Bringing MAGIC To The DODGERS!

by Brian Hemsworth | March 28, 2012 9:39 am

Word got out last night, and the sports world is buzzing about it today. Guggenheim Baseball Management has been named as the group buying the Dodgers, and this is the group that has brought Magic Johnson in as a part of the deal. All they’ve got to do is pony up $2.1 billion, cross a few thousand “t’s”, dot a few thousand “i’s”, get the bankruptcy court to approve and it’s a done deal.

So what does this mean for Southern California businesses and residents? Will people come back to Dodger Stadium? Will the fare-weathered fans of So Cal embrace Dodger Blue once again?

Often when I attend Dodger games, I’m sitting in one of the upper decks, but for this mega-deal, I was in a box seat right behind home plate. It turns out, one of the courses I teach at Pepperdine University is an Integrated Marketing Communications class, and this semester the class is doing a marketing plan for the Dodgers.

It gets better. I contacted the Dodger marketing and promotions office last year, and the have been helping my students with information background research on the organization. Just two weeks ago, I brought a delegation of students to meet with three of the Dodger marketing and promotions staff. They were gracious with their time and information, but they provided some real insight to what’s going to happen this year…and I’m not sure they even knew it!

Last year was the first in many where the Dodgers had season-long attendance under 3 million. They had a challenging year: the McCourt divorce, a bankruptcy, the Manny Ramirez fiasco, and the Bryan Stow incident. None of those helped matters to be sure, but here’s the important takeaway. Erik Braverman, Senior Director, Marketing & Broadcasting, told us, “Selling tickets is all about emotion.” He went on to tell us that when the team wins, when someone has a streak, when the weather is good, or there is a fun story about a player, people decide to come out.

Well, talk about “feel good!” Magic Johnson is Mr. Feelgood for Los Angeles!

I predict that, provided the deal goes through, we will see the Dodgers far exceed 3 million people through the turnstiles. We will see a return to Dodger pride, and we will see L.A. jump to rally behind the team.

And what’s good for Los Angeles will be good for the rest of Southern California. Good business for the Dodgers is good for the city, and what’s good for the city is good for the Southland. People will be more apt to travel down south to see the Angels and the Padres. Businesses can re-up their season tickets and begin taking clients back to the ballpark.

This, friends in Southern California, is a very good thing!

 

Source URL: http://www.socalprofessional.com/2012/03/bringing-magic-to-the-dodgers/

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