Three Ways The Twins Can Win Fans Back After Fumbling the TV Situation

[Lou Hennessy]

The freshly renewed TV deal with Bally Sports North leaves many fans in the dark, yet again. How can the Twins make up for this disappointing conclusion, and get back in the good graces of their loyal fans?

Image courtesy of Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

The Twins officially re-upped with Bally Sports North for the 2024 season. It’s a conclusion that very few wanted, but it was the best deal the club could muster in terms of getting a half-respectable payday in the near-term while they kick the broadcasting rights can down the road for another year. 

The optics of how everything went down ended up being the icing on this urinal cake of a situation. While various people associated with the team stated confidently that local blackouts would be a thing of the past, the return to BSN means those limitations still loom and viewers will need a cable subscription even if they want to stream the game, as has been the case for the last handful of years. 

So not only did the club put fans back in an unappealing situation, but they sullied their own word along the way. 

“The disappointing news is we had said very openly that our top priority was expansion of reach of our games. We felt we were in a unique position to deliver on that, considering we were a free agent in the television world,” explained Twins president Dave St. Peter to Evan Drellich of The Athletic. “And at the end of the day, we ended up doing a one-year deal on linear distribution only, and we recognize that leaves a growing number of our fans in a place where they’re gonna have a harder time watching our games.”

So even though the club was able to clean up the mess caused by their television broadcast uncertainty, it feels like they used their good word to wipe up the spill, leaving it spotted and stained. And this is where the Twins need to be swift in their recovery, as some stains don’t come out if left unattended for too long. 

Here are three ways that the club can win back the good graces of their fans after falling short on their promise to expand the broadcast reach of their product. 

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Allow Kids Into The Ballpark For Free
Major League Baseball has been going through a unique set of growing pains as they try to navigate the fact that their base audience is getting older, and they need to find a way to become a bigger draw to a new generation of fans. Making their games easily accessible to the kids at home is an easy way to get more of them interested in the sport, but if that isn’t going to happen this year, then the club needs to find a way to get them into the ballpark. 

That’s why the Twins should invite fans 10 years old and younger to attend their games for free with a paying adult. This gives parents a more affordable opportunity to bring their family to a game, creating happy memories and renewed interest for a younger demographic that may not come out to a game otherwise. The Twins get to showcase their team to a new generation, and they still get to rake in the money brought in through increased concessions. Kids are going to want to eat at these games (and the parents may need another $14 beer to deal with the stress of bringing the kids – let’s be honest – anywhere). This creates some goodwill in the near-term, and hopefully a new generation of lifelong fans in the long-term. 

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Host Watch Parties
If fans can’t stream Twins games at home, then the club should make every effort possible to fill their calendar with hosted watch parties, especially for away games. This could mean making more of an event out of displaying their games on the Target Field Station plaza (which they already do for many games). Bring in the pregame and postgame crew to do their segments live from the watch party, and have them mingle with the crowd during the game. Imagine attending one of these watch parties and seeing former fan-favorites such as Glen Perkins or Trevor Plouffe hanging out with you. Maybe another locally-based Twins personality like Kent Hrbek shows up and passes out free hats or vouchers for a free standing room only ticket to a future game. 

The Twins could also partner with various local establishments to host watch parties, promising to provide a unique game-watching experience with prizes and guests. This gives the club an opportunity to showcase their highly marketable team while making a positive impact on the restaurants/breweries/theaters that they partner with. 

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More Ticket Flash Sales/Promotions
When Carlos Correa re-signed with the club last year, the Twins offered $4 tickets through the end of that week. It was an easy way to build the excitement of the notable signing, while offering fans something to take advantage of for a short amount of time. It was an extremely popular idea, and it’s the kind of proposal that gets folks interested in coming to more games in a hurry. 

I know this because I’ve had countless people come to me – a lowly scribe – asking when the Twins are going to run something like that again because it was the only way they went to a handful of games last year. 

