Brewers Season Ticket Holder Survey

[jerichoholicninja]

In one of the previous surveys they want to rend toward making the bobblehead days not all fan give away days. I believe some if not all of the bobbles will be the 1st 20,000 days.

 

hmmm, that will be different, hopefully those who normally show up to games late or at the start of the game will get the message...

 

It's a terrible decision by the Brewers. On every one of those days, a number of kids will be disappointed that someone sitting near them got something for free while they didn't.

 

And they will have staffers who have to deliver the news to thousands of people that they have run out of the giveaways.

 

Boo!!

 

I'm pretty sure when they first started doing bobbleheads they were only for the first whatever number of people.

[JimH5]

I'm pretty sure when they first started doing bobbleheads they were only for the first whatever number of people.

 

That sounds about right. I remember promo items being for the first x number of kids, or adults (when it was sponsored by a beer company).

 

But once they changed to All Fan Giveaways, that set the new expectation. Now we recognize that they could afford to buy and giveaway 40,000 bobbleheads, but they have chosen to cut back by 15,000.

 

Rick Schlesinger just told us in his concession stand video that the Brewers "cherish the fans". How does this new bobble policy demonstrate that I'm being cherished? They're making me rush to the stadium 45 minutes before I otherwise would have, just so I can quickly get in line ahead of the 15,000 others who won't get their trinket?

 

His words ring hollow.

[MrTPlush]

Question is how many people don't get a bobble head? There is always crates of extras that they send to spring training. This whole "I gotta rush to get one" thing is overblown anyway. Get there at game time and you will surely get one. Not that hard.

[JimH5]

Question is how many people don't get a bobble head? There is always crates of extras that they send to spring training. This whole "I gotta rush to get one" thing is overblown anyway. Get there at game time and you will surely get one. Not that hard.

 

And it's not that hard to understand the basic math.

 

They had more than 25,000 fans at every Sunday home game this past year. If they draw the same crowds, then someone goes home empty handed next year. It doesn't matter if it's me or you or whoever. The Brewers don't need to alienate fans, and by shorting their bobblehead promotion--when they have proven that they can afford to give one to everyone--they're alienating the people they say they cherish.

 

This isn't about me getting a bobblehead. It's about the Brewers treating fans differently this year than they treated them the past several years.

[MrTPlush]

Many teams do giveaways that aren't promising every fan one. I believe the world keeps spinning, but don't quote me. Cubs typically only give out 10,000 and they are not the only team to do so. I think the marketing team knows what they are doing. People who buy tickets because it is a giveaway day will make sure to get there before they run out. Those who don't get one likely didn't really care if they got one or not anyway. This is a pretty big non issue.

[Dean Machine]

The Twins do smaller bobblehead numbers and fans have to line up hours in advance to get one. One time on the radio I heard some guy almost literally crying about how the Twins didn't have the same number of bobbles at each gate and it wasn't fair how he didn't get one.

[ewitkows]

Simple answer to fix the problem , get rid of bobbleheads all together. I always throw mine out or leave it behind.

[trwi7]

Simple answer to fix the problem , get rid of bobbleheads all together. I always throw mine out or leave it behind.

 

Why? People actually pay money for those.

[ewitkows]

I go to watch baseball, i don't care about the giveaways. I'd rather they knock a buck or 2 off the tickets instead

[trwi7]

I go to watch baseball, i don't care about the giveaways. I'd rather they knock a buck or 2 off the tickets instead

 

I agree but if you can get one, take one because people, for some reason are willing to pay quite a bit of money for them. I sold a minor league hockey player's bobblehead for $15 walking out of a game last year because some guy who wasn't at the game wanted one. That almost paid for the cost of the ticket.

[MrTPlush]

You are going to upset people and not everyone is going to be happy. That pretty much goes for just about anything the Brewers do. This has little to do with buying less bobbleheads and all to do with a smart way to get people to buy more stuff inside the stadium if you ask me. Lower the amount of bobbleheads and people afraid of not getting one will line up and get in the stadium early. Longer you are in the stadium(especially before the game) the more money fans will spend(especially families). It's impossible to please everyone and the sooner you realize that the faster you will start raking in the dough.

[hawing]

I'm really struggling if I want to get the 20 pack of the fans choice package. My tickets went up $2 per seat for a team with the lowest payroll in baseball. Plus, the choice package has been changed where I have to select games through 3 different groups. Part of me wants to just say screw it and not get the tickets this year.

What do you mean by "select games through three different groups"? I'm just curious. We switched from the fan's choice a while ago, so I haven't followed how it works since.

[Bikeage77]

Here are just a few thoughts:

 

Some families do not get to go to as many games as others. Travel, cost, etc. When those families do go, they may base it around a certain bobblehead game. They may want to tailgate and take in the entire experience. I find it hard to do that if you have to get in the lot and be sure to get a bobblehead.

