Here’s what we’re doing. We are crowdsourcing 41 ideas for the Mets. The ideas can be big or small. Email me your idea at [email protected]. Today’s idea is from @jmp_nyc
The Mr. Met Dash is one of the best promotions the Mets do. Yet has had a fatal flaw in prior years. It’s a great way to get families to stay at the ballpark until after the game is over, but significant numbers of families leave the game as early as the 6th inning to get a prime spot on the line. I can tell you from experience that the position on line one gets if you don’t leave Promenade seats until after the last out, with kids who need to make a bathroom stop on the way to the Mr. Met Dash, your kids end up running the bases about 30 minutes after the people who skipped the last hour of the game to get a prime spot. It’s a perverse set of incentives.
This year, there’s been a fix for families like mine. We enrolled our kids in the Orange membership level of the Kids Club for $25 per kid. One of the perks of the Orange membership is that members get to go on a shorter line for the Mr. Met Dash, which cuts ahead of the main line. As a result, now that we have the Kids Club, we can stay in our seats to the last out, and still have our kids run the bases before the families that would rather spend an hour standing outside the ballpark (missing the end of the game) than an extra half hour on the line after the game.
But it could be taken further. What if the team offered a third line, that goes after the Kids Club, but before the people who line up in the 6th inning? What if that line were reserved for kids who get a hand stamp that is only offered inside the stadium after the last out? It would be an inexpensive way for the team to give added incentive for families who are staying at the ballpark until after the game to stay in the ballpark and watch the end of the game.
Another idea is to further enhance the Kids Club to have benefits extend at least a bit beyond Sundays. The Family Sundays are a great promotion. The party-like atmosphere between the subway station and the Rotunda is lots of fun for the kids, and it’s definitely important to get the kids to the ballpark. Right now, the Kids Club benefits are only for Sunday games. There are check-in benefits and ticket discounts, but only for Sundays. Of course, kids go to games that aren’t on Sundays. What about offering Kids Club members discounted tickets for some of those weekday day games that never sell many tickets? If a father wants to take an afternoon off to take his kid to the ballgame (as I try to do with each of my kids at some point each season), how about doing something to encourage it?
Right now, Kids Club members get perks for checking in at Sunday games, with the best perks going to the kids who check in at all 13 Sunday home games. But very few families can manage the logistics of getting to every Sunday home game. Even the biggest fans have religious holidays, birthday parties, family events, and even games of their own to play. How about allowing for some number of weekday check-ins to substitute for those Sundays that kids cannot attend. After all, a kid who goes to games when they don’t have extra kid-friendly activities should be given at least some extra perk for Kids Club membership.
There was a promotion for one of the weekday day games in August 2012 that gave free tickets for up to 3 kids at the box office if accompanied by an adult purchasing a full price ticket. I did that with two of my kids, getting three seats just a few rows behind the dugout for the price of three seats upstairs. What about instituting that for all weekday day games (other than opening day, of course) for Kids Club members?
The Kids Club is a great product. It could be made even better.
