Local Sports Teams Count On Marketing To Stay In The Game

Radio feature about Macon sports teams using marketing to be successful

Aaron Hutchison stood cheering Macon Mayhem players as they chased a puck around the ice on a recent Sunday evening at the Macon Centreplex.

“This is a team that they’re trying to get somewhere and, of course, all these people come out ‘cause they want to see fights," he said. "They want to see bloodshed. That’s the fun of it.”

His jersey said “Heckler” on it, but really he’s a superfan of the three-year-old hockey team. And he’s not alone. Since the Mayhem’s inception in 2015, crowds have been steadily growing. 

The impact of successful local sports teams does more than fulfill Macon’s wish to become a sports town; it’s good for the local economy, too.

Aaron Buzza of the Macon Convention and Visitor’s Bureau said people in Middle Georgia love sports. But he recognized that support has deeper effects than packed stadiums.

“Anytime anybody comes to town for a sporting event, there’s economic impact,” Buzza said. “Typically, if someone’s coming from out of town, they’re not just going to the hockey game and going home. They’re going to fill their car with gas; they’re going to stop for a meal.”

Semi-professional and amateur sports teams often come to large and small cities, only to stay for several years before failing. Some have lost funding after changing owners relocated teams, while others failed from constantly shuffling leagues and a lack of community interest.

Macon wants to make its new teams stick.

And, soon, the Mayhem won't be the only team in the city known more for its music legends. The Macon Bacon baseball team takes the field this summer, recruiting both local and non-local college players. The Bacon already signed two Mercer players to its roster.

The Bacon is part of the same Coastal Plain League as the wildly successful Savannah Bananas, a team that typically sells out games. The same majority owners represent both teams, too. Bacon President Todd Pund said the reason the leagues succeeded where others failed was an emphasis on marketing.

“It’s not about baseball." Pund said. "It’s about entertainment. Baseball is just the game going on on the field."

And that field was part of the attraction.

Luther Williams is still the second oldest minor league ballpark in the country. It’s been featured in movies and hosted well-known players Pete Rose, Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones. Pund said previous teams that came to Macon wanted the local government to fund a complete renovation, but the small town wasn’t in a financial position to do so. The Bacon’s owners asked for something else: tweaks and minor renovations made the ballpark financially viable for Macon.

“We saw a niche we could help fill. We could help revitalize this ballpark,” Pund said. “And the cool thing is, I’ve been doing this 20 years; I’ve never worked on a project where this old ballpark means a lot to the people of Macon.”

Pund said their goal is to make baseball accessible and affordable to the community.

Tickets are often sold in five or 10-game packs rather than with entire season passes, and they have plans to build a beer garden. That decision was not made by coincidence but by a planned marketing technique that the Bacon sees as a way to attract more families.

“Quite frankly, major league teams have priced families out,” Pund said. “And that’s kind of where we find our niche. Affordable, all you can eat. Because if they overbuy, they don’t use, then we lose because they won’t come out.”

The CVB’s Buzza said the park’s location in a downtown that is undergoing revitalization is also a huge plus.

“It’s a real great opportunity; a real great time to be here in the community,” Buzza said. “And teams are here recognizing that we’re right on the edge of something amazing.”

The thing the teams all have in common is marketing. They pour resources into social media and create events and themes around each of their games.

The theme for a fall Mayhem game was “Star Wars” — and the fans ate it up. Children in “Star Wars” costumes dotted the Coliseum prior to the game, as theme music from the film blasted through the speakers and adults paid to adorn character costumes interacted with fans.

“You have ownership that’s really bought in to the community, and has decided that they’re going to plant their flag here, so to speak. And that means something,” Buzza said. “They’re here because it’s Macon and they’re going to make it work.”

Macon Mayhem players often visit local high schools to talk to kids about college, sports and future aspirations. Bacon President Pund said an integral part of the marketing plan involves creating bonds between players, fans and local businesses.

“Usually in the marketplace there’s gonna be between five and seven percent of people that are going to be interested,” Pund said. “The rest, you have to go out and get.”

And go out and get, they have. The Bacon’s aggressive marketing on social media has already aided them in selling 80 percent of their first game tickets.

Hockey enthusiast Aaron Hutchison, back on his feet, cheered as two hockey players collided in the rink. From the perspective of a local who’d watched the rise and fall of multiple sports teams in Macon, the benefit to having teams is simple:

“As long as we can teach the kids to come to this instead of being out there, you know, doing some stupid stuff,” Hutchinson said.

He said he’s already looking forward to cheering on the Georgia Doom, Macon’s new arena football team.

“It’s almost like a no-rule kind of football scenario, you know? It’s almost like backyard football, which always makes it more fun because they don’t have all the rules that the NFL and all those stupid other ones do,” Hutchinson said.

The Doom plays its inaugural game against the Atlanta Havoc on Saturday.