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Rays Target Businesses For Season Tickets

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 17, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Besides announcing their 2009 ticket pricing structure Monday, the Rays said they're ready to launch a major marketing campaign to increase season ticket sales and all-around advanced sales.

Team president Matt Silverman said both are critical to the Rays keeping their American League champion club together and battling the Yankees, Red Sox and others in the high-spending AL East.

"It's not just about the attendance; it's about knowing the attendance is going to be there as we plan," Silverman said.

The Rays won the AL pennant with an opening-day payroll of $43,745,597, the lowest in the league and second lowest in the major leagues. Silverman has maintained that revenues have to climb if the payroll is going to go up.

That's where ticket sales come in. The Rays ranked 26th out of 30 teams in attendance this year (1,780,791 total, 22,259 per game). Silverman wouldn't say how many season tickets were sold, but based on figures for the lowest attended games, the number is likely below 7,500.

Club officials say they're are looking for a substantial increase for 2009, and to get it, they're planning to go after businesses hard.

Their enticements: a winning club and a deep discount for buying all 81 home games.

"We've made a strong effort to connect with all parts of the region," said Mark Fernandez, the Rays' senior vice president/chief sales officer. "If we're going to be successful, we have to be successful not just in Pinellas County, but also in Hillsborough, Pasco and [Manatee]."

Fernandez said that only about 35 percent of the season tickets sold last year went to businesses, whereas the club believes "65 to as much as 80 percent should be owned by businesses."

Silverman said the Rays also will push hard to increase overall advanced sales after ranking 29th in that department last year. The club has set a goal of selling a million tickets by opening day, which Silverman said would represent a 25-percent increase.

"Our job is to make the community proud of its baseball team," Silverman said. "We were able to do it this year on a shoestring budget, but that's not going to happen every year."

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