Jamie Toole, beginning his first season as the general manager of the Bridgeport Bluefish, said the team”™s marketing goal both this year and going forward is simple.
“We need to meet our fan base on their terms,” Toole said. “Not ours.”
Big draws this year include the Atlantic League All-Star Game in July and, the following day, a matchup between retired Yankees and Red Sox players to benefit a local nonprofit.
The team, from both an attendance and win-loss perspective, is not what it once was. The Bluefish have finished last in attendance in the independent Atlantic League for four consecutive years. During its heyday, the team routinely had more than 1,000 season ticket-holders. Now, Toole said the organization”™s attainable goal is to hit 500 this season.
- Jamie Toole, Bridgeport Bluefish general manager.
And the team, which won the 1999 Atlantic League Championship in just its second year of existence, has made the playoffs just once in the last eight seasons. But Toole sees this season as a potential turning point for the organization.
On April 24, the team”™s opening day, a Two Roads Beer Garden with picnic tables will be unveiled in the right field pavilion. New signage has been installed around the Ballpark at Harbor Yard. Locally themed box seats and concessions will also be introduced. Even the longstanding bluefish logo has been replaced by a solid “B.”
The goal: to become even more of a Bridgeport staple and attract fans who may not have a rooting interest in the team, or even baseball, but are still looking for a fun time in their backyard.
Toole, who served last year as the team”™s assistant general manager, helped institute these initiatives ”” some new and some improved-upon ”” to draw larger crowds and help the Ballpark at Harbor Yard become a “community institution.”
“Our current fan base is probably a half-hour radius ”” Trumbull, Milford, Stratford, Bridgeport predominantly,” said Toole, a South Carolina native. “We want to expand that market. We want to reach places like Stamford, places like Greenwich, places like New Haven.”
Large groups of businesspeople who may rent suites or sit in boxes as well as families constitute two target audiences Toole and the Bluefish hope to see at the park this season.
But Toole said the 25-man roster isn”™t its biggest marketing tool. A player often weaves through professional baseball like a seeing-eye single, rarely staying long enough at one Minor League team to become a household name. But one member doesn”™t stray: the team”™s mascot, B.B.
The anthropomorphic bluefish routinely makes appearances at Chamber of Commerce events and other community events throughout Fairfield County. In March, he marched in the Stamford St. Patrick”™s Day parade. He”™s the gilled face of the franchise that Toole sees as the way to enter the market of western Fairfield County.
Out of the team”™s 70 home games this season, 37 will be giveaway nights, a figure Toole called “dynamic” compared with promotional schedules of years past. Bobbleheads, pennants and specialty jerseys are some of the promotional themed nights, classically called Fan Appreciation Days. “MOMdays” will provide all mothers with a free ticket with the purchase of a kids”™ price box seat.
The Ballpark at Harbor Yard will also be the site of the annual Atlantic League All-Star game on July 8. The following day, the park will host the “Heroes for Heroes” Legends Game, featuring former Yankees and Red Sox players. It will benefit Homes for the Brave, a Bridgeport-based nonprofit providing housing and other support to veterans.
The ballpark, within short driving or walking distance from rail, bus and ferry, is in a centralized location. Its development helped revitalize south Bridgeport two decades ago and directly led to the construction of the adjacent Webster Bank Arena.
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch called the team part of the “heart and soul” of the city and called principal team owner Frank Boulton a “good friend.” He expects to be be in attendance for Bill Finch bobblehead night May 6.
“I”™ve always felt a strong commitment to the team because they symbolized our city coming back,” Finch said. “On top of that, it”™s one of the best bargains in sports. You can”™t find a better value for your dollar for family entertainment.”
Ticket prices, Toole said, will remain the same as last year, with general admission around $14.
Toole, 36, who has 15 years experience in various leadership roles in professional baseball, was named general manager of the Bluefish in September after Ken Shepard, the team”™s general manager for the previous two seasons, died of kidney cancer in September at age 49.
“It was a very difficult time for all of us in the organization,” Toole said. “Ken began some really great things for the team and I”™m just hoping to build on what he started.”
The Bluefish also have a new manager, Ricky VanAsselberg, this season. Toole was confident VanAsselberg, a Lousiana native and former Minor League player and manager, would bring an Atlantic League championship in the very near future. As with any sports franchise, the success on and off the field is cyclical.
Now, the focus is on making the ballpark the best attraction it can be.
“You take over the Yankees, what are you going to do? Win another championship? That”™s been done so many times before,” Toole said. “I love the challenge of starting something new.”
