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BASEBALL AND BURGERS: Dan Reiter of the Springfield Cardinals and Kristen Bergman of McDonald’s of the Ozarks this season are bringing Big Mac Land to Hammons Field.
BASEBALL AND BURGERS: Dan Reiter of the Springfield Cardinals and Kristen Bergman of McDonald’s of the Ozarks this season are bringing Big Mac Land to Hammons Field.

Springfield Cardinals debut Big Mac Land to turn around attendance

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In 1998, the St. Louis Cardinals and McDonald’s teamed up to create a baseball park icon and now Springfield’s baby birds are following in their footsteps.

In the heyday of Mark McGwire’s race to break the single-season home run record, the red birds designated a left-field section of Busch Stadium prone to home run balls as Big Mac Land. Fans loved it – along with the free Big Macs with each ticket – and the name remains to this day.

To kick off its 13th season, the Springfield Cardinals, Double-A affiliate of the 11-time world champion St. Louis Cardinals, debuted its own Big Mac Land at Hammons Field. In section A, along the first baseline in right field, the local version offers up more than just hamburgers – the area is all inclusive.

“When we sat down with McDonald’s we thought, ‘Let’s have some fun with this and create some hype,’” said Dan Reiter, director of sales and marketing for the Springfield Cardinals. “People see value in food, so all inclusive was perfect, plus you get the added bonus of a free Big Mac with your ticket, just like in St. Louis.”

Big Mac Land is one of two new promotions the Cardinals are doing with McDonald’s of the Ozarks this year. That’s in addition to a slew of other ticket packages, fireworks shows and giveaways to bolster sluggish ticket sales.

According to Minor League Baseball, the Cardinals posted the lowest total season attendance in the team’s 13-year history, pulling in 316,990 people in 2016 and ranking fifth of eight teams in the Texas League. The team posted an attendance high during the inaugural season of 526,630 people, but has generally trended downward since, averaging roughly 5,000 people per game.

“There is some year-to-year variance and a lot of that depends on how the schedule falls,” Reiter said. “If we get a lot of Friday and Saturday games, we are going to be better off than if we get a lot of Monday and Tuesday games.”

Ticket game
Team officials are banking on multiple new promotions this year, such as minipacks.

Fans can pick five games, including on premium nights, such as fireworks shows, for $15 a seat.

“Fans told us that’s what they wanted, so we did it,” Reiter said. “It’s been great; we’ve sold more than we planned.”

Themed tickets also are popular, which guarantee the holder that night’s door giveaway without standing in line.

“We originally started with 500 of those and quickly doubled it. We’ve since eclipsed that,” Reiter said, declining to disclose specific sales.

“We only had to cut it off because we have a limited number of promotional items.”

With no game on Fourth of July this year – a popular seller – the Springfield Cardinals are trying something else new, Freedom Week. The Redbirds will have post-game fireworks on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the week following July Fourth.

“This was something Tulsa did in the past and it went over really well,” Reiter said.

Despite all the discounted promotions, ticket prices are nearing inaugural season levels. A Diamond Box ticket behind home plate currently sells for $17 on the team’s website. Similar tickets were $20 when the Cardinals debuted in 2005, but by 2011, had dropped to $15.

During the 2011 season, 88 percent of seats stayed the same or declined in price, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Reiter said suite sales also continue to grow in popularity, with some of the area’s biggest names in business claiming one of 24 spots along the second level.

“We’ve had a suite since the Cardinals came to Springfield,” said Kelly Polonus, spokeswoman for Great Southern Bank. “We were a founding member because we know what a team like this means for the city.”

Declining to disclose Great Southern’s investment with the team, Polonus said the bank uses its suite to entertain customers and build relationships with prospective clients.

The Springfield Cardinals’ home boasts enclosed and climate controlled suites, allowing users to take in a ballgame in style and with a variety of food and drink choices. Companies or individuals can purchase full, half or quarter-suites by the season. In 2005, Hammons Field’s inaugural season, the suites sold for roughly $37,000, according to SBJ archives.

Fellow suite owner SRC Holdings Corp. also has had a box since 2005. CEO Jack Stack said it’s 100 percent for employee use.

“We take the number of tickets we have and divide by the number of people so everyone gets tickets,” he said, noting the company specifically requested the farthest away booth so they could be the most rambunctious. “It’s a morale builder for us, not a perk for executives.

“In fact, I haven’t been to a game in probably two and a half years. I want my employees to enjoy it more.”

Double action
Formerly known as The Nest, the new Big Mac Land expands on the popularity of another stadium section known as the Expedia Redbird Roost.

“The Redbird Roost is our most popular section and is almost always sold out,” Reiter said of the second-floor balcony along the third baseline. “The Nest was an opportunity to expand that with a different view.”

Priced the same at $29 per person, a ticket includes all-you-can eat stadium food, such as hot dogs, bratwurst, nachos and Coca-Cola products.

McDonald’s of the Ozarks – which operates 21 locations in  Springfield, Ozark, Nixa, Willard, Republic, Battlefield and Strafford – also created the McDoubles for doubles promotion.

If a player hits a double anytime during the game, fans can use their tickets to redeem a free McDouble at participating restaurants the next day.

“We want to share our food with the community,” said Kristen Bergman, spokeswoman for McDonald’s of the Ozarks.

Reiter said the Cardinals average 1.5 doubles per game – meaning a lot of free burgers in the Ozarks.

“Yes, it is going to cost a lot, but we thought, ‘Go big or go home,’” Bergman said, declining to disclose the promotions budget. “This was a joint idea between the two of us. We worked side-by-side to throw around some ideas.

“What’s more iconic than baseball and McDonald’s?”


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