Franchise player


Erie Mayor Rick Filippi says the city is working with the SeaWolves
to make changes that could attract visitors and corporate support at
Jerry Uht Park, which has seen declining attendance in the past few
years. (Erie Times-News photo by Jack Hanrahan)

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By John Dudley
john.dudley@... PETER
PANEPENTOpeter.panepento@...


Chuck Sokolowski is far from a fair-weather fan.

Sokolowski, the president of the Erie SeaWolves' booster club, is in
the stands for nearly every home game — rain or shine.

Too often, however, he feels like he is almost alone.

Jerry Uht Park, the team's 8-year-old stadium, is often less than
half full with spectators for the team's home games.

And with each passing year, attendance continues to sag — a fact that
could threaten the franchise's long-term future in Erie.

"It would be an embarrassment for us to have the opportunity to have
a Double-A franchise for five years and then lose it," Sokolowski
said. "It would be a total embarrassment for the city. There are only
30 Double-A cities in the United States, and we're one of them. This
team should be showcased and taken care of and treated like a
diamond, because that's what it is."

Erie secured the SeaWolves, a full-season franchise in the Double A
Eastern League, in 1999, replacing a short-season Single A team that
played at Jerry Uht Park.

The new franchise meant more home dates and a better brand of
baseball for local fans.

It also gave the city of Erie added credibility.

SeaWolves' attendance peaked at 246,404 in 2001 and has dropped each
of the past two seasons.

The team drew 211,899 fans in 2002 and 197,656 this season, the
lowest total in its five years in the Eastern League.

Four of its competitors in the Eastern League, meanwhile, drew more
than 400,000 fans in 2003.



Even with those numbers, the SeaWolves' immediate future in Erie
remains secure.

The team has a lease on Jerry Uht Park that runs through 2005, and
Erie Mayor Rick Filippi said he has been told the team is committed
to fielding a full-season team in Erie for at least the next year.

The team also is chalking up some of its 2003 attendance decline to a
home schedule that had a heavy dose of games in April and May and few
in June, July and August.

And when the team was home during the summer, the weather didn't
cooperate.

Still, rumors have been swirling for months that the team's new
owner, Mandalay Sports Entertainment, may already be looking to move
to another city.

Mandalay — a division of Mandalay Entertainment, which, among its
many enterprises, produces and distributes Hollywood films — bought
the SeaWolves in July.

Because the baseball team is a private business, financial terms of
the sale were not disclosed. The team also doesn't reveal information
about annual revenues and profits.

Mandalay already has bought and moved one Class AA franchise from
Shreveport, La., to Frisco, Texas, outside Dallas.

And a recent report in the Trenton Times of New Jersey suggests the
company might have similar plans for the SeaWolves.

The newspaper, citing two unnamed sources with knowledge of the
Eastern League, reported that the SeaWolves had sought permission
from the league to look into relocating to another city.

Mandalay Sports Entertainment President Hank Stickney, in an
interview with the Erie Times-News in April, said he wasn't prepared
to address the franchise's long-term future in Erie.

"I really can't say what will happen in Erie," Stickney said. "If the
Yankees called and said they wanted me to move to a new stadium in
New York and wanted to know if I was interested, yes I would be. Am I
looking for something like that? No. But I really can't say what will
happen two to five years out. I just can't do that."

Stickney did not return messages left at his Los Angeles office this
week.

Statements by Eastern League President Joe MacEachern are equally
cryptic.

MacEachern would neither confirm nor deny that Mandalay has
approached the league about moving the SeaWolves.

"I would not be at liberty to share any of that information about
contact that occurred or didn't occur with the league," MacEachern
said in a phone interview from the league office in Portland, Maine.



Filippi said he believes the team would be able to stay in Erie long-
term if average attendance exceeds 4,000 per game.

The team's average attendance in 2003 was 3,188.

To get more than 800 fans attending each game, Filippi said the team
needs help from other businesses and from the city.

The SeaWolves have already solicited that help, calling on Filippi
and Jake Rouch, chief executive of the Erie Regional Chamber and
Growth Partnership, to work with the team to improve its fan base.

"If we recognize they are an asset to our community and they are
asking for our support, then we need to partner together to help that
business succeed," Rouch said. "They're like any other business.
We'll sit down and do what we can to help them be successful."

Several factors make the SeaWolves important to Erie's overall
economy.

The team employs 11 full-time staff, as many as 125 part-time workers
and as many as eight paid interns.

It also helps bring in revenue for businesses such as the Avalon
Hotel, which houses visiting teams during the season, and nearby bars
and restaurants such as Two Friends Italian Market and Skeeters
Sports Bar.

But even more crucial is the team's role in promoting Erie as a place
to live and work, said Michael Leeds, an economics professor at
Temple University.

Many cities assume that having a professional sports franchise makes
them more attractive to visitors or companies seeking to relocate, he
said.

"From a quality of life standpoint it's a lot stickier and much
harder to quantify," Leeds said. "But there's no question that having
a team can make a city feel a lot better about itself."

