While it is great for an organization to have a face that will help sell tickets and generate excitement, this one may just prove to be more of a marketing challenge than a benefit…at least in the short term. Here’s why:
There are a few professional athletes who immediately come to mind whose reputations were bigger than the franchises they represented: Michael Jordan, David Beckham, Babe Ruth, Pelé, Jackie Robinson. I’m sure you can come up with a few more.However, the primary difference between these players and Stephen Strasburg is that they played every game. Strasburg pitches once every five games. How can you build a marketing campaign that will sell tickets to all your games when your best weapon is a player that only takes the field about once a week? Do you sell “the player” or do you sell “the franchise”.
Additionally, these other players had quality teams around them that helped their franchises win, giving their respective marketing departments the ability to integrate two sellable messages: “see a great player, see a great team”. I don’t think that the National’s can be put in that classification yet. As of today, they’re still in the cellar of the National League East.
We’re all familiar with the aphorism, “A rising tide lifts all boats”. In this case it could be applied to the Nationals; as in all likelihood, they should see some residual financial benefits from the excitement surrounding Strasburg, even when he’s not playing. But if you focus your marketing messages on one marquee player, what happens to the franchise if that player begins to play poorly or worse, gets injured and is out for the season? You can’t rely on the residual benefits of a franchise player who is in rehab.
About a year ago, I saw a terrific panel discussion on sports marketing that was hosted by the DC Chapter of the American Marketing Association. One of the panelists was John Guagliano, the National’s VP of Marketing. In his closing remarks he said that the Nationals were selling “hope”. While the comment was made half in jest, I think it was somewhat prophetic.
The Nationals now have the hottest commodity in Major League Baseball in Strasburg; the next coming in 17 year old phenom Bryce Harper, who could reach the big leagues by the ripe old age of 20; an all star third baseman in Ryan Zimmerman who is only 26 years old; and by all accounts a strong list of prospects down in the minors.
For all intents and purposes, the future does look bright for the Nationals. But the team needs to sell tickets and sponsorships…today! You can only sell “hope” for so long. At some point you have to start selling results. And so far, the Nationals haven’t done that.
There is no doubt that the team is better with Strasburg on the roster, but he isn’t going to sell out 81 home games when he is only playing in 16 of them.
