Making cents of renewals: Team executives outline approaches to successful season ticket renewal strategies

At any level of the sports industry, the season ticket holder is undoubtedly the heart of every team’s revenue potential.

With a continued slumping economy and more entertainment options, it is no secret that an investment for a season ticket from a corporation or individual is becoming tougher each year.

The combination of this reality alongside that understanding that the odds of selling a new customer is 15 percent whereas an existing one is 50 percent should force teams to take a closer look at investing the same, if not more, energy to renewing existing customers as they do new prospects.

The aim of this Report is to provide details into some of the most successful and creative renewal campaigns of the past year by showing the proven results that can be achieved by offering incentives, listening to the customers and encouraging them to renew early.

Listen up
Mark Twain once wrote that he learned more from listening for one minute than he ever did from talking for an hour.

While he obviously was not talking about the sports business, his thought is an ideal parallel for creating the foundation of any successful season ticket renewal campaign.

The Texas Rangers season ticket holder renewal rates were around 74 percent last season accounting for about 11,500 seats. Thanks to creating a series of new offers tailored to react to feedback direct from fans, the team is expecting that number to be in the 80th percentile.

A survey of existing season ticket holders discovered that the three most important factors in their decision to renew or not was:

Team performance
Privileged access to players
Concession prices

The fans spoke and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Cogen and his staff responded with an offer that has garnered instant results. The Rangers are offering a variety of incentives for those season ticket holders willing to sign up for a full season. Among those perks is a reception with current and former Rangers, $100 worth of food and beverage vouchers per each seat in the ticket plan, four bonus tickets each month and a chance to play catch in the outfield before batting practice on select Saturdays.

The team sent fans a letter during the baseball playoffs announcing the offer and encouraging fans to pay in full by December 12th to qualify for the offer and get a Rangers jersey to take to the meet-and-greet party with current and former Rangers players, including Alex Rodriguez and Nolan Ryan.

renewals were sent out while baseball was still top of mind. In the case of the Rangers, they sent out their offer during the height of the baseball playoffs in mid-October. This was more than a month earlier than last year.

As will be discussed later in this Report, timing can be as critical to the offer as the sales pitch itself.

“We spend so much time on new sales that we sometimes as an industry overlook our current season ticket holders”

For the Boston Red Sox, timing played a critical role as well, but it is the understanding of the season ticket holders’ desires that fueled a letter sent to fans by Red Sox President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Lucchino days after the World Series in late October discussing their renewal options for the coming year.

The letter served to address the team’s on-the-field issues as well as serve as an announcement for the renewal offer for the coming season while addressing feedback from season ticket holders.

In the case of the Red Sox who play at near capacity, Lucchino said the primary advantages of renewing season tickets continue to be retaining seat locations and having access to playoff tickets.

The Red Sox annually offer about a $5 discount per ticket for fans that renew by December. Last season, more than 70 percent of season ticket holders utilized the discount and renewed early.

However, another benefit for Red Sox season ticket holders driven by fan feedback is having the first opportunity to purchase individual-game tickets to other home games before they go on sale to the general public.

While the Red Sox admitted that it has caused some controversy locally among non season ticket holders, it does serve as an ideal way to offer another incentive for season ticket holders to renew.

Both the Rangers and Red Sox credit their understanding of season ticket holders’ wants as the foundation of their renewal strategy.

For the Minnesota Timberwolves, however, fan feedback is not just a philosophy but also a new department whose primary goal is to understand the needs of its season ticket holders.

The “Fans First program” was created after the team’s renewal rates dropped from 90 percent prior to the 2001-02 season to 82 percent in 2002-03. The team established an e-mail address (fansfirst@timberwolves.com) and a phone number (612-673-8373) for fans to offer opinions, suggestions or complaints.

Timberwolves Executive Director of Fan Relations and Guest Services Jeff Munneke is in charge of the program.

“They said, ‘Make us feel wanted,’” Munneke said. “We spend so much time on new sales that we sometimes as an industry overlook our current season ticket holders,” Munneke said. “The challenge is to discover new ways to show our fans we appreciate their efforts.”

“The challenge is to not just think about renewing people but change your mindset that you are selling to people again.”

Part of the problem, Munneke said, is that there typically is no one whose sole focus is on renewals. “I think it is safe to say that individually we all did a great job with renewals but group wise we needed to have consistency and create a touch point,” Munneke said. “We’re proving that this is a department that should become as a staple in any team operation.”

Renew early and often
Providing incentives for renewals is becoming almost a mandatory process because so many teams offer packages to entice new season ticket holders.

