March 5, 2003
 Volume 2, Issue 3

Raptors "Claw" Away Empty Seats

Toronto Uses New Virtual Scratcher to Generate $24,000 in Ticket Revenue

The NSF Unveils
the “Inner Circle”
The National Sports Forum is please to announce the launch of their “Inner Circle” membership program. This new program is designed for sports executives looking to get revenue-generating ideas 52 weeks per year!

Member benefits include:

• Archived editions of Selling It…
• Quarterly conference calls with leading industry execs
• Access to a members-only website
• Multiple discounts related to the NSF
• Plus much more!
  (To learn more about becoming an “Inner Circle” Member, click here)

Contact: Alon Marcovici, Director of Marketing Media

Team: Toronto Raptors,  Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

Program Title: Claw 'N' Win with the Raptors

Objective: To increase ticket sales and fill the remaining seats in the house w/out publicly showing discounted prices or alienating season ticket holders.

Program Description: In the midst of an extended slump by the team, the Toronto Raptors decided to run a promotion whereby one lucky fan could win a pair of courtside seats to the January 26th game against the Sacramento Kings. To do this the Raptors decided to create an online version of the scratch n’ win contests used in the lottery, but instead of a scratch n' win they dubbed it the “Claw 'N' Win with the Raptors”.

Media: The "Claw 'N' Win" contest was promoted only through the Raptors Insider email, Raptors contesting programs and the team's website Raptors.com. The Raptors Insider opt-in email program, as well as the team's contesting engine both work off a custom-built online tool designed by Contestix, and include more than 45,000 unique registrants in the team database.

Results: "Claw 'N' Win" was a spur of the moment contest with very little promotion, but with the help of Contestix and Ticketmaster, the contest ran very smoothly, and showed surprisingly successful results. Though the contest only ran for a week, the discounted tickets generated more than $24,000 in additional ticket revenue. Most statistically impressive were the redemption rates, particularly the 50% discount offer with a 22.7% redemption rate.

Looking Ahead: With the overwhelming success of the "Claw 'N' Win" contest, the Raptors plan to build on the program and bring it back towards the end of the season in April. Marcovici added, "I would recommend this to any other team that needs some help quietly discounting to a large group. It's also another good example of the value of database marketing and building/retaining/servicing your database of core fans."

Contact: Alon Marcovici, Director of Marketing Media, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment [email protected]