Pirates Leadership Team Connects with Season Ticket Holders During Virtual Town Hall Meeting
By Jim Lachimia
Prior to Pittsburgh’s Grapefruit League opener against the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota on February 28, Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington was making his way from the visiting clubhouse to the field when he encountered outfielder Bryan Reynolds.
“Hey, there’s a bunch of people walking around out there. Who are they?” Reynolds playfully asked Cherington. The “people” he was referring to were, of course, fans — who were denied the opportunity to attend games during Major League Baseball’s abbreviated regular season in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite seating remaining limited at spring training venues in Florida and Arizona, fans are indeed back and will be around the country when the regular season gets underway too. That’s incredibly uplifting for the teams.
“It completely changes the environment. It completely changes the energy of the game,” Cherington said. “What we experienced last year was much different, obviously.”
The Pirates are scheduled to open the home portion of their 2021 campaign with a 1:35 p.m. contest vs. the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park on Thursday, April 8. Cherington, team president Travis Williams and manager Derek Shelton shared what the organization has been doing to prepare for the return of fans and the new season during a virtual town hall meeting with season ticket holders last Friday.
Speaking about the April 8 homer opener, Williams said:
“Honestly, it’s more than a game. It signifies a lot more in terms of getting past this pandemic that we’ve all struggled with over the past year. With people being able to reconnect around baseball at a beautiful place like PNC Park, I really do believe it’s going to be a tremendous day, and one that we’ll all remember.”
Shelton, who had the misfortune of the COVID-shortened season being his first as the Pirates’ skipper, longs for the chance to interact more directly with fans in Pittsburgh.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing people at the ballpark, feeling their energy, and hearing their excitement,” he said. “What I really look forward to as we get farther along protocol-wise is being able to interact with fans not only in the ballpark, but in the streets of Pittsburgh. I really look forward to feeling the heartbeat of the city.”
During the town hall meeting, Williams made it clear that the health and safety of everyone who comes through the gates at PNC Park is being taken very seriously. For instance, the Pirates removed some seats from the third base line all the way around to the first base line to create more space for fans to move about the main concourse in a socially distant manner. They also installed contactless payment systems at concessions stands, touchless faucets in restrooms, and went exclusively to a digital ticketing system via the MLB Ballpark app. Plus, ballpark crews will continuously be dedicated to cleaning.
“We will be staffing appropriately throughout the ballpark to make sure you see a sanitation and cleaning team at all times in high-touch areas — railings, counters and wherever else that may be. You will see all of that being done throughout the game.
“Then in between games we’ll do a full sanitization cleaning program to make sure the ballpark is safe for everybody to enjoy when they come back. There are a whole host of protocols that we have in place that we’ll do day in and day out. We’re very confident that we’re welcoming fans back into an environment they can feel safe about, so they can really focus on enjoying the game on the field.”
Since joining the Pirates in October of 2019, Williams has focused on improving the fan journey in many other ways — ways that don’t have anything to do with protocols or the pandemic.
What is the “fan journey?” Well, it includes attending games in person, watching games on television, ordering tickets online or via the MLB Ballpark app, enjoying the second-screen experience on your phone during broadcasts, in-game entertainment, and much more.
The Pirates are striving to build meaningful, long-term relationships with their season ticket holders, and all fans, rather than having those relationships be primarily transactional.
“The fan experience, the fan journey is always something you want to make sure is exceptional,” Williams said. “So, we strive to be exceptional in every way. We wanted to refocus, improve and revamp how we thought about that as an organization. That’s looking at our products, looking at our engagement opportunities, and looking at the door-to-door journey.
“When somebody thinks about coming and engaging with the Pirates brand — whether they’re going to watch it on television, listen on the radio, or come to a game — it’s making sure that every step along the way they have a tremendous experience, walking away more than satisfied. They’re showing that they’re loyal and passionate to our brand, and that matters to us.”
During the town hall meeting, season ticket holders wanted to know how the 2021 Pirates are shaping up. Following a 19–41 finish last year, Cherington made numerous bold moves — including trading away first baseman Josh Bell and pitchers Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon in separate deals that brought back a total of 11 players.
Building a deeper and more talented organization is what those moves were about, and that will take time, but perhaps not as long as some people think.
“Every ounce of our energy is going toward building a winning team, and there are specific things we know will lead to winning in Pittsburgh,” Cherington said. “We’re putting all of our energy toward that, so we can get there as fast as we can. There’s no date on the calendar that we have circled, but we’ve seen examples across baseball of this happening at different rates. Our job is to beat that. Beat the timeline that others expect for us.”
“Being a season ticket holder and a Pirates fan, you’re going to be part of this journey, and it’s going to be a fun journey,” Shelton added. “There are going to be ups and downs, but one thing I can guarantee is you’re going to get a group of guys that are going to get after it every night. It’s going to be intense. We’re going to play hard.
“We have a foundation of guys that are really good and getting better. I can’t wait for you to come along on the ride with us.”
