How to make Rome Braves games more fan friendly
From the Chicago Tribune
ust when Americans thought the Obamacare repeal effort was dead and buried, President Donald Trump has exhumed it. The president says he wants a deal on health care before moving on to tax reform and other priorities. The White House is pushing for another vote on a new bill in the coming days. The trouble is, Trump hasn’t publicly demonstrated an ability to add or subtract provisions, or assemble a bipartisan coalition, to make a good deal happen. The last bill, promoted by House Speaker Paul Ryan, was tanked by conservative members of the Freedom Caucus. Democrats who opposed that legislation didn’t have to lift a finger.
Now, however, Trump says he has leverage to bring Democrats on board and help craft a solution. At issue is billions in subsidy payments to insurance companies that help cover medical costs for millions of low-income Americans. Trump says he may withhold those payments to insurers, which could hasten the collapse of Obamacare insurance markets in many states.
“Obamacare is dead next month if it doesn’t get that money,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal. “I haven’t made my viewpoint clear yet. I don’t want people to get hurt. … What I think should happen and will happen is the Democrats will start calling me and negotiating.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, essentially said: Don’t hold your breath, Mr. President. We won’t discuss a deal while Trump threatens to torpedo the law.
This could be a presidential bluff or … an opportunity. We’ve urged Republicans and Democrats to negotiate a bipartisan Obamacare replacement that will withstand public scrutiny the way the original law, passed with only Democratic votes, never has. We think there is room in this scrum for movement toward that goal. If Trump is ready and willing to include Democrats in his negotiations, they should hear him out. Our advice to Trump and the GOP:
Don’t sabotage already-shaky markets by withholding from insurers the subsidy payments that help make coverage affordable for low-income Americans. A sweeping coalition of national medical groups, insurers, hospitals, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Bipartisan Policy Center urge Trump to maintain the subsidies. Scrapping them could force insurers to raise rates for everyone and endanger coverage for millions of people. If that happens, Trump won’t be able to blame Democrats. He and his fellow Republicans will wear the jacket. Conventional wisdom is that no Democrat will get near a Trump/GOP replacement for Obamacare. But Trump may be able to entice Dems who know Obamacare risks collapse; there’s only one insurance carrier in nearly a third of U.S. counties and more insurers are jumping ship. Democrats who say they want Americans covered may have to show up or shut up.
Don’t weaken popular Obamacare provisions. Since the defeat of the Ryan-led bill, Republicans have been tweaking it to attract more conservatives from the Freedom Caucus. But some of the proposals floated reportedly could undercut the law’s popular provision that insurers not be allowed to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Diluting or scrapping that provision could be a huge step backward, to a time when insurers cherry-picked customers and many people with serious illnesses couldn’t gain or afford coverage.
Take another look at the proposal for an Obamacare replacement from a group of Republican senators led by Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine. Their Patient Freedom Act would give states flexibility to experiment, to learn the best way to help citizens buy the coverage they need and can afford. Under the proposal, states could keep Obamacare if they choose. Or they could design their own programs while receiving a similar amount of federal money. States could decide if they will maintain the current system of insurance exchanges. Or people could receive tax credits to subsidize premiums in new state-run marketplaces. Like any good dealmaker, Trump surely hasn’t divulged all his negotiating points. Nor will he take no for an answer if he thinks he can get to yes. He can, but only with Democrats’ help, and only by blunting the self-centered Freedom Caucus.
Tim Tebow did for the Rome Braves what the Rome Braves haven’t been able to do for themselves in quite a while.
He packed the place out. He had people scrambling for tickets. He had people bragging on social media that they were going to a Rome Braves game. He had people excited to go watch a baseball game in our town.
Now, I know it’s Tim Tebow. But he’s just one guy. Why can’t we have sellout crowds Rome Braves games more often?
This is partially our fault as fans. Many Rome residents just aren’t interested enough to buy tickets to a minor league game. But it’s also partially the Rome Braves’ fault. Knowing that people aren’t as excited to see a minor league team as they are to see the big guys, they need to make it a little more fan friendly.
