Tea and Scones with the GM (continued)

Techno Tim Auty - Just for old times sake

Ok, for those arriving late to the party, this is part 2 of an interview the Defensive Specialist conducted with NSW Patriots General Manager Eddie Bray over a delightful high tea featuring fresh scones. Eddie went on so long that the conversation morphed into a full degustation meal with accompanying wine selections.

Onto part 2:

Can you indicate what sort of crowds you’re expecting in 2010 / 2011.

We’re shooting for 1200 – 1500 average attendance crowds next year.

Will the Blacktown Olympic facility be the home field of the NSW franchise?

Yes, Blacktown Olympic Park will continue to be the home of the Sydney ABL Franchise (Team Sydney).

Blacktown is an exciting local government area and has the highest population of any NSW LGA and highest ‘real’ population growth. In addition, consider the number of sports breaking down doors to get access to the precinct (ie. AFL, Soccer). It’s a ‘no brainer’ the surrounding community is going to continue to grow. Our challenge is to successfully ‘tap into’ that catchment and that of the secondary LGA’s which when combined = 920,000 potential spectators alone before we go looking elsewhere.

Do you believe baseball fans from other parts of the state will travel to Blacktown to watch ABL baseball?

I can’t see why not, people travel from Blacktown to the SCG / Footy Stadium to watch a game of cricket or footy = why shouldn’t it work in reverse? I guess some people need to understand that Pyrmont isn’t the population centre for Sydney (ABS stats indicate that it’s Ermington) and Sydney covers some serious real estate.

I’ll concede Friday nights are hard for the majority of Sydney to get to a game (you’ve got to love Sydney traffic) and we’ll need to focus heavily on the local market to get them here for those games. Saturday with a double header should be able to draw crowds in and then that just leaves the additional expanded opening this coming season. We’ve got two choices Thursday or Sunday = I’m leaning towards Sunday afternoon. If we run the game early afternoon it should allow an easy stress free journey to BOP for those from Manly, Cronulla, Macarthur, etc + importantly it allows our fans to get home at a pretty reasonable time on Sunday afternoon as well. In regard to Thursday night, I just can’t see how I get it working.

Yes, I can see people travelling to BOP based on the rationale outlined.

Will you look to play games in alternative locations within the state again?

Possibly we will for various reasons, these being: 

• Continual games in the one venue possibly could lead to what I call ‘crowd fatique’.
• Taking the game to an area of Sydney / NSW that doesn’t traditionally travel to BOP will provide access to ‘fresh’ spectators leading to longer term potential to grow the game. 

I’m aware that we received criticsm for playing a series at Gilchrist (some warranted) but I’ve got to say the crew at Gilchrist did a great job! It wasn’t perfect and we learnt a lot from it (that in itself was one of the season’s objectives = to try and learn from it). If we’re to play games away from BOP then we will need certain assurances and guarantees before we proceed. Importantly, it will need to be in a venue benchmarked against a comparable venue to that of our competitor sports.

The real issue in moving games from BOP is that we are primarily a ‘night’ competition; with this in mind we have limited alternative venues across the state.

What sort of media coverage can baseball fans expect?

From a ‘Team Sydney’ perspective the high priority is to get into the local market mainstream papers. Our ability to ‘get in’ to date has been a bit frustrating. Additionally, this will be supported by a strong community focused newspaper strategy (no Defensive Specialist = you won’t see it in the ‘Pyrmont Chronicle’ but it will be in the ‘Blacktown Advocate’).

I’m happy to report that senior ABL management are currently negotiating television activity on a national level in a ‘magazine’ format (think Baseball Tonight).

Regarding radio, we have sensational support from Triple H FM and we anticipate this relationship will continue into this coming season. The added bonus is our games will be available live over the web to get access to the wider audience.

Additionally, without giving too much away expect to see specific initiatives in relation to our website to further communicate to our fans.

As the league grows, do you believe NSW can support 2 franchises?

NSW = 4 million+ people and 50% of the Australian baseball playing population. Based on that, in time a 2^nd franchise will work, just don’t expect the intro to be ‘easy street’ from our perspective!

How is sponsorship shaping up for the coming season?

As I previously indicated it is a high priority in this off-season. We got off to a sluggish start last season and never caught up. Having said that I’ve got to say that this season we’re off to a great start and we’ve had great support. Please appreciate that until announcements about the team etc start to come out (which is soon) I can’t reveal our key partners, but expect some big announcements soon. It is all part of our ‘market communication’ strategy.

Do you see Asian teams ever participating in this league?

I can’t see why not (personal view) though I guess it will depend on these teams meeting League criteria. I’ve already gone on record as indicating that from a Sydney perspective the involvement of the Asian community is beneficial to growing our sport locally.

What can we expect from the NSW team in 2010 /2011?

Firstly, I’m confident we’ll be a Sydney team. That in itself allows us to distance from those things traditionally NSW representative (I’m thinking ‘two blues’, etc).

I see things being pretty exciting. We’ve got a pretty young ball club playing, coaching, and off field that doesn’t come with past baggage. In a brave new world known as ABL baseball we can achieve anything. This season (as opposed to last season) we have 6 months to get it right, not 6 weeks!

For the fans, expect:

• Good quality baseball on Australia’s premier baseball diamond
• A competitive baseball team.
• Great entertainment all game long.
• Excellent $ value.
• Something for all the family.
• A ‘bloody’ good time! 

What more could you ask for?

Defensive Specialist, I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to talk with you. I always find the experience uplifting and enriching! Thank you for sharing our conversation with the greater baseball community hopefully it not only gives the NSW baseball community a taste for what is coming but also baseball fans Australia-wide. – Eddie Bray.

*The Defensive Specialist assures readers that Eddie wrote that last paragraph himself!

When a GM agrees to sit down and talk shop with the Defensive Specialist there is a little bit of work involved as you can imagine! Many thanks to Eddie Bray for taking the time to share his thoughts on the state of his franchise and baseball in NSW. Be sure to hit the Deep in the Hole mailbox (thedefensivespecialist@gmail.com) if you have any questions or queries you’d like the Defensive Specialist to present to GM’s around the country.

And if you missed it yesterday, be sure to check out easily the best play you’ll see this Major League baseball season (click on the link):

Mark Buehrle