02-28-13 Redevelopment Commission Minutes.docx

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South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting—February 28, 2013 6. NEW BUSINESS A. South Bend Central Development Area (1) continued... renovated the Synagogue, which is now the prettiest team store in all of baseball, major or minor. Anyone who is in the hospitality or hotel business will tell you"it's all about the bathroom." We wanted to have the cleanest bathrooms in baseball. There are attendants maintaining them every inning. We improved the stadium seating, by taking out the bench seating that had been value engineered in there 26 years ago. We built a brick facade to improve the look of the stadium, also built a new commercial kitchen, fire pits, outdoor heaters, and added lots of fireworks. We connected with the community and some of the charities that we work with now and sponsor. Since all of these upgrades have been placed, attendance was up 68%, 190,000 visitors, and expect 200,000 plus in 2013. Merchandise sales are up 55% and there is finally a positive cash flow. Customers who are now fans are also scoring the stadium better. The Net Promoter Score jumped from 13% to 61%,virtually unheard of in any business to have that big of a jump from the beginning of the season to the end. From detractors, we went from 27% to 10%, fence sitters from 32% to 19%, and promoters went from 41% to 71% (which are lovers). Mr. Berlin worries about the 29% that he didn't get. So we are working on the thrill. We have a saying at the SilverHawks, "We are often pleased, but never satisfied." The idea here is to improve on the touch points that we have throughout the stadium. We know when people are approaching the game--- their worst experience begins when they are in traffic trying to get to our parking lots. That is already a negative experience. We are trying to improve that with signage. The employees who collect the parking money, we want them to be happy and thanking the spectators for coming. We brought in more golf carts to carry senior citizens from the parking lot to the turnstyle making it easier for them to get to the entrance. We are planting more flowers, playing more music, even moving the concessions around the stadium as the fans walk through the turnstyles; they smell better food as they come into the concourse. So everything is focused on the customer thrill. Because the idea of being in the business is primarily focus on customer satisfaction. So the 61% puts the SilverHawks in pretty good company. There is more marketing going on, the food choices have been changed for the summer, we are building the new Tiki Bar which will be ready by opening day. The party tower is scheduled for 2014. The idea is to have the three individual party decks on the right field wall that will have a central kitchen behind them that will feed big parties, community groups, and charities to add more seating at the stadium.. The City of South Bend owns every piece of the equipment and building on the property. This is a great asset to the city itself. Beyond the baseball games, we are looking for other ways to use the facility such as carnivals, marathons, concerts, etc.,just to bring more activity to the downtown. 5