Post by rkozak201 on Sept 23, 2007 7:45:34 GMT -5
A national publication ranks Reading fifth out of 242 sports markets around the country.
By Mike Urban
Reading Eagle
Reading, PA - It all starts with the hot dogs for Carter P. Reese. Perfectly prepared Berks franks, that is, enjoyed behind home plate at First Energy Stadium on a gentle summer night.
It doesn’t get much better than watching his beloved Reading Phillies in his favorite stadium while eating ballpark food, the retired school administrator from Wyomissing said.
For Richard and Tammy Christoph, paradise is a few miles south in section 119 of the Sovereign Center, behind the Reading Royals bench.
There the West Lawn couple get a rink-side seat to the hockey games they love.
While Reese and the Christophs prefer different sports settings, they agree on one thing — that Reading is very deserving of its recent ranking as the fifth best of America’s 242 minor league sports markets.
That study by Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal looked at attendance, team stability, local economic conditions and the number of minor league franchises in each city.
In 2005 the magazine ranked Reading 11th. The city moved up because the Phillies and Royals attendance remains high, and because Reading added the Express indoor football team, magazine officials said.
The magazine also credited the Phillies for drawing their 10th million fan in July — the first Double A franchise to do so — and cited the city and Berks County for having trademarked the name “Baseballtown” as a marketing tool.
The ranking is a tribute to the local fans and their fierce loyalty to Reading’s teams, franchise officials said.
“Reading is a tremendous sports market,” said Gordon Kaye, general manager of the Reading Royals. “We have good sports teams, great facilities and people who are passionate for their Reading teams. They have so much civic pride.”
The proof is in the filled seats, said Chuck Domino, president of the Reading Phillies, who have finished first or second in Eastern League attendance each year since 1999.
Though some of those fans are baseball addicts, many just enjoy the party-like atmosphere of the games and between inning high jinks of the mascots, he said.
The Phillies popularity shot up after current owner Craig Stein bought the franchise in 1987, and since then both the stadium and the product have improved greatly, Domino said.
“We’ve shown the positive image that a sports team can bring to a town,” he said.
The Royals have ranked sixth in ECHL attendance the last two seasons, trailing only much larger markets such as Sacramento and Charlotte, and finishing ahead of bigger cities such as Phoenix, Cincinnati and Las Vegas.
The Express has averaged about 3,600 per game for each of its two seasons. But that number should rise as more fans discover how fun the games are, and that the family-friendly setting is similar to that of Phillies and Royals games, said general manager and head coach Bernie Nowatarski.
The teams all support each other, he said, and sometimes work together on cross-promotion.
“It’s great that fans don’t have to leave Reading to see professional teams, or spend the money that you do at games in Philadelphia,” he said.
The local fan enthusiasm is one reason the Reading Railers basketball team chose the Sovereign Center as its home, said Kay Magee, one of the minor league club’s owners.
“Reading should have been number one,” she said, referring to the Street and Smith’s study.
Reading has long been a basketball hotbed, and therefore the Railers — who start play in January — should also soon be as popular, she said.
Reading’s teams have been good for the entire county and improved the quality of life for many here, said Jon Scott, president and CEO of the Berks Economic Partnership.
The franchises have helped draw businesses to the city’s downtown, he said.
Fans spend money at the games and in the community, which boosts the local economy, said Crystal Seitz, president of the Greater Reading Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Though the bureau does not measure the financial impact of the teams, it is certainly in the millions of dollars, she said.
“And many people drive in from outside the county for games and realize they want to come back to do something else,” she said.
For many fans, Phillies, Royals and Express games are more than just sporting events, but social gatherings where they bond with others from the community.
Richard and Tammy Christoph speak of the close friends they made with fellow Royals fans after moving from Albany, N.Y.
“When we walk in for the first game every year we say we’re home again,” Tammy said.
“At the games we’re part of a community,” said Richard, a Muhlenberg Township optometrist whose examination room is decorated with a Royals team photo.
So it makes perfect sense to the couple that Reading ranked so high in Street and Smith’s study.
But if Reading wants to retain that rank, the teams must stay competitive, the games must remain fun and the prices must stay low, Kaye said.
“We’re competing for entertainment dollars,” he said. “We have to keep getting better.”
