DOWNTOWN ST. LOUIS (KTVI-FOX2now.com) -
It has become the story of a remarkable economic turnaround during tough times in St. Louis.
The company at the center of it may surprise you: The St. Louis Blues Hockey team. The franchise may be providing something a business model for the rest of the financial world.
When Blues owner, Dave Checketts, first bought the team, it may have seemed like a recipe for economic disaster: purchase a terrible hockey team just a before a terrible recession.
Now, an expert on sports economics credits Checketts and team management for sticking to their financial guns during the worst of economic times: giving away the product in terms of tickets, free food at games and crazy promotions including paying fans' mortgages and now ow the team mascot, "Louie" the blue polar bear, camp out on the roof until fans sell out Sunday's playoff game against Vancouver.
Less than 30 months earlier, the hockey team below played in a mostly empty building. You could count the number of fans one-by-one. There weren't even enough people showing up to merit opening all the concession stands during the games.
The team that had ranked 4th in league attendance behind only the likes of Montreal and Detroit, sank to 30th.
"It's sad, really sad," one fan said at the time, noting how much you could feel the chill from the ice with so few fans in the building.
"It's almost like a Montreal Expos [baseball] game," said another fan.
It was so bad, there was talk the Blues could be leaving town for Portland, maybe Las Vegas or even Kansas City.
Suddenly, with 29 home games sold out this season, those days seem long gone. The Blues rank in the league's top 10 in attendance again. The team is back in the playoffs. Fans are gobbling up playoff tickets even during lean economic times.
"They've done a great job turning it around," said Blues fan, Jeff Haantz. "That whole 'whatever it takes', I like that slogan, that's good."
The Blues may be providing a bit of "blue" print for turning things around in the recession.
"There's a lot of parallels," said Dr. Patrick Rishe, an associate economics professor at Webster University and an expert on sports economics. "If you bring in the right people in upper management in any business, you're more likely to be run more efficiently and get the job done and the Blues have certainly done that."
He said Checketts for did his homework about the market for hockey in St. Louis; a town with a rich history for the sport and a fan base with a higher per capita income than say, Kansas City.
"Checketts is a wise business man. He knows to check his sources...the best thing you can do is first of all just look at historical attendance...at the time that everyone was concerned about whether the Blues would stay in town, where were the other options ? You're not going to take a team to Portland, you're not going to take it Vegas, the other options that people were discussing. You're not going to take it to Kansas City."
Fans seemed to notice how Blues catered to the blue-collar nature of the fan base with deep ticket discounts and ad campaigns featuring the players actually "begging" the fans to come back.
"The Blues management has successfully tapped into the roots and the history of the St. louis fan base and they brought back the passion," Rishe said.
"This is a working man's sport here," Haantz said. "They get out there and grind and fight to win a game."
"I think the other thing the Blues should be commended on, is during this stretch, where they have not had the best talent, they've done a great job of marketing the franchise, offering ticket discounts here and there, and at least getting people into the building and creating atmosphere," Rishe said.
After Friday's victory clinched a playoff spot, Checketts said sticking to the marketing strategy even with the team losing money during a rough economy, had not been easy.
"It's very hard for me to be patient," he said. "I've been in other sports where there are quick dividends for making a couple of changes...I just can't tell you how great this is. I can't tell you how great I think St. Louis is - the fans everybody ought to just enjoy this. It's a great, great, moment. It's a great story."
...to be continued. There were still tickets available for Sunday's playoff game against Vancouver. "Louie" was still camped out the Scott Trade Center roof Tuesday night.
When Blues owner, Dave Checketts, first bought the team, it may have seemed like a recipe for economic disaster: purchase a terrible hockey team just a before a terrible recession.
Now, an expert on sports economics credits Checketts and team management for sticking to their financial guns during the worst of economic times: giving away the product in terms of tickets, free food at games and crazy promotions including paying fans' mortgages and now ow the team mascot, "Louie" the blue polar bear, camp out on the roof until fans sell out Sunday's playoff game against Vancouver.
Less than 30 months earlier, the hockey team below played in a mostly empty building. You could count the number of fans one-by-one. There weren't even enough people showing up to merit opening all the concession stands during the games.
The team that had ranked 4th in league attendance behind only the likes of Montreal and Detroit, sank to 30th.
"It's sad, really sad," one fan said at the time, noting how much you could feel the chill from the ice with so few fans in the building.
"It's almost like a Montreal Expos [baseball] game," said another fan.
It was so bad, there was talk the Blues could be leaving town for Portland, maybe Las Vegas or even Kansas City.
Suddenly, with 29 home games sold out this season, those days seem long gone. The Blues rank in the league's top 10 in attendance again. The team is back in the playoffs. Fans are gobbling up playoff tickets even during lean economic times.
"They've done a great job turning it around," said Blues fan, Jeff Haantz. "That whole 'whatever it takes', I like that slogan, that's good."
The Blues may be providing a bit of "blue" print for turning things around in the recession.
"There's a lot of parallels," said Dr. Patrick Rishe, an associate economics professor at Webster University and an expert on sports economics. "If you bring in the right people in upper management in any business, you're more likely to be run more efficiently and get the job done and the Blues have certainly done that."
He said Checketts for did his homework about the market for hockey in St. Louis; a town with a rich history for the sport and a fan base with a higher per capita income than say, Kansas City.
"Checketts is a wise business man. He knows to check his sources...the best thing you can do is first of all just look at historical attendance...at the time that everyone was concerned about whether the Blues would stay in town, where were the other options ? You're not going to take a team to Portland, you're not going to take it Vegas, the other options that people were discussing. You're not going to take it to Kansas City."
Fans seemed to notice how Blues catered to the blue-collar nature of the fan base with deep ticket discounts and ad campaigns featuring the players actually "begging" the fans to come back.
"The Blues management has successfully tapped into the roots and the history of the St. louis fan base and they brought back the passion," Rishe said.
"This is a working man's sport here," Haantz said. "They get out there and grind and fight to win a game."
"I think the other thing the Blues should be commended on, is during this stretch, where they have not had the best talent, they've done a great job of marketing the franchise, offering ticket discounts here and there, and at least getting people into the building and creating atmosphere," Rishe said.
After Friday's victory clinched a playoff spot, Checketts said sticking to the marketing strategy even with the team losing money during a rough economy, had not been easy.
"It's very hard for me to be patient," he said. "I've been in other sports where there are quick dividends for making a couple of changes...I just can't tell you how great this is. I can't tell you how great I think St. Louis is - the fans everybody ought to just enjoy this. It's a great, great, moment. It's a great story."
...to be continued. There were still tickets available for Sunday's playoff game against Vancouver. "Louie" was still camped out the Scott Trade Center roof Tuesday night.