And the team doesn’t have to wait for notable signings to make this promotion a reality. Picture Royce Lewis hitting a walk-off home run, and using that highlight as a jumping-off point to run a ticket promotion during the ensuing social media hoopla. For that matter, make standing room only tickets available for $5 after every walk-off at Target Field. Let the team on the field do the heavy lifting, and use their highlights as the catalyst for a special. 

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These proposals could renew an appetite for the fans that has been spoiled by the bitterness of their TV situation. Yes, the debacle with Bally Sports North left a bitter aftertaste, but the team can help themselves out by taking the steps necessary to flush that bitterness out on their own. 

Look, I’ve never owned a billion dollar company (yet) and I don’t know the inner workings of a professional sports team’s ticket operations.

But I do know that what goes around, comes around. And unless the Twins throw some goodness to their loyal fans, they are not going to like the negative buzz that’s likely coming to them. 

What do you think? How would you like to see the Twins make up for the disappointing conclusion to their TV situation? What would it take to get you back to the ballpark if you feel slighted by this development? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section, and as always, keep it sweet. 

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[Craig Arko]

These sound like great PR moves. As always, it depends on the economics.

I’d go to a watch party once in a while.

[Dave Borton]

12 minutes ago, Lou Hennessy said:

Royce Lewis hitting a walk-off home run, and using that highlight as a jumping-off point to run a ticket promotion

Brilliant, and extend it even further. "If ____________ drives an extra base hit today, tix will be on sale for 1 hour both online and at kiosks. Check your schedules now and be ready to take advantage of ____________'s hitting today."

[IaBeanCounter]

Will Amazon be streaming some of the Twins games?  They put $115 million into Diamond to get it out of bankruptcy.  

 

[Jocko87]

Who writes the headlines at this place?  Fumbled is a bit of a stretch, it would indicate they had a modicum of control.

The blackout communication isn't great but they also needed to get the conversation to the forefront.  The reactions from the team to the news are good but they probably need to lean into it even harder.  I'm a bit of a rouge so I'd figure out a way to have the @ prime______ accounts showing everyone how to get around blackouts all over social media.  Realistically they need to be doing heavy marketing that they are doing their best to do away with the blackouts.  Maybe a free ticket package for people in the blackout zones?  One per household, just give us your email and mailing addresses.

I do like the free kids tickets idea.  Should be MLB standard policy.  Hook em young. 

[Mike Sixel]

Fire Dave St. Peter so they can get a good deal and their head of Ops stops blaming fans for everything?

Stop saying out loud you'll cut payroll when you are winning finally?

I'd say the best way is to win games. That's what fans want. They aren't winning any fans back in any meaningful way unless they win more.

[stringer bell]

1) Win lots of games. 2) Reduce ticket prices. I'm serious about this. For the games that look like they might draw less than 20,000 offer tickets for the nether regions at reduced prices, sort of like the Knothole Gang games of old. 3) Win lots of games. 4) Sign a prominent player to an extension. Royce Lewis might be the best case.

[Nashvilletwin]

The #1 (and only truly dial moving ) way to “win back” Twins fans:

WIN!

*The team will probably draw 1.5MM fans or so anyway. If they want 2MM, they need a legitimate AL pennant contending team out of the gate.  All the other strategies are just edge nippers.

[Mike Sixel]

2 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

The #1 (and only truly dial moving ) way to “win back” Twins fans:

WIN!

*The team will probably draw 1.5MM fans or so anyway. If they want 2MM, they need a legitimate AL pennant contending team out of the gate.  All the other strategies are just edge nippers.

And they need to win early, to build momentum......

[Drtwins]

Love the "Allow Kids Into The Ballpark For Free" idea.

On a side note, glad to see my Midco bill already increased the first month after seeing the Twins agreement with Bally's. smh

[Teflon]

Sort of like "hockey day in Minnesota" I have a fantasy where Target Field hosts a Saturday doubleheader with the Twins playing an MLB afternoon game and the Saints playing a AAA nightcap. Saints players would mingle/sign autographs at the MLB game and the Twins players would do the same for the AAA game.   

