MADISON, Wis. — The Madison Mallards baseball organization never has been known to shy away from outlandish promotions. So it should come as no surprise that the most popular collegiate summer league team in the country is at it again in 2013.
Want a free, full-color Mallards tattoo at a game? Interested in watching a group of "worm charmers" try to coax worms out of the ground? How about post-game trick-or-treating on the field?
As the folks on the northeast side of Madison have proven over the years, no idea is too zany.
In addition to the aforementioned promotions, fans will have the opportunity to meet Mountain Man from the TV show Duck Dynasty, WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Mick "Mankind" Foley and Larry Thomas (he of the "Soup Nazi" fame on Seinfeld).
"I think we're going to do a soup cook-off with our chef," Mallards general manager Conor Caloia said. "Maybe get the community involved a little bit. That's a big one for us."
The promotions also consist of more traditional baseball staples, including bobblehead giveaways and fireworks shows. But it is everything else that makes Mallards baseball stand out in a crowd.
"You walk around that ballpark like it's a state fair kind of thing," Mallards owner Steve Schmitt said. "That's always been my theory. You walk in through left field all the way down, there's a lot more going on besides a baseball game.
"We want it to pop, we want it colorful, we want lights and flags. There's no real answer. I don't think we've really hit a home run yet with this. We're still every year trying to do something bigger and better and see what's going to work. I'm just fascinated by it and I'm like a little kid."
This year, the Mallards have added a video board in left field that is four times bigger than the previous version — so fans don't have to squint to see the score from behind home plate, as Schmitt notes. They also have kept ticket prices the same as last season. Single-game tickets range from $8 to $33 for the all-you-can-eat-and-drink package.
Schmitt became owner of the Mallards in 2001, and interest in the team has steadily increased. During that first season, average attendance was 1,039 fans. But team executives continued to concoct new ideas to draw fans. Perhaps most famously, 500 people lined up before a game one summer to eat a dead beetle for the right to earn a free food and drink ticket. Nearly 250 of those fans were turned away because they didn't have enough beetles.
In 2011, Madison set a new summer league record by averaging 6,278 fans per game.
Last season, that number dipped slightly to an average of 6,204 fans. But the mark still far surpassed the next-best total in the Northwoods League. The La Crosse Loggers averaged 2,951 fans and the Eau Claire Express were third at 2,069 fans. No other league team averaged more than 1,600 fans.
Some of Madison's attendance surge comes from simply being in a bigger city. Madison's population is roughly 237,000, while the population in La Crosse is about 52,000. Still, Caloia is confident there is more to the Mallards' attendance success than a broader group of people from which to choose.
Caloia said the Mallards have a full-time staff of 16 employees, with 10 of those tasked with selling tickets through corporate clients, little leagues or group tickets. He noted no other Northwoods League team has more than four full-time employees. That focus, coupled with good promotions, a fun fan experience and an affordable product, is why Caloia believes Madison has experienced such an attendance boost with its summer league baseball team.
Some of the other notable and unusual promotions taking in place in 2013 include a BMX bike stunt performance, BOCA burger vegetarian appreciation night, super hero costume night and a chance to win $5,000 in a post-game toy airplane toss.
Schmitt, an area business owner, said he has picked up ideas from other teams, including during stops in Jupiter, Fla., during spring training to watch the St. Louis Cardinals.
"A lot of it is just trial and error," Schmitt said. "We're there to take care of fans. We've learned from a few other teams. I'm sure a lot of teams have learned from us or tried. What works for someone else might not work in Madison. What works in Madison might not work in Rochester, Minn."
Madison opens the season Wednesday, May 29 with a home game against the Eau Claire Express. There will be a poster schedule giveaway that day, which is quite tame compared to what the rest of the season has to offer.
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