Springfield Nor’easters is the new minor league baseball team in Springfield. Many of Springfield’s residents live below the poverty line, along with 60% of households being families with children. Most people know that the minor league players are just building up their skill level and that the win rates don’t matter as much. So the general mindset when going to see these games is to have fun. The main problem that Larry Buckingham, the marketing director of the Nor’easters, is facing is how many people want to watch the Nor’easters and how much could they charge them?
Frank V. Cespedes; Laura Winig; Christopher H. Lovelock
Harvard Business Review (2510-PDF-ENG)
July 25, 2008
Case questions answered:
- Determine the optimal ticket pricing that will yield the largest attendance for the Springfield Nor’easters.
- What would the tickets have to be priced to break even for the first year?
- What would the marketing plan and media mix entail?
- How would concessions and other factors play into the mix?
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The Springfield Nor'easters: Maximizing Revenues in the Minor Leagues Case Answers
This case solution includes an Excel file with calculations.
Springfield Nor’easters
Springfield Nor’easters is the new minor league baseball team in Springfield. Located in Massachusetts, Springfield is a great location to open up a baseball stadium. However, many of Springfield’s residents live below the poverty line, along with 60% of households being families with children.
The minor league teams are usually associated with their major league counterparts, meaning they also share that brand. Most people know that the minor league players are just building up their skill level and that the win rates don’t matter as much.
So, the general mindset when going to see these games is to have fun. The main problem that Larry Buckingham, the marketing director of the Springfield Nor’easters, is facing is how many people want to watch the Nor’easters and how much we could charge them.
Product – The Springfield Nor’easters Baseball Game
The main advantage that the Springfield Nor’easters are offering is entertainment. This can be broken down into separate components, such as tickets, concession stand items, and team merchandise.
Entertainment for an individual can mean many things, such as going to see the game with his/her friends on a Friday night or going to see every home game of the season.
As a business competing with other entertainment options, the Springfield Nor’easters have to be sure to provide top-quality baseball entertainment that is also affordable to the mass public.
Along with a good time, the stadium can also offer a real-life experience for individuals who are interested in playing baseball. This comes in the form of training camps and getting to meet the team.
Price
This is a crucial component to the mix for the Springfield Nor’easters since the area where the stadium is built consists of a significant portion of the population that is below the poverty line.
If the tickets aren’t priced low enough, households will turn to other cheaper forms of entertainment. However, if the tickets are priced too low, the stadium won’t make any profit.
The survey was sent out to a total of 10,00 residents of Springfield, 5,000 of whom are above the poverty line and 5,000 who subscribe to sports-related organizations.
The goal of the survey is to identify who will potentially come to these Springfield Nor’easters baseball games and the optimal price of the tickets.
Place
The stadium is located in Springfield, MA. However, the place portion of the product mix consists of how to use the space in the stadium for advertisements and where to put the concession stands for optimal coverage.
Promotion
How are the residents of Springfield going to hear about the new baseball stadium, and how are we going to entice them to come to watch the Springfield Nor’easters?
SWOT analysis
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