[Mike Sixel]

20 minutes ago, Teflon said:

Sort of like "hockey day in Minnesota" I have a fantasy where Target Field hosts a Saturday doubleheader with the Twins playing an MLB afternoon game and the Saints playing a AAA nightcap. Saints players would mingle/sign autographs at the MLB game and the Twins players would do the same for the AAA game.   

great idea!

[danielp19653]

Promotions like those would be nice, right now I just don't see myself going to any games as I'm bitter about the only options being a minimum of $100 to watch games. But doing something like these to make coming to games easier would go a long way to making me feel like it was more out of their control than just money grubbing for the highest paying contract.

[Doctor Gast]

I'm very concerned about the shrinking MN baseball interest. I wrote a blog about this. I gave some suggestions & others gave some. At Twins Fest, there seems to be an increase in fan interest, They need to capitalize on this. I like the idea of free kids' tickets to help reach the younger market & other promotions. We also need to improve the team. The failure of doing that plus the blackouts, I'm fearful of not growing from this initial keen interest plus losing what has been gained. Unfortunately, that's the direction we're going.

[IndianaTwin]

All food needs to be sold in plastic helmets, because let's face it, all food tastes better when it's served that way. 

Seriously, these are great ideas. The kids free suggestions provides a challenge in that they need to be ticketed in some way, but the ridiculous bargains of old ($28 gets four tickets, four sodas, four dogs, etc.) would go a long way.  

 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

The 10% of fans that know about the impacts of the Bally's deal will follow the Twins no matter what.  The rest of them don't care about a bally's deal,  it depends on what product is on the field.  If its good baseball, people will likely show up.  

[Brandon]

They should also offer low cost tickets to fans attending away games.  I live in Orange County 10 miles from Angels stadium and I would like a discount on my ticket to see the Twins when they are in town.

[Jocko87]

6 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

All food needs to be sold in plastic helmets, because let's face it, all food tastes better when it's served that way. 

Seriously, these are great ideas. The kids free suggestions provides a challenge in that they need to be ticketed in some way, but the ridiculous bargains of old ($28 gets four tickets, four sodas, four dogs, etc.) would go a long way.  

 

I'd like to see them take the Atlanta Falcons strategy.  Concessions are priced normally.  Counterintuitive but it works, average food spend goes up and less people are scared away. 

Free kids eat cheap.  Figure ten bucks for each kid as a parent and all off a sudden we can go to more games.

On the other hand, they probably have some data that the $28 deal didn't work.  The deal has to apply everywhere for it to work on the whole fanbase.

[Mike_tacos]

I recently subscribed to the Bally sports app for $20 per month to watch the Wild and Timberwolves. With the app, I stream the games on my phone and can cast them to my TV (through google chrome or any other casting device - most new TVs have the ability to cast built in). I do not need a cable/satelitte subscription to use the Ballys streaming service. It has worked out pretty well so far. I don’t know if the Twins games will also be available on the app, but they continue to advertise that the games will, so I am assuming I will be able to stream them as well.
I don’t really like feeding more money into Ballys, but $20 is a much better option than $75-100 for mostly channels that I don’t watch.  

[Linus]

Icing on this urinal cake……that is a great line that sums up the situation nicely. The kids free idea is great - I think baseball has a huge problem on its hands with kids / younger generations not caring about baseball. 
One other thing that hasn’t been discussed much. Why didn’t the Twins go with MLB TV like the Padres?  have a sneaky feeling Bally gave them more money and that’s always going to rule the day with this outfit. So yea we feel bad for the fans but not that bad. 