“The challenge is to not just think about renewing people but change your mindset that you are selling to people again,” said Jason Butikofer, Ticket Office Manager for Arizona State. “Just sending a renewal notice will not cut it. You need all the promotions and offers to get them to dream up the dream again and go for their wallets.”

The issue of offering even comparable renewal incentives is becoming a likely topic in many team ticketing offices. Arizona State has gone as far as assigning one staff member, Butikofer, with the primary responsibility of renewals. Butikofer and his staff were challenged with attacking renewals with the same amount of fervor and creativity that is normally reserved for new accounts.

Arizona State’s renewal offer this year for men’s basketball encouraged season ticket holders to almost a month before previous years and try to drive them online. As an incentive, Arizona State offered those who re-upped entry into a sweepstakes to win a series of prizes and experiences. Included among these was a road trip with the basketball team, signed memorabilia and tickets to football games. The incentives not only led to a 94 percent renewal rate but helped them to achieve a number of other goals.

First, the offer allowed them to collect funds early and avoid the added cost of chasing customers and dollars. Secondly, because about 20 percent of the accounts renewed online, it lays the foundation to reduce traditional renewal costs.

The program was so successful that Butikofer is already planning on what to do next year. “The challenge now is going to be how to top it,” Butikofer said. “These are not new customers so expectations will be high.”

One change already confirmed is that some fans were critical of their chances to win saying that it was unrealistic that they could receive a price. Butikofer said they plan to list odds of winning and feature testimonials from this year’s winners in all renewal campaigns.

Time is money
Time of year is one simple reason that many season ticket offers succeed or fail. The feelings of many traditionalists is that is it best to wait and send out renewals after the season is over but a look into some of the more aggressive renewal campaigns in the marketplace might signal a change in that philosophy.

As discussed earlier, the Rangers sent out renewal forms during the baseball playoffs.

“It just makes sense to get them to fans while baseball is still top of mind,” said Andy Silverman, Vice President of Ticket Sales for the Rangers.

The Columbus Crew are another team that has adopted this philosophy.

The Crew provide financial incentives to fans that renew by the end of October, about a month before the end of the season. If they do, fans receive a 10 percent discount on tickets.

“You can’t imagine how impactful all of these activities are.”

“There are so many distractions during the season that it is becoming increasingly tough to get their attention during the season that it can get even harder in the off-season,” said Jim Smith, President of the Crew.

The Timberwolves have taken this idea to the extremes by sending out renewals in February at the halfway point of the season. They tie the renewal offer into playoff tickets and require that payment is due by April.

Munneke said the offer accounted for about a 5 percent bump in renewals last year.

Have fun
While all of the ideas discussed throughout this Report have stressed the fiscal importance of retaining season ticket holders.

The Minnesota Wild might prove that the key to a successful strategy is not by focusing entirely on the bottom line but in sharing a few smiles with season ticket holders. This off-season, the Wild took a tongue-in-cheek approach by using a letter (500k pdf document) from a ficticiuos hockey team to see if season ticket holders would like to buy tickets to the Whitney Cottons Gins, a made-up hockey team from Mississippi.

The letter sparked phone calls to the Wild offices and a flurry of activity on the team’s Internet message board. The campaign was intended to be a light-hearted campaign that would help season ticket holders cope with the disappointment of not seeing their team in the championship.

The letter was followed by another light-hearted letter within the next few days from Wild General Manager Doug Risebrough before the club sent out the official renewal form.

The Wild also offer season ticket holders a fan contract (640k pdf document) that is loaded with the fan equivalent of a lot of the traditional incentives normally reserved for player contracts.

For example, the player’s bonus usually consists of dollars based on performance. The fan’s bonus is tickets to the NHL All-Star Game and World Cup of Hockey based on their renewing their seats.

The Wild also uses its media inventory for a “Thank you” campaign. The campaign thanks season ticket holders for their support with taglines like “Thank you to our team of 18,000.”

Throughout the year, the Wild assigns five employees to continually call and write to 10 season ticket holders everyday to thank them for their business and ask if there is anything they can do to improve their experience.

“You can’t imagine how impactful all of these activities are,” said Steve Griggs, Vice President of Customer Sales and Service for the Wild. “We preach all yearlong that everyday is renewal time. Being fun is good business and it has translated very well in the ticket office.”

The off-the-wall approach appears to be working as the Wild netted a 99 percent renewal rate this year accounting for 16,500 season ticket holders and a waiting list of 6,500.

This story was originally published on November 1, 2003.

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