Charlotte Knights baseball will look different. Is it enough to ensure fans feel safe?
Along with staying affordable and entertaining, minor league baseball now faces a new marketing challenge when the economy reopens: Showing fans they will be safe from COVID-19 while watching sports in-person.
Because nobody has to show up when the games resume.
“Going to the grocery store is a necessity,” Charlotte Knights Chief Operating Officer Dan Rajkowski said. “Going to the ballpark is not a necessity.”
Rajkowski can’t predict when the 2020 season will begin at BB&T Ballpark in uptown. First, Gov. Roy Cooper has to phase out the statewide stay-at-home order, which runs at least through May 8.
Beyond that, Rajkowski takes his cues from Major League Baseball: As the Class AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, the Knights are dependent on MLB for players.
It seems unlikely baseball would resume on the minor-league level before late June or early July. Rajkowski and his staff have started thinking through how to stage games while practicing social distancing in response to the pandemic.
Baseball parks, like all sports venues, are designed to optimize view of the field. That means packed-together seating.
Each seat at BB&T Ballpark (capacity 10,200) is 22 inches wide and side-by-side. it’s unlikely, Rajkowski said, that fans will feel comfortable at first sitting side-by-side with strangers when baseball resumes.
“You’re going to have to at least initially look at some kind of reconfiguration of the seating bowl,” Rajkowski said of a plan still in process.
A family event
The Knights’ business model is very different from the NFL Carolina Panthers, NBA Charlotte Hornets or NASCAR. Those sports all have television revenue, while minor league baseball is entirely dependent on sales of tickets, concessions and sponsorships.
So, while NASCAR wants to run the Coca-Cola 600 in late May in an empty Charlotte Motor Speedway to provide television programming, there is no economically feasible way to play Knights baseball without fans in the seats.
Fans’ incentive to show up at Knights games is as much about getting outside on a pretty summer night as the game on the field. While the Knights don’t cover players’ salaries (the White Sox do), they still pay 400 or more game-day workers.
Convincing people to come out and socialize — even while practicing social-distancing —must still be the sales pitch.
“This is a family social event,” Rajkowski described. “In the NFL and the NBA, (attendance is) more driven by wins and losses. Ours is driven more by the experience that you have.”
Rajkowski keeps sizing up BB&T Ballpark to decide what must change.
There is the obvious — heavy and constant cleaning, figuring how to avoid cluttered aisles and bathrooms, and setting up hand-sanitizing stations. And then there is the subtle — utilizing space without creating health risk.
This isn’t just about being careful, though. It’s about making sure fans notice.
“Its so important that they feel safe, that they know we’ll be taking all the proper precautions,” Rajkowski said.
Not 9/11
Baseball became a source of calm and normalcy after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, particularly when President George Bush went to Yankee Stadium to throw out a first pitch.
This is different, Rajkowski says, because the current crisis involves a disease that can be transmitted through the air.
“It’s not like 9-11. That wasn’t necessarily an issue of health safety,” Rajkowski said. “That was an issue of being in large venues, making sure that security is adequate” rather than infection control.
Rajkowski said Charlotteans feeling housebound during stay-at-home could work in the Knights’ favor, since people will crave things to do. The Panthers and Hornets likely won’t be playing games when baseball starts, unless the NBA renews the regular season before starting playoffs.
It’s also beneficial, Rajkowski said, that baseball is outside, where people can move about and might feel less anxious about public gatherings. “That’s a real positive, where indoor arenas are more of a challenge.”
Still, Rajkowski faces a world of unknown.
“People are going to be anxious to get out. Sports are a great outlet,” he said, but added, “I don’t think there is going to be a mad rush” back to the ballpark
This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 7:30 AM.