[TJ CPA]

11 minutes ago, Mike_tacos said:

I recently subscribed to the Bally sports app for $20 per month to watch the Wild and Timberwolves. With the app, I stream the games on my phone and can cast them to my TV (through google chrome or any other casting device - most new TVs have the ability to cast built in). I do not need a cable/satelitte subscription to use the Ballys streaming service. It has worked out pretty well so far. I don’t know if the Twins games will also be available on the app, but they continue to advertise that the games will, so I am assuming I will be able to stream them as well.
I don’t really like feeding more money into Ballys, but $20 is a much better option than $75-100 for mostly channels that I don’t watch.  

Hate to break bad news but I'm pretty sure that the Bally subscription does not include Twins. 

From their website.

[Schmoeman5]

9I don't believe for 1 second that this was the "best deal the Twins could muster"  The time they've had since knowing that they were going to have to find a new partner has been substantial. These guys are billionaires. They make big deals for a living. I just believe they took the easiest path. They're waiting to see what everyone else does after this season instead of being trailblazers and finding their own path.

[Nashvilletwin]

Ok, I’ll try another idea.  Sign Bellinger.  

[kroll]

I think all of the marketing ideas mentioned in the article are great.

I get the whole "gotta' win" and the fans will return thing but there have to be more unique and thought out plans to increase attendance.

If you went to all 81 home games last year you would have traded a win for a loss in 68 of those games as they finished 13 games over 500 (if that makes sense....now I'm getting confused).

Anyway, looking forward to the season and going to subscribe to DirectTV Streaming for the season because I saw very few games last season.

[arby58]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

They should also offer low cost tickets to fans attending away games.  I live in Orange County 10 miles from Angels stadium and I would like a discount on my ticket to see the Twins when they are in town.

I don't understand the value to the Twins in somehow reducing the cost of you attending a game where the Angels get all the revenue.

[Pat]

I am more concerned about what they are going to do with the money that they received in this deal.  The foremost reason for cutting payroll was the lack of a TV deal.  Now that they have it, even though the amount is secret,  what is the plan?  Just pocket the money and call it profit?  Their payroll is below the mid point already before any of the big free agents still available are signed.  It is hardly the way to increase demand for a product by scaling back investment in that very same product especially after a successful 2023 campaign.  It appears that we have seen this movie before.  

[Patzky]

Give us the Al Davis.

(Not the wreck the stadium view version.)

 

Just win baby.

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

Icing on this urinal cake……that is a great line that sums up the situation nicely. The kids free idea is great - I think baseball has a huge problem on its hands with kids / younger generations not caring about baseball. 
One other thing that hasn’t been discussed much. Why didn’t the Twins go with MLB TV like the Padres?  have a sneaky feeling Bally gave them more money and that’s always going to rule the day with this outfit. So yea we feel bad for the fans but not that bad. 

 

25 minutes ago, Pat said:

I am more concerned about what they are going to do with the money that they received in this deal.  The foremost reason for cutting payroll was the lack of a TV deal.  Now that they have it, even though the amount is secret,  what is the plan?  Just pocket the money and call it profit?  Their payroll is below the mid point already before any of the big free agents still available are signed.  It is hardly the way to increase demand for a product by scaling back investment in that very same product especially after a successful 2023 campaign.  It appears that we have seen this movie before.  

According to Gleeman and the Geek, the Bally offer was considerably more money (probably $40-45M) than a deal with mlb.tv. 

And, it appears the team will essentially pocket the $$$$ since they haven't spent more than what they saved when Polanco was traded. 

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, arby58 said:

I don't understand the value to the Twins in somehow reducing the cost of you attending a game where the Angels get all the revenue.

If the Twins are doing giveaways to spruce up fan interest, I want in on it.

[Gamblerssoftball]

Everyone wants ownership to spend more money. I do, too. However, the biggest need is for a front line starter, such as Montgomery. Wayyyy overpriced. It's looking like a deadline move, if any. They will likely bank it until then. 

I do like some of the ideas to spur interest in the team. Something needs to be done in that regard.