Orlando Magic business getting creative to market team
Winning is the ultimate elixir for everything in sports. The Orlando Magic are no different as they try new ways to market the team and fill Amway Center.
If there is one truth in professional sports, it is that winning solves everything.
When a team wins, it does not have to worry so much about placating egos or filling seats. The product really sells itself easily.
When a team loses? Things get a little dicier. Expectations, particularly on the business end have to be lowered somewhat because fans simply will not file in on a random Tuesday to see a losing team.
That is reality. Teams do the best they can to market and persuade fans to leave their couch and file into the stadium (the joke is really that teams make most of their money off that TV contract anyway).
Throughout the Orlando Magic’s current rebuild, Magic CEO Alex Martins has stated the team’s financial health is good. It has taken hits, but they were expected hits considering the team’s state. It seems Martins is confident the Magic will bounce back once the team does and begin selling out Amway Center and collecting viewers on FOX Sports Florida.
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel spoke to Martins about the health of the team’s finances recently. While there are good signs — Martins said season ticket renewals were at 91.8 percent and the team is on pace for a franchise high in corporate sponsorship revenues — there are still some pretty unsettling signs, such as the first game at Amway Center that saw an actual turnstile attendance of fewer than 10,000 fans.
Things have to turn around on the court soon:
"“It’s a tribute to our fans in that they understand how we’re rebuilding,” Martins told Robbins. “They’ve bought into it. But at the end of the day, there comes a time when you have to win in order to maintain loyalty, in order to continue to grow business, in order to sell your building out every night, which is one of the ultimate measures of success from a business standpoint. So our expectation is that we’re reaching a point where we need to win and we need to be competing for a playoff spot.”"
The Magic have certainly worked to provide everything fans could want.
The Amway Center itself is a draw. The venue continues to stand out to fans, helping the Magic come in at 70th in ESPN’s Ultimate Standings, which takes fan opinion into account. The team launched a new in-arena app that should help ease ordering food and managing tickets using the ever-more-ubiquitous mobile devices.
They expanded their Fast Break Ticket program where fans buy tickets to a set number of games for an affordable price but do not receive their seat location until 15 minutes before tip off, with seat location getting somewhat determined by the demand for tickets for the game.
The Magic still were 23rd in the league in total attendance for their home games, although they saw a small increase over 2014 numbers according to Basketball-Reference.
Orlando also have seen a sharp decrease in television ratings for their games. Again, that was something expected as the team lost. The Magic anticipate it will increase as they win games and there is no risk of any trouble with FOX Sports Florida, seeing as the two agreed to a contract extension through 2026.
It would seem then the Magic are doing about as good as they can business wise considering the product they are selling. They have tried innovative ways to get more people into the building and have worked to grow their brand specifically by reaching out to tour groups coming from Brazil.
The strong suggestion though is winning fixes everything. Especially the bottom line.