•Contact reporter Mike Urban at 610-371-5023 or murban@readingeagle.com.
By Mike Urban
Reading Eagle
Reading, PA - It all starts with the hot dogs for Carter P. Reese. Perfectly prepared Berks franks, that is, enjoyed behind home plate at First Energy Stadium on a gentle summer night.
It doesn’t get much better than watching his beloved Reading Phillies in his favorite stadium while eating ballpark food, the retired school administrator from Wyomissing said.
For Richard and Tammy Christoph, paradise is a few miles south in section 119 of the Sovereign Center, behind the Reading Royals bench.
There the West Lawn couple get a rink-side seat to the hockey games they love.
While Reese and the Christophs prefer different sports settings, they agree on one thing — that Reading is very deserving of its recent ranking as the fifth best of America’s 242 minor league sports markets.
That study by Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal looked at attendance, team stability, local economic conditions and the number of minor league franchises in each city.
In 2005 the magazine ranked Reading 11th. The city moved up because the Phillies and Royals attendance remains high, and because Reading added the Express indoor football team, magazine officials said.
The magazine also credited the Phillies for drawing their 10th million fan in July — the first Double A franchise to do so — and cited the city and Berks County for having trademarked the name “Baseballtown” as a marketing tool.
The ranking is a tribute to the local fans and their fierce loyalty to Reading’s teams, franchise officials said.
“Reading is a tremendous sports market,” said Gordon Kaye, general manager of the Reading Royals. “We have good sports teams, great facilities and people who are passionate for their Reading teams. They have so much civic pride.”
The proof is in the filled seats, said Chuck Domino, president of the Reading Phillies, who have finished first or second in Eastern League attendance each year since 1999.
Though some of those fans are baseball addicts, many just enjoy the party-like atmosphere of the games and between inning high jinks of the mascots, he said.
The Phillies popularity shot up after current owner Craig Stein bought the franchise in 1987, and since then both the stadium and the product have improved greatly, Domino said.
“We’ve shown the positive image that a sports team can bring to a town,” he said.
The Royals have ranked sixth in ECHL attendance the last two seasons, trailing only much larger markets such as Sacramento and Charlotte, and finishing ahead of bigger cities such as Phoenix, Cincinnati and Las Vegas.
The Express has averaged about 3,600 per game for each of its two seasons. But that number should rise as more fans discover how fun the games are, and that the family-friendly setting is similar to that of Phillies and Royals games, said general manager and head coach Bernie Nowatarski.
The teams all support each other, he said, and sometimes work together on cross-promotion.
“It’s great that fans don’t have to leave Reading to see professional teams, or spend the money that you do at games in Philadelphia,” he said.
The local fan enthusiasm is one reason the Reading Railers basketball team chose the Sovereign Center as its home, said Kay Magee, one of the minor league club’s owners.
“Reading should have been number one,” she said, referring to the Street and Smith’s study.
Reading has long been a basketball hotbed, and therefore the Railers — who start play in January — should also soon be as popular, she said.
Reading’s teams have been good for the entire county and improved the quality of life for many here, said Jon Scott, president and CEO of the Berks Economic Partnership.
The franchises have helped draw businesses to the city’s downtown, he said.
Fans spend money at the games and in the community, which boosts the local economy, said Crystal Seitz, president of the Greater Reading Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Though the bureau does not measure the financial impact of the teams, it is certainly in the millions of dollars, she said.
“And many people drive in from outside the county for games and realize they want to come back to do something else,” she said.
For many fans, Phillies, Royals and Express games are more than just sporting events, but social gatherings where they bond with others from the community.
Richard and Tammy Christoph speak of the close friends they made with fellow Royals fans after moving from Albany, N.Y.
“When we walk in for the first game every year we say we’re home again,” Tammy said.
“At the games we’re part of a community,” said Richard, a Muhlenberg Township optometrist whose examination room is decorated with a Royals team photo.
So it makes perfect sense to the couple that Reading ranked so high in Street and Smith’s study.
But if Reading wants to retain that rank, the teams must stay competitive, the games must remain fun and the prices must stay low, Kaye said.
“We’re competing for entertainment dollars,” he said. “We have to keep getting better.”
•Contact reporter Mike Urban at 610-371-5023 or murban@readingeagle.com.
