At the Oakland A's game with The CMO Club

I recently hosted one of The CMO Club's local events at the Oakland A's home game --- it was the A's vs. the Red Sox.  We had a private suite overlooking center field!  With the game about to start at 7:00 pm, we squeezed in about 30 minutes to discuss marketing with our speaker, Jim Leahey, VP of Marketing for the A's.  

Side note: I'm the San Francisco chapter lead for The CMO Club, a professional networking organization for chief marketing executives.  We host local dinner discussions every few months, where marketing executives could share marketing/organizational challenges, ideas, and successes.  

Even though I'm not an avid sport-goer, especially baseball, I could see the big contrast between the Coliseum versus the SF Giant's AT&T stadium across the bay in San Francisco.  Oakland stadium center is a mega-sport venue consisting of 3 different venues (Oracle stadium, home of the Warriors and the Coliseum, which serves both the Raiders and the A's).  Besides from being right next to the BART station, this place has no attractive quality for fans.  The industrial setting with no restaurants close by offers no recreational/social outings.  In contrast, AT&T baseball stadium is next to the bay and overlook the Bay Bridge and East Bay cityscape.  Furthermore, King St./Embarcadero  in SF has developed into a family -friendly area with many restaurants, parks, and public transportation. 

No wonder, Jim Leahey is eager to move to the new stadium in San Jose.   However, before the A's could pack up, Leahey faces many challenges as the head of marketing:  

1. Continual delays of the new stadium in San Jose
2. A young team with record low on wins 
3. A drop in sponsorship and revenues
4. Another 3-4 years at the old, out-dated stadium in Oakland (here's the recent news about the delay) 

With the postponement of the new stadium, now scheduled to be completed in 2014 instead of 2011, Jim Leahey had to shift his focus towards building a team brand.  The Green Campaign showcases up-and-coming young stars, community activities at the Coliseum, and the strong A’s tradition and history.  Even though season ticket holders and sponsorship bring in a lot of revenue, almost 50% of the revenue come from individual ticket sales, so the A's still maintain their discount game nights and offer free parking for Tuesday games.  In addition, they're collaborating with sponsors to promote community activities and cost-effective promotions (e.g., Chevy's Drive & Ride event outside the stadium).  

However, many CMO's question his strategy as biding time till the new stadium arrives.  For instance, the A's have not leveraged their fan-base through social media.  They've allowed the MLB to manage their brand on Facebook, and hardly utilize Twitter and other social media partners to engage with the public and fans.  Secondly, they've invested little in building a strong team to increase their performance and playoff chances; reaching the playoffs could generate a 90% increase in future revenues from ticket sales.  Lastly, there’s been no effort to renovate the current venue where they will be at for at least 3-4 more years.  Leahey seems to think that it would be a wasted investment since the place will be obsolete soon.  However, with minor renovation, you could bring in more sales for that duration.  
 

New stadium in San Jose

The new stadium promises exciting returns from corporate sponsorships, new fan demographics, and a larger population (approximately 1 million residents in San Jose).  However, the culture and demographics in the San Jose South Bay stand in sharp contrast to the Oakland East Bay.  Only time will tell if this is a good move for the A's corporation, brand, and performance....