Let me start off by saying I love going to Rome Braves games. I love the intimacy of the stadium and I love the convenience of not having to deal with the huge crowds and parking issues — and prices — you’d face at an Atlanta game. And it’s right here in our town. It’s literally about 15 or 20 minutes from your house depending on where you live. I like seeing the kids getting excited about these games. They’re elated to be able to run around on Homerun Hill, eat Dippin’ Dots and for the chance that they might even catch a foul ball.
And it’s good baseball. It’s not major league caliber yet but it’s still entertaining.
However, here’s where the Rome Braves could stand to make some improvements.
I usually pay $5 for parking and then maybe $8 or $10 for a ticket. I like to sit down next to the field just behind the home dugout. Then I spend a small fortune on food and drinks.
I say cut parking prices to around $2 or $3 at most.
There’s rarely a sold-out crowd on weekdays. And that’s being generous. I’ve been to games where there’s about 100 fans there. On weekdays when they haven’t sold as many tickets, perhaps the organization could announce free parking or cut ticket prices in half for that week.
Make it so people will talk about the games and get excited to go.
And for the love of Pete, don’t charge me $8 for a hotdog and a Coke or $4 for a bag of peanuts. I know there are lots of Rome families for whom the prices at games are a deterrent to going because they can’t afford to buy food and snacks for the whole family after paying for tickets.
What makes these minor league games fun is that you’re close to the action. You get to see these players and interact with them (and sometimes even heckle them, which is what my friends and I like to do to our opponents).
On days when there’s hardly anyone in the stands and the crowd is sparsely sprinkled around the stadium, why not make an announcement saying everyone is welcomed to
Email letters to the editor to MColombo@RN-T.com or submit them to the Rome News-Tribune, 305 E. Sixth Ave., Rome, GA 30162.
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Get the team spirit going by helping fans come together to have a good time. It’s tough to rally the crowd and get cheers going when your closes fellow fan is two sections over.
I’m not a money guy. I’m sure there are financial considerations to my suggestions. But I’m thinking that if the Rome Braves cut some of their prices, more and more people will want to go to games. People will get on social media and start talking to their friends and say “hey, wanna go see the Rome Braves tonight? Parking’s free and tickets are only $2 on Wednesdays.”
Have promotions that people can get excited about. I know this year’s Rome Braves promotion schedule looks pretty good with giveaways and special appearances. That’s a good start.
A band playing after the game usually doesn’t do it for me. I want giveaways. I’m a sucker for a bobblehead. I want a night where if you wear a Rome Braves T-shirt you get a free hot dog. Make it fun to wanna come to these games. Make it where people wanna take photos at the games and share it on social media so that their friends say “dang, I wish we would have gone with y’all. It looked like a lot of fun. Count me in for next week.”
One of my favorite season traditions is attending the Thirsty Thursday games with my friends. Even if we didn’t go to any other games, come hell or high water we’d get to the Thirsty Thursday games cause beer was a dollar. That’s mighty tempting to a lot of baseball fans.
Now they’ve raised it to $2 for a beer on Thirsty Thursdays.
I guarantee that’s not gonna sit well with many loyal Rome Braves fans who plan their week around Thirsty Thursdays just because of the cheap beer. I’d reconsider that one.
My buddy Joey would like to see friendlier staff at the games. He also had a couple ideas I think are brilliant. Put up a pitch speed display for fans to see. That makes it a little more interactive if people can see and comment on the speeds of these pitches. And bring in old Atlanta Braves players for autograph sessions. Fans love that stuff.
And for goodness sake beef up the team’s Facebook page. Make it more interactive. Get fan photos up there. Tag people in those photos. Put up stories about players and fans. The Lexington Legends, for example, have a pretty cool Facebook page that’s constantly being updated with great photos, stories and promotions.
Having said all this, I want to make it clear that I’m a big Rome Braves fan and I plan to catch a bunch of games this season. I hope to see my fellow Romans out there cheering on OUR team. But our team needs to make it easier and more fun for us to do that. SEVERO AVILA