 

The bobblehead "market" is not nearly as strong as it once was. In the past you could flip em on eBay for your ticket cost. Now they are on eBay weeks before that giveaway as a presale. The market is flooded. By the time you take the time to put it on eBay, the auctions don't go for much and the Buy It Nows sit forever. If you happen to put it on auction, you have to realize you need to box it up and drive it to the post office. eBay gets a cut, Paypal gets a cut, and you get $5. Some people will argue that they can get more, but just look at recent sales. The market has essentially bottomed out. Minor league ones will draw more because there is less of them.

 

Bottom line: Someone is gonna be upset. Danged if ya do and your danged if ya don't.

[JimH5]

I would rather that the Brewers be upset that they end up with extras than a family be upset that they ended up being #25,001 in line.

 

Once the Brewers decided to do All Fan giveaways for bobbleheads, I think they're locked in on that promotion, otherwise they end up looking cheap.

 

The fact that it comes just days after Rick Schlesinger tells us how they cherish the fans makes him look disingenuous in my eyes.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I'm really struggling if I want to get the 20 pack of the fans choice package. My tickets went up $2 per seat for a team with the lowest payroll in baseball. Plus, the choice package has been changed where I have to select games through 3 different groups. Part of me wants to just say screw it and not get the tickets this year.

What do you mean by "select games through three different groups"? I'm just curious. We switched from the fan's choice a while ago, so I haven't followed how it works since.

 

Each game is coded in one of 3 categories. The first with a maximum of 3 games are opening day and select Cubs games. The second group is a maximum of 12 games which most if not all are weekend games in the summer months and the other Cubs games. The last group is all the remaining games which is a minimum of 5 games picked.

 

It's hard enough for me the schedule 20 games I want to go to now without the restrictions. As each day goes by I'm less excited about renewing my tickets.

[Patrick425]

We always get the Saturday 20 game pack (which includes all Saturday night games, some Friday games and usually 2 or 3 week night games). So, we rarely if ever go to a Sunday game (not a big bobble head collector). However, a couple of thoughts:

 

- Never understand why they are not more "strategic" with their giveaways. Why have a giveaway pretty much every Sunday? Don't they normally get large crowds then anyways? Seems like giving away an item on something like a Tuesday night vs. Colorado would allow them to fill more seats on those "non-popular" game days. Either way, why always have the bobble head give away on the same day of the week? Maybe there are people who would like to get bobbleheads, but Sundays are not good days for them to attend games for some reason or another.

 

- I agree with Jim regarding the limiting to the first 20-25K or whatever number they come up with. I'll add that one of the reasons that I don't like it is that there usually no give-aways that I feel I must have or would be disappointing if I didn't get (I like the soft shell coolers, but I don't even know if they do that give away any more). However, when they limit the number of giveaways for a game, whether or not I care about getting the give-away, it just makes me have to leave my house that much earlier to get a decent spot (even though we already have pre-paid preferred parking!).

[trwi7]

Are they getting large crowds on Sunday because it's Sunday or are they getting large crowds on Sunday because of the giveaways?

[logan82]

I care more about every fan getting a bobble than I do about making a secondary market for them.

[JimH5]

Are they getting large crowds on Sunday because it's Sunday or are they getting large crowds on Sunday because of the giveaways?

 

I think the giveaways are a part of the Sunday family experience. It's weekend day baseball with a Kids eat free promotion. They run the sausage race with little kids running in costume. Kids can run the bases after the game. I think the giveaway promotions fit in nicely with that experience, as you get your item the minute you walk in the front door. Unless you're among the thousands of people who don't.

[stoutdude04]

My girlfriend likes the bobbles, so if that's an excuse to go to Sunday games I'm okay with it. I'm hoping they don't limit it because we usually take a shuttle in around 1245, so we wouldn't be one of the first 20k. So, I for one, would not go to as many Sunday games (with the gf anyways).

[BrewersSuperCollector]

A few years ago I believe the cost of sponsorship was $100,000 for a bobble game. That price was negotiable a few years ago as the Brewers didn't have enough sponsors to cover their promotion schedule.

 

I understand the sponsors wanting their day on the more popular attendance games. More people, more bang for your buck.

 

I have no idea how much bobbles cost to be manufactured, especially 45,000 of them.

[TURBO]

I'm hoping they don't limit it...

 

I'm pretty sure it's already a done deal. Once they publicly announce it, it won't change.

[TURBO]

 

I have no idea how much bobbles cost to be manufactured, especially 45,000 of them.

 

Someone once told me it is less than $4 per bobble...

[jerichoholicninja]

 

I have no idea how much bobbles cost to be manufactured, especially 45,000 of them.

 

Someone once told me it is less than $4 per bobble...

 

Mike Rowe's show Somebody's Got To Do It did a segment on bobbleheads. They're incredibly cheap to get made, if you get them mass produced overseas. Otherwise I want to say it was at least $50 a piece made in the US.

[BradWI]

The change is more likely because the sponsors not willing to pay for 40,000 bobbles when that many won't be given away.

 

The Brewers probably love having all the extras - they use them for charity and promotional initiatives and might get a nice tax deduction for that.