Dolphins figuring out how to sell to fickle fan base
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Miami Dolphins expect a virtually full house for Sunday's pivotal home game against the Baltimore Ravens, and that's no small feat, considering the franchise's struggles to rally a notoriously fickle South Florida fan base in recent years.
No NFL team has experienced greater growth in ticket sales over the past two season than the Dolphins, who have gone from 29th in paid attendance in 2012 (57,379 per game) to 21st in 2013 (64,319) to 12th so far this season (70,722), with 70,000-plus projected for its three remaining home games as well.
"We have a long way to go," Dolphins president and CEO Tom Garfinkel told USA TODAY Sports on Friday, "but we certainly made some progress together over the past year."
It started with a cultural overhaul and expansion of the team's sales and service staff that coincided with Garfinkel's arrival in September 2013 after stints with baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres.
The new regime emphasizes a proactive approach, face-to-face meetings and a focus on group sales, which likely will account for around 145,000 tickets by season's end, said Jeremy Walls, the Dolphins' senior vice president and chief revenue officer.
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They've also integrated more data and analytics to help foster relationships with existing and prospective clients, as well as variable pricing for single-game tickets based on expected demand. Season ticket renewal rate last offseason was the highest in six years, according to the team, despite a high-profile locker room bullying scandal and an 8-8 finish.
"We surveyed all of our members and asked them what they wanted and what their lifestyle was and what was important to them," Walls said. "We studied teams across the globe and what we found was that they wanted more of a connection with us 12 months a year – not just tickets."
So, the Dolphins began mobilizing to create more offseason events, as well as adding local fare to concession stands and making other enhancements to the game-day experience.
The team doesn't disclose its total season ticket base publicly, but Walls said it grew by more than 3,000 members this year and the team already has 1,700 new deposits for 2015. Sun Life Stadium will begin looking much different by then, with a $350 million renovation under way that's scheduled to be completed over the next two offseasons.
"It's good momentum for us right now," Walls said.
About 92% of the Dolphins' projected ticket total was sold before September's opener. Sunday is expected to mark the first time since owner Stephen Ross bought into the team in 2008 that paid attendance exceeded 70,000 for the season's first six games.
Now the Dolphins need to continue their seemingly upward trajectory on the field. They're tied with the Ravens and four other teams for the last AFC wild-card spot at 7-5 with four games to go – three of them at home.
Longtime fans remember the franchise hoisting the two Lombardi Trophies that now are displayed behind glass in a third-floor lobby inside the stadium. But the Dolphins have made the playoffs just once in the past 12 years, losing in the first round in 2008.
"Everybody here is focused on supporting football operations to put a winning product on the field and honor the proud tradition of this franchise," Garfinkel said.
"Winning is the most important part of that. I think the fans here deserve that, the people who worked in this organization a long time deserve that and certainly Steve Ross is very committed to that. That's what we're all here trying to do."