With that in mind, Filippi and Rouch met with SeaWolves' General
Manager John Frey on Aug. 29 to discuss how the city can help the
SeaWolves boost attendance.

Many of the biggest concerns surround Jerry Uht Park — a facility
that is less than 10 years old but lacks many of the amenities found
at other Eastern League ballparks.

The $8.7 million ballpark opened on Erie's east side in 1995.

By comparison, Canal Park in Akron, Ohio, opened in 1997 and cost $31
million, including about $20 million to acquire the downtown property
on which it is built.

"There were shortcuts," Filippi said. "As usual, in Erie, with a
major project we didn't spend the money we needed."

Frey said the Aug. 29 meeting with Filippi was "very generic, very
general," but said he came away encouraged.

"I think he genuinely is concerned about the health of the
franchise," said Frey, who added he was impressed that Filippi took
time to compile a list of observations he and his wife made about
Jerry Uht Park while watching SeaWolves games this season.

"A lot of them were little things, like the fact that we have an ATM
machine that's not sponsored by a local bank," Frey said. "But it was
great to hear those things because, yes, he's the mayor, but he's
also a fan. And if he sees those things, then someone else does, too.
I thought to myself, 'This is tremendous.'"

The SeaWolves depend heavily on local businesses for sponsorship and
ticket revenue.

Frey estimated the franchise's corporate sales are down by about 30
percent since 2001.

Group picnic sales peaked that year and have been declining ever
since, Frey said.

He blames the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Erie's
weakened economy.

When International Paper Co. left Erie in 2002, the SeaWolves lost an
annual picnic the company held for more than 2,000 employees at Jerry
Uht Park.

GE Transportation Systems Inc. also discontinued its annual picnic
for 4,000 employees after 2001.

"Those two things had a huge impact on us," Frey said. "I understand
why it's happening, too. When your neighbor is going out of business,
it makes you a little more cautious. In a bad economy you have to cut
expenses, and that's one of the things that gets cut."



To boost corporate sales, the SeaWolves turned to a model used by the
Eastern League's franchise in Reading, which offers large blocks of
tickets at steep discounts to businesses that agree to use them early
in the season, when cold weather hurts attendance most.

The SeaWolves tried it in Erie prior to the 2003 season, offering
companies 5,000 or 10,000 tickets for as little as 50 cents each.

"We didn't sell any," Frey said. "But we're not giving up on it. We
got started a little late, so we weren't expecting a lot. We're going
to try it again this year. I think it can work."

The SeaWolves have about 800 season-ticket holders, and Frey said
it's unlikely that number will increase dramatically given that most
EL teams have seen season ticket sales drop off in recent years.

Instead, Frey said, the team has become more reliant on corporate
sales and walk-up ticket sales, which depend largely on the weather
and promotions.

During their final home stand, the SeaWolves offered ticket and
concessions discounts on three straight nights. The club drew 17,599
fans, a franchise record for a three-game series and nearly double
its average per game.

"Obviously the last home stand made us feel very good and it proved
that walk-up can have a huge impact," Frey said. "It showed that
there is life out there, and that maybe we didn't do the right things
all season long to attract those people.

"By the same token maybe there was a sense of urgency because people
realized the season was ending and the weather was nice and they
wanted to get out to the park one last time," he said. "Sometimes
it's really hard to say why it happens."

In addition, Frey said the SeaWolves' "School Days" program, in which
students attend games during school hours, has grown.

And Monday Buck Nights, during which most tickets, beer, soda, hot
dogs and popcorn are $1 each, have shown no sign of declining since
they were introduced last season.

The SeaWolves broke single-game attendance records three times this
season on Buck Nights.



The SeaWolves said the team's 2004 schedule includes more home games
in the summer months — a fact that could lead to bigger attendance
numbers.

In addition, Filippi said he plans to secure money to make small-
scale improvements to Jerry Uht Park that could help the team attract
more corporate support.

Filippi said many minor league ballparks are able to draw corporate
picnics and other outings with an outfield picnic area that overlooks
the ballfield.

The picnic area at Jerry Uht Park, however, does not offer a view of
the field.

To correct that problem, Filippi said he plans to work with the team
to create a new picnic area overlooking right field.

The area would accommodate as many as 300 fans and would be marketed
to companies looking to host summer picnics and other events.

The city also is considering demolishing a cluster of blighted
properties on the 900 block of French Street — a move that would
create an open-air plaza suitable for hosting pregame concerts and
parties.

Filippi said these moves, combined with a more aggressive push by the
city and the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership to market
the team to fans, may help prevent Erie from losing what he believes
is an important resource.

"We realize if we don't change what we're doing, we can lose a share
of an important market, " Filippi said. "We have a product here
that's of a really high standard. If we lose it, we probably won't
get it back."

JOHN DUDLEY can be reached at 870-1677 or by e-mail.

PETER PANEPENTO can be reached at 870-1707 or by e-mail.