by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
When it comes to minor league hockey, a generous advertising budget can go a long way toward promoting team awareness and generating ticket sales. And the Jacksonville Barracudas say they are one of the frontrunners in the World Hockey Association2 at spreading the word.
“We do put a lot of money behind our marketing efforts, more than any other AA hockey team I know of,” said Scott Allerding, vice president and general manager for the Barracudas. “We have a billboard campaign in place all over town and we air 400 radio spots and 400 television spots every week. We’re just trying to get the word out even though hockey is primarily a walk-up sport.”
With 3,500 fans attending each home game — including 1,300 walk-ups — attendance is up 600 percent from last season when the Barracudas played at Skate World, a venue that doesn’t compare to the team’s current home, the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.
While admitting the arena is “very attractive” and “first class,” and might draw some curious onlookers, Allerding said the team, not the new building, is the main attraction.
“Our attendance is first in the league and, in all honesty, I can tell you that’s because a huge majority of the people who come to see us are true hockey fans; people who want to see us play and stay for the whole game,” said Allerding. “They’re not just coming to get a look at the arena and never come back.
“We’re the ones shoveling the coals over here to make it work. I know I probably work 20-hour days, my staff works hard and I even have my family here helping me.”
And this season, Allerding is getting an assist from the schedule makers.
“We’ve been blessed with a fantastic schedule this season,” he said. “Seventy percent of our dates are either on Friday or Saturday and this obviously works very well in our favor, much better than a game that takes place on a Tuesday or Wednesday.”
And while the Barracudas are enjoying the choice dates, that may not be the case in the future as big name acts start making their way to the city.
Nan Coyle, director of marketing and sales for SMG, which manages the arena, said the Barracudas schedule might be slightly less attractive in future seasons, though most of the team’s home games will still be played on Friday and Saturday.
“We’ll always do our best to work with (the Barracudas),” said Coyle of future scheduling conflicts. “They probably won’t have as many weekend dates as they do right now, but the majority will still be on the weekends.”
Even more important than off-ice issues to the long-term success of the team is building a winning franchise, Allerding said.
“We’re the point leader in our league and we take care of our guys,” he said. “They don’t want to leave, and we think all of that adds to what we’re working toward.”
Building a stable fan base is another goal of the Barracudas.
Allerding said a dominant family demographic at each game — about three times as many families than last season — helps with word-of-mouth advertising efforts, something the team wants to expand in the future.
“We’re going to be continuing to get more groups at each game and I think we can do that,” he said. “The families have been great to us, but now we want to be able see the churches and the military when we look into the crowd.
“We’re working as hard as we possibly can to try to succeed where others have failed with hockey in Jacksonville. We’ve already addressed things we knew we had to address. We take care of our customers and know what we sell.”