“This combination makes the city, and the entire region, an ideal All-Star host because it’s both a destination for baseball fans around the country and home to a passionate fan base,” said Jeremiah Yolkut, MLB’s vp of events. “2023 is really the perfect time to showcase baseball’s greatest players in the Emerald City.”
But the Mariners haven’t filled more than 30,000 of their ballpark’s 47,000 seats on average since 2007. Last year, before Rodriguez placed second in the Home Run Derby and fans got to know Castillo as La Piedra, the Mariners basically had to reintroduce themselves to fans with help from a player-forward campaign by Portland, Oregon-based agency Heart & Hustle. Even with their playoff appearance, the Mariners drew fewer attendees on average than they did in 2018.
Between T-Mobile Park’s marquee events, the Mariners marketing team is emphasizing access: $10 center field bleacher seats for every game and a dozen concessions items (including hot dogs and refillable sodas) between $2 and $4. The team has opened a restaurant, bar, beer garden, batting cages and training facilities in a former flooring store across the street, all of which is open to fans without a game ticket.
The team is also taking advantage of its increased visibility after last year’s playoff appearance to work on community engagement and outreach. Nova Newcomer, the Mariners’ director of community relations and the Mariners Care Foundation, said the team is focused on three pillars of community outreach this year: ensuring baseball and softball access for all, advancing equity and “being a good hometown partner.”
Along with its baseball and softball clinics, camps, grants and programs, the team offers free seats through MLB’s Commissioner’s Initiative ticket program that brings thousands of fans from the region to T-Mobile Park each year. Newcomer noted that, last year, the team brought a group of 75 kids up from Portland who got to see both a win against the New York Yankees and an Aaron Judge home run.
“One of the things that is really clear to me is that no matter how somebody comes into the ballpark, a fan is a fan, and their experience matters,” Newcomer said. “From the community side of things, we want to make sure that whether you come in with a free ticket or a premium ticket, that your experience is, for lack of a better word, sacred.”