"Filling the Seats"

From Athletic Management

Analysis by Matt Nasca in SRM 435 (section 1)

This article focuses on the head baseball coach at Mississippi State University, Coach John Cohen. Coach Cohen has coached five seasons at Mississippi State, leading his team to the 2012 Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship and appeared in the NCAA tournament in both the 2012 and 2013 seasons and finished second place last year in the College World Series. So this coach is known for leading a successful Mississippi State baseball team, but he is also very well known for getting large attendance turnouts at the games. Coach Cohen has already set four of the program’s top six all time season ticket sales in just five seasons of coaching at Mississippi. In a game this past April against Auburn University more than 14,500 fans showed up, which was the second largest on campus crowd in NCAA history.

The coach said he gets successful turnouts like that by having his players go out into the community and interact and hand out tickets, instead of having a sales person going door-to-door trying to sell season tickets. He says his players receive life lessons while doing this, so it works to their advantage. He also has his players go around campus and hand out tickets to students or tell students to show up to the games, which greatly helps the high attendance numbers.

In my opinion I think this is a great way to market and get your team’s name out there. I personally would be way more inclined as a student to go to a game if an actual player came up to me, had a conversation and told me to come to a game. If I lived in a community and I saw the players going around talking to people, helping out and giving out tickets, than I would 100% go to the game to show my support since they are taking the time to come out and interact with other people. I would say that this is a risky way for a coach to market because if I were a college level coach, I would have my team practicing all the time to get better and to be able to win. But since this team is showing that it can play successfully, I think the way Coach Cohen is getting people to show up is a very good idea. 

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Analysis by Charles Higby in SRM 435 (section 1)

The Athletic Management Magazine website recently published an article about head coach John Cohen’s Mississippi State baseball success on the field, but focused on his role in maintaining the teams reputation as a leader in college attendance. There was also a mini-interview with the Mississippi State University baseball coach talking about his role in the attendance rates and the successful promotional tools he has instilled to do so. In five seasons Cohen has led the team to the 2012 Southeastern Conference Tournament championship, appearances in the 2012 and 2013 NCAA tournaments, including a second place finish in the 2013 College World Series. Attendance wise, in an April game against Auburn over 14,500 fans packed into Polk-Dement Stadium at Dudy Noble Playing Field, marking the second largest on campus crowd in NCAA history. Also four of the teams top six all time season ticket sales occurred during Cohen’s time as coach. This in part is due to his hand with promoting the team and the promotional strategies he has created. One of these techniques was having season tickets hand delivered by his players that used the team’s recognition factor as a thrilling way for the community to interact with the team. Another technique was a free program called “the dudes” where MSU students are rewarded with incentives for attending home games. These have allowed Coach Cohen to keep the Mississippi State reputation as a leader in attendance. 

From a sport marketing and promotion standpoint, I believe these techniques are a great idea to implement. The coach’s tactics are tools that can build the Mississippi State baseball brand reputation and effectively get fans into the stadium. Having the players deliver tickets builds a lot more support in the community and gives the players experience interacting with their fans. The “dudes” club at MSU is similar to student clubs I have seen before, but the rewards they offer are personal and worthwhile drawing a huge student following to games. Coach Cohen has found a way to promote his team boosting attendance and season ticket sales through promotional strategies that at the same time builds community support, teaches players important lessons about interacting with fans, and turns students into lifetime fans.This article is very relevant to our sport marketing and sales course. To be a successful organization teams need to find innovative ways to attract fans that will buy tickets and fill up the stadium. This was an interesting story about how a coach used his knowledge and experience to create effective marketing/promotional programs that boosted attendance and built upon the team’s reputation. He already had a great marketing staff, but he found ways to use the player’s recognition to make more thrilling ways to attract fans. This is a great example of marketing your brand in the sports industry to improve the organization.