The baseball business is booming in the Lehigh Valley

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, looking at their success off the field and looking ahead to their 2011 season on the field.

When Lehigh Valley IronPigs general manager Kurt Landes traveled to Oklahoma City in mid-September for the Triple-A Championship Game, he was somewhat surprised to discover that the Triple-A All-Star game his franchise hosted two months earlier was still a hot topic.

"To hear people still talking about their trip to the Lehigh Valley, about Coca-Cola Park's dugout suites, the exploding Coke bottle on the scoreboard, the signage we have, the promotions, and the fan support they saw we had was just amazing," Landes said. "I think they came here [to the all-star game] with a lot of questions about our success, but I think they left with a sense of amazement about the ballpark and the attention to detail."


While on the field the IronPigs have been near the bottom of the Triple-A standings for most of their three-year history, from a business perspective that fan support and attention to detail have put Landes and the organization on top of all of minor league baseball.

In only its third year of operation, Lehigh Valley led the 160 minor league teams in average attendance, drawing an average of 9,227 to its 70 home games. The IronPigs moniker and logo, ridiculed and maligned by many when unveiled in late 2006, now ranks among the most popular in minor league baseball; the team was near the top in merchandise sales in its first two seasons and is expected to be there again when the 2010 figures are disclosed early next year.

"Outsiders still shake their heads and wonder 'How do they do it with the third-smallest Triple-A market in the country?' " said Landes, who was also recognized for the second straight year as the International League's Executive of the Year.

The IronPigs' average attendance was 89 fans higher than that of Pacific Coast League leader Sacramento, the country's 25th-largest market with a growing population of more than 2.1 million, according to the 2009 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area rankings. The Lehigh Valley population in that same ranking was just over 816,000.

The IronPigs' average also was 14 percent higher than Coca-Cola Park's fixed-seating capacity of 8,089.

They are one of two International League teams and six Triple-A teams overall to have increased their average attendance in each of the last two seasons, joining Syracuse, Salt Lake, Omaha, New Orleans and Tacoma. The IronPigs also lead the International League in attendance over their first three seasons with a combined average of 8,954 and a total of 1,889,273; those numbers trail only Sacramento and Round Rock (Texas) in minor league baseball over that time span.

"The challenge every year is to top that next year, and that gets harder and harder to do every year," Landes said.

That the IronPigs have been able to do that so far bucks the recent trend in minor league baseball.

In 2009, Richmond relocated to suburban Atlanta and averaged 5,966 in its first season in a new stadium. That number dropped to 4,818 this year. That same year, the PCL's Tucson franchise moved to a new stadium in Reno, Nev., and averaged 6,481 a night in its inaugural season but dipped to 6,218 this year.

Columbus led the IL with an average of 9,526 last year in its inaugural season at downtown Huntington Park. However, the Clippers' average dropped by nearly 600 a night to 8,946 this season.

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals, based in Springdale, Ark., joined the Double-A Texas League the same season the IronPigs began play. The Naturals averaged 5,200 that season but dropped to 4,819 and 4,856 the following two seasons.

The IL schedule-maker hasn't made it easy for the IronPigs to extend their streak of increased attendance in 2011. Lehigh Valley will play 48 of its 72-game home schedule before July 4 in 2011, and traditionally attendance is lower early in the season when weather is more of a factor and schools are still in session.

"That's a lot of games in April and May," Landes said. "We won't have an all-star game to promote, and it's our fourth year, not the second or third. The challenge to the staff is to maintain and increase the number of fans in the ballpark despite those obstacles."

Landes said offseason events such as black-tie fundraisers for Lehigh Valley Heath Network, the Burn Foundation and St. Luke's Hospital, which each drew as many as 1,500 people to the park in the last month, help keep the team in the community's mind "for 12 months, not just five.

"Out of those people, I'm sure there's a sizable number who may not have been to a ballgame yet," Landes said. "Events like this expose them to the park and hopefully they'll want to come back and see a game."

From a merchandise and marketing standpoint, the IronPigs continue to be a huge success. They are one of 17 teams to make minor league baseball's top 25 list in licensed merchandise sales in each of the last two seasons, and Landes expects them to be on the 2010 list when it's unveiled early next year. The list is released alphabetically, but multiple sources indicate the IronPigs are closer to the top of that top 25 list than to the bottom.

"Our Year 1 numbers were phenomenal, as you might expect for a new team in a new market," Landes said, although he declined to give specific numbers. "Year 2 and Year 3 were also very, very strong, and we were very pleased with both years; they've exceeded our expectations."

The numbers justify the faith Landes and team president Chuck Domino showed in the unorthodox name.

"I've never felt we needed any vindication," Landes said. "We've always felt confident that our name and logo would be successful, and it is, not just because we're in the top 25 in sales but also because we've been able to integrate it into the Lehigh Valley community, from the 'Laugh-Cheer-Oink' slogan to 'Go Hog Wild' to the way we theme the ballpark.

"We're excited that our fans have loved the logo and we're one of the more successful minor league teams. It's a huge sense of pride when I'm out in public and see people wearing IronPigs hats and T-shirts."

Landes constantly passes the credit for the organization's success to his staff. He said when he receives his Executive of the Year award at baseball's winter meetings next month in Orlando, "I'm going to pass the award around the office like the Stanley Cup; everyone will get to have it in his or her cubicle for a few days.

"Our goal was to have the type of brand that would last for years and years and years, like the Durham Bulls or the Toledo Mud Hens. We want that to set the tone for our organization.

"We feel," Landes concluded, "that we have the No. 1 logo in minor league baseball."

COMING TUESDAY: An early peek at what the 2011 IronPigs roster might look like, and what the Phillies are looking for in the IronPigs' new manager.

http://www.mcall.com/sports/baseball/ironpigs/mc-ironpigs-end-1031-business-20101101,0,2053282.story