Atlanta Braves. The social identity theory (SIT) is another theory that can be used to examine sport consumption behavior. SIT uses the term team identification as a social identity to understand spectator attendance behaviors (Dhurup, 2012). SIT will help explain why building a sense of community outside the ball park in important factor in the success of the Atlanta Braves as an organization. SIT also helps the Atlanta Braves form a link between fans and their social networks based on commonalties such as: fans in the same geographic location, or fans with families looking for family-friendly activities. In all professional sport leagues, it is common to build or move to new facilities in order to increase team revenues. Moving for Atlanta Braves has nothing to do with the current facility’s condition but everything to do with ticket sales. In 2013, a Sport Business Journal article stated that a move to the “suburbs” could potentially increase attendance at games (“Braves to Build”, 2013). By moving to Cobb County, the Braves are going to be able to take advantage of several revenue generating activities such as: personal seat licenses, luxury seating, naming rights of the stadium, concessions and parking (McEvoy, Nagel, DeSchriver, 2005). For MLB teams, ticket sales are vital for success considering it is the largest source of revenue generated (McEvoy, 2005). The “honeymoon” or “novelty effect” is a phenomenon used to explain a significant increase in attendance after the construction of a new facility (McEvoy, 2005). The term “honeymoon” is used to explain effects similar to that of a marriage, initially there are high levels of satisfaction which over time decrease and reach a stagnant level of satisfaction. For example, the Braves can can expect to see an increase in attendance initially in the first couple of years at SunTrust Park but effects will decrease as time passes and attendance will eventually reach a consistent level. The honeymoon effect can last anywhere between three to eight years (McEvoy, 2005). It should be noted, the honeymoon period is dependent upon the team, factors such as team improvement and record-breaking performances can skew results and cause for longer or shorter periods. Executives with the Braves know they will experience some sort of honeymoon period over the next couple of season at SunTrust Park, beginning in 2017. The Atlanta Braves are currently taking the time to rebuild team during this transition period. This is a good move considering they will see an increase in attendance regardless of their record, number of star players and the chances of making the playoffs. This will give the Atlanta Braves the chance to attain and develop the star players and top pitching prospects from the Minor League necessary to compete for Division Titles, and eventually World Championships. Solutions Throughout the 2016 “farewell season”, the Atlanta Braves have been marketing all events and activities as a “last-time opportunity” Examples of this marketing strategy are: “don’t miss out on the last season-opener at Turner Field”, “last opening day at the Ted” or “last Bark in Park at Turner Field”.
Other marketing strategies used in during this farewell season are commemorating former players, coaches, and hall of famers as well as a count down display in left field. The display is being used to count down the number of home games left this season. The count down will reach zero during the 5th inning of the final home game against The Detroit Tigers which has almost been sold out, nearly six months in advance. These marketing strategies have proven to be beneficial and should be continued considering the attendance is up from last year. However, there is always room for improvements. The Atlanta Braves should consider new marketing strategies to improve fan experiences which will improve overall fan satisfaction as discussed earlier. Strategies to improve fan experience involve anything that will create a “valued experience” for a consumer (Sarstedt, 2014). Bringing old traditions from Turner Field to SunTrust Park is one way to create a valued experience for fans who are disgruntled over the move to Cobb County. Being that the Atlanta Braves are a team of tradition, it would be wise to implement old traditions in the new stadium to not only satisfy the concerns of disgruntled fans, but to bring a sense of community to the new stadium for the entire fan base. These social connections and sense of community created by the team for the fans, is a key factor in fan experience (Fairley & Tyler, 2012). The final solution addressed in this paper is one that will aim to create both a sense of community and social environment outside of the ballpark. Marketing executives of the Braves should consider setting up off-site locations so non-game attendees
can gather to view games live with other fans (Fairley & Tyler, 2012). These off-site locations can be public parks (if technology is available), movie theaters, or theme park such as Stone Mountain. This will help create a sense of community for fans who can not regularly attend games due to the location of the stadium, ticket prices, time and cost linked to traveling to and from the game(Fairley & Tyler, 2012). The Atlanta Braves at one time had a large regional fan base, creating a valued experience for all fans is a critical factor in gaining back our once regional presence. Conclusion The Atlanta Braves have experienced a steady decline in attendance over the past three years. However that will change beginning in 2017, when the Braves host their first game in their brand new, state of the art facility, SunTrust Park. The Atlanta Braves are expected to see a significant increase in attendance and team revenue due to a honeymoon period regardless of any additional team improvements made on field (attaining star players) or off the field (improved marketing strategies). The Atlanta Braves are currently rebuilding the organization during the transitioning period to the new stadium. This is a smart move considering it will give the organization a chance to improve its identification with current and former fans.
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