Has the PawSox Brand Been Damaged This Year?
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Once as beloved as Del's Lemonade and Allie's Donuts, the PawSox brand has come under great scrutiny from the on-again, off again signals from the new ownership group that they might leave Pawtucket - or might not.
“It’s almost like the Hostess cupcakes — no one truly cared about them until they were gone,” said Mike Mota, Founder and CEO of the Rhode Island public relations and advertising firm Atom Media Group. “Some of the folks in Pawtucket weren’t happy when the owners looked at Providence. But they rallied and kept them in Pawtucket by helping sink that deal — for now. There was definitely more negative exposure than positive. But [the PawSox] can bounce back.”
A new PawSox leadership team was announced this week, where they indicated that they were “slowing the train down” in terms of considering any new venues for the team
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Clearly, the fans around here are passionate,” said Rhode Island College Marketing Professor Stephen Ramocki. “There’s definitely got to be more value to the Red Sox club having the AAA team close. It's not like a Yankees farm system that used to have their minor league team in Columbus. But the same could be said for most other New England towns for their proximity to the Red Sox. That helps the brand. It’s not like people are buying Pawtucket Red Sox gear. They’re buying Red Sox apparel. The Minor League team is driven by the Major League brand. At the end of the day, it's a business."
Determining Factors
The new PawSox ownership group was announced earlier this year, and in April they proposed a taxpayer-subsidized deal for a new stadium on a riverfront parcel of 195, that received strong public opposition before Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello announced the deal had fallen flat by September.
Attendance for the PawSox 2015 season was 466,600, which averaged just over 6,500 fans a game —which was the club's lowest attendance since 1993. The team has been at McCoy since 1970.
“I am not sure that the PawSox brand will be able to recover under the leadership of the new "stewards" of the PawSox management team. The new stewards of the team are the very same people that insulted Pawtucket, Providence, the Rhode Island taxpayer and the entire PawSox fan base with their failed "Listening Tours" and constant displays of incompetence with regard to Public Relations outreach and media messaging,” said David Norton, who led “Organizing for Pawtucket" to stop the stadium deal in Providence. “Right out of the gate these 3 newly announced stewards have managed to deeply insult the people of Pawtucket and the fan base in Pawtucket by Charles Steinberg arrogantly stating that he wants "to see passion again in Pawtucket.”
Mota, however, said he believed that the brand image could be turned around
“Yes, they looked for the subsidy, it's a business,” said Mota. “Mayor Grebien is trying to get them to stay, of course, and I think it could be done correctly with marketing the right messaging to say we banded together, we made them stay, we're going to make the stadium upgrades. You just need a good campaign.”
Rhode Island College’s Ramocki however noted that with branding, there was one other “huge component.”
“Your baseball fan isn't young anymore, most of the die-hard fans are over 50,” said Ramokci. “Younger people are drawn to other sports, football's the biggest draw.”
“Sometimes I do straw polls, but when I ask how many follow baseball, it’s increasingly dwindling,” said Ramocki. “The guys don't know the game or the rules, this could be a sign that minor league baseball is in trouble. And if the minor league is, so goes the major.”
Related Slideshow: PawSox Stadium Aftermath: Winners and Losers
The Providence baseball stadium looked like a sure thing. Powerful owners pushing the project. Top politicians coupled with influential lobbyists and PR consultants all on board. Then, everything changed.
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