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Post by 50yardfan on Aug 16, 2011 8:25:24 GMT -5
www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110815/SPORTS13/308159890/-1/SPORTSErie has been ranked among the top minor league sports markets in the United States.
Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal ranks Erie No. 25 among 248 minor league it studied to determine its biennial rankings. The list takes into account team tenure and attendance and the market economy, among other factors.
The Erie SeaWolves, Erie BayHawks and Erie Explosion were surveyed. The rankings did not take into account the Ontario Hockey League, in which the Erie Otters play, or other minor league or amateur teams or organizations.
Only Hershey-Harrisburg, which is No. 1 for a second straight rankings period, and No. 4 Reading fared better than Erie among Pennsylvania cities.
"I've always said I think Erie is a great minor league market," said Matt Bresee, president of the BayHawks, a fourth-year franchise in the National Basketball Association Development League. "I think our fans understand, regardless of the sport, what minor league sports is all about; that's the up-and-comers, the young talent -- future stars if you will, people that they'll see potentially playing at the next level. I think fans have come to appreciate that and understand that because of that you'll see roster turnover from year to year, even among managerial staff and coaches, understanding that all the while the identity of the team is Erie's."
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Post by 50yardfan on Aug 16, 2011 8:27:28 GMT -5
www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110816/SPORTS13/308159890/-1/SPORTSThe sound of Erie's minor league sports franchises is a Top 25 nationwide hit.
Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal's fourth biennial rankings, released Monday, puts Erie 25th among 248 minor league markets. Only Hershey-Harrisburg, which is No. 1 for a second straight rankings period, and No. 4 Reading fared better among Pennsylvania cities. Erie also outscored cities such as Syracuse and Rochester, N.Y., and Norfolk and Richmond, Va.
Sports Business Journal certified 47 minor league conferences featuring baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer teams for the rankings. Erie's placement is based only on the values assigned to the SeaWolves, BayHawks and Explosion; the Otters of the Ontario Hockey League and Admirals S.C. of the National Premier Soccer League were not among the teams or leagues the rankings tracked.
SBJ determined a market's score by creating values for tenure, attendance and economic rankings. Hershey-Harrisburg was assigned a 100 score, and all other markets were indexed against that total. Major league markets that also feature minor league teams were not included.
Erie scored 30th in tenure, 16th in attendance and sixth in market economy.
For Erie SeaWolves first-year president Greg Coleman, the formula is even simpler.
"It comes down to the passion of the fans and the values in the marketplace." Coleman said. "Compared to the other markets I've worked in, the sports teams in this town offer values that compete with anyone's, bar none. Whether that's our Buck Nights here at (Jerry Uht Park), or the different names that the Otters and Explosion are doing (with the same value package), it's tough to beat anywhere."
However, ticket prices did not figure into the rankings, nor did wins or losses.
"We've learned that win-loss percentages for the majority of baseball and hockey teams -- about 77 percent of the teams tracked are in these two sports -- create little attendance variance, so that criterion is excluded from the methodology," said David Broughton, SBJ research director.
Matt Bresee, president of the BayHawks, said minor league franchises don't count on wins or losses either, much as they hope for seasons like 2010, when the BayHawks went 32-18 and reached the NBA D-League playoffs. Creative marketing, contests and in-house promotions and appearances, among other events, also help to give a team a lasting identity and draw.
"As is true in every minor league city, there's no assurance of wins and losses year to year, there's no assurance of the success of the team," Bresee said. "Keeping that in mind, you've got to construct your schedule and your plans to be successful around some of the other things that make it fun."
SBJ tracked attendance for the five most recent seasons completed before July 31 and, along with percentage of seats filled, counted the results for one-fifth of the market grade. SBJ said it was unable to acquire attendance figures from the Southern Indoor Football League, in which the Explosion plays.
"I've always said I think Erie is a great minor league market," said Bresee, who also is a former SeaWolves front office executive. "I think our fans understand, regardless of the sport, what minor league sports is all about; that's the up-and-comers, the young talent -- future stars if you will, people that they'll see potentially playing at the next level. I think fans have come to appreciate that and understand that because of that you'll see roster turnover from year to year, even among managerial staff and coaches, understanding that all the while the identity of the team is Erie's."
Economic rank includes fluctuations in unemployment, population and what SBJ calls each market's Total Personal Income.
"Erie's such a blue-collar town," Bresee said. "At this level, regardless of the sports, you typically get a breed of player at the minor league level who's still playing very hard, their heart's in the right place, aspiring to get to the next level. It's easy to cheer for those guys and get behind them."
Tenure accounts for two-thirds of the market's grade and includes each team's length of stay and the total number of team-years over the past five seasons. The SeaWolves have been in Erie since 1995, the BayHawks for the past three seasons and an indoor football team in the SIFL or American Indoor Football Association since 2005.
SBJ made no mention of it, but tenure might include an incalculable part of a market's ranking: Fan IQ, or the process of team longevity creating long-term interest, and that interest leading to an inherent knowledge of the team and its history by its fans.
"You have some markets where you have to do a lot of educating what your product is," Coleman said. "In Erie, they're very well educated and up to speed on what players have played here, in many cases when they've played here, where they might have gone on to play in the major leagues."
Erie ranked fifth among Eastern League and NBA D-League cities and second among SIFL markets.
Jamestown, N.Y., home of the New York-Penn League Jammers, ranked 72nd.
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