Nats Aim to Build on Home Base

I f the Washington Nationals' numbers are right, the team's fans are less suburban than critics say they are, Peter Angelos has nothing to worry about and the bosses where you work may want to be extra vigilant on Thursday afternoons.

The Nationals' front office spent the off-season studying who went to games last year and who didn't. The research by FanTrak, a firm that surveys people who go to sports events, blows some holes in the assumptions that have been driving the political battles over baseball.

Throughout the ugly struggle over how to pay for a stadium, opponents of the project argued that District residents were being asked to subsidize a primarily suburban sport. But D.C. residents attended games at RFK Stadium in disproportionate numbers last season. Although the District accounts for about 15 percent of the region's population, the team's survey says D.C. residents bought 34 percent of single-game tickets and 28 percent of season ticket plans.

The owner of the Baltimore Orioles continues to whine about the new competitor down the road, but Nationals ticket sales show he should look homeward to revive his waning franchise. Maryland residents made up the smallest chunk of Nationals customers last year, the team's survey says, accounting for only 15 percent of single-game attendees and 23 percent of season ticket holders.

(A note of caution: Sports franchises are notorious for spinning their numbers to tell the story they prefer. And Angelos and D.C. baseball boosters have argued for years over how much the Orioles rely on Washington-area fans.)

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine likes to boast that his state got the best of all possible outcomes when it passed on paying for a stadium: Virginia has an easily accessible team without spending a dime on infrastructure. And the Nationals' research indicates that Virginians are happily crossing the river, making up by far the largest number of the team's season and partial-season ticket holders. Virginians were a close second to D.C. residents in single-game tickets purchased last year.

It makes sense that residents of the nation's largest state without its own pro sports team would embrace the Nationals. But the team's marketing staff was surprised to find that attendance at weekday day games at RFK was among the strongest in the sport -- a sign that Washington workers are pretty good at sneaking out of the office. (This may feed anti-government rhetoric about how Washington is a swamp of slouchers. I prefer to think of it as a city that has its priorities straight.)

The day-game success story is so powerful that the team is looking to add more Thursday afternoon games in future seasons, says Carleen Martin, the Nationals' marketing director. "We're playing with this in our new radio ads," she says, and she plays one for me on her laptop: "The Washington Nationals offer plenty of opportunities to play hooky," the announcer says. Other ads make even more overt appeals to skip work: "Afternoon games: Perfect chance to throw a curve at the boss," says one bus ad.

A new team's second season is often a test of its true appeal, and so far this year, sales are slower, with season ticket renewals running at about 85 percent. The Nationals' goal is to hit 90 percent of last year's 2.7 million attendance figure, says team vice president Chartese Burnett.

That will take some doing, so the Nationals are getting brassy in their ads. One new TV spot even touts their food, which may be the worst in the majors. Unfortunately, the ad -- one in a clever series that manages to both poke fun at and embrace the emotional allure of the sport -- will air primarily during Nats telecasts on MASN, the network hardly anyone can see.

Without a decent TV contract, the team has little hope of expanding its fan base. On top of that, the Nationals drew heavy criticism for their lack of promotion during the off-season. But Martin says it would have been an insult to pitch to fans in the midst of the uncertainty over whether the city and Major League Baseball would reach a stadium deal. "With everything going on in the press," she says, "how could we be out there saying, 'It's going to be great -- come to baseball' ?"

Now that the stadium pact is inked, the Nationals are turning to another problem: baseball's broken relationship with black fans. Burnett proposes to try to reconnect with blacks by focusing on father-son bonds, playing on the emotional tie that many older black men once had to the sport. One of the Nats' TV spots, available for viewing at http://www.washingtonpost.com/fisher , tugs on those heartstrings.

If that doesn't work, there are always bobbleheads. The popular dolls will make their first appearance this year, in giveaway days honoring Nats stars Chad Cordero and Jose Guillen.

The prototype of the Cordero doll is sitting on Martin's desk. "It doesn't look like him at all," she says, and she's right -- it makes the all-star reliever look like Jimmy Smits. Not to worry: The doll is being redone. Like baseball in Washington, it's a work in progress.

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