Diamonds in the Rough

MARKETING PLAN: DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

Marketing Plan: Diamonds in the Rough

Anthony J. Moscaret

Northeastern University


Product Description

My product that I have created is a baseball facility that will be used for from summer

tournaments, youth teams, high school games/tournaments and college games. The biggest thing

about my product will be the location, operating a facility like this; it will need to be in an area that

weather will not keep it closed more than six months out of the year. The location I would choose

is just outside of Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas. The name of facility would be “Diamonds in the

Rough”, reason for this name is because when baseball scouts and recruiters are looking for talent

they sometimes find it in an area that they least expect, calling it a “Diamond in the Rough”.

The complex will be made up of multi baseball fields that are designed for high school,

college level and beyond talent levels. For the youth teams, they will have fields that meet the

regulations of Little League baseball. The fields will be backed up together so spectators can walk

between them and check out any of the games they want. The layout design would consist of the

home plate area backing up to one of another. There will be concession stands, restrooms, athletic

training rooms, and access to hotel for families and teams.

Each full size baseball field will hold between 500 to 800 people, but the main stadium will

seat 1,500 to 2,000. All fields will have a full electric scoreboard with the main field having a full

video board and scoreboard as well as sound system and full size Single-A press box. The whole

purpose is to increase the baseball experience for each team and player.

We will also have an indoor baseball academy that will allow us to give lessons and run

camps during the offseason. There will be pitching mounds, batting cages and a turf workout field

so players can work on all skills as well. This building will be attached the front office.

The front office will consist of full time staff that runs everything at the complex from

hiring full and part time staff, selling sponsorships, public relations, operations and marketing. This


is a 12-month running facility and it will be classified as a non-for-profit. We decided to go this

route because we are here to increase baseball among the kids and help all baseball players enhance

their skills. Finally, we want to help the local economy generate more revenue from the

tournaments that we hold in the area.

Market Place

The market place that I am looking to reach with this product (facility) will be the local

baseball market, but I will also go state wide as well and regional and national too. We look to

reach out to all youth level leagues that play on a high school, college or professional size baseball

field. This will allow us to host high school tournaments and games, college games and conference

championship tournaments, summer league (high school or college) seasons and tournaments. With

the youth leagues, they will start at eight years old and go up. They will have a separate area in the

complex with their fields.

During the school year we would have a baseball academy for the local kids to come in and

receive private lessons in the areas of hitting, fielding and pitching. This will allow us to be a 12

month running facility.

Looking at sponsorships the first ones that come to mind are any baseball product related

company. For example, Rawlings, Easton, Baseball Express, Nike; these companies all produce

baseball products from gloves, cleats, uniforms, workout clothes, bats (wood or metal). Rawlings is

located in Missouri and Baseball Express is located in San Antonio, Texas so this would give us a

company in the state and one out of state. Having Nike and Easton as well would allow us to have

national sponsors.

Even though the sponsors will be product companies you always have to have local

companies that are not baseball related, such companies as a major airline since teams would come


from out of state as well, hotels, restaurants, and so on. American Airline’s hub is located in

Dallas, so they would be one that we would want as a major sponsor. I would want to secure a

communications company like AT&T for all hard lines, DSL and cell phones for front office staff.

Other partnerships I would look to build relationships with are the Fort Worth and Arlington

governments since we would be based in that area. I would also look to work on partnering up with

the Texas Rangers and the Frisco RoughRiders since they are the professional baseball teams in that

part of the state.

With the knowledge that football is a huge sport in the state of Texas, so is baseball. We

want to provide baseball players from youth all the way up to college level the opportunity to play

top competition at one of the county’s most state of the art facilities. We would also want to help

corporate sponsors open up new business areas by building a partnership with us.

S.W.O.T.

Strengths: The strengths for “Diamonds in the Rough” is that it will have experienced

officials overseeing the day-to-day operations of the facility and top notch trainers in the academy

giving lessons and evaluations. Our location would be strength, the East Cobb Complex and the

Vero Beach Sports Village are located in Georgia and Florida, and so by being located in Texas it

allows us to offer the same level of competition or better and be more central for teams to travel

too. Teams on the west coast will spend less money in traveling expenses getting to Texas then they

would be going to either Georgia or Florida.

Weaknesses & Threats: One of the big weaknesses that we will have is that we are a young

company and complex, so getting our name out there and having a strong academy and tournaments

will take some time. Making sure that everything runs smooth no matter how much me or the staff


plans things out, because with any product or service out there in its first year there are always

bumps in the road that come up that you cannot plan for.

Now when looking at threats, we have to look local as well as national. Any other smaller

complexes or tournaments in our location and the state of Texas will be a threat to us since they

have a head start. The two biggest threats national that we know we will be competing with are the

East Cobb Complex (ECC) and the Vero Beach Sports Village (VBSV). The ECC has a complex

up and that is known throughout the country and the VBSV is Dodger Town the old Los Angeles

Dodgers spring training facility. With the VBSV and the history of Dodger Town this will help

increase the experience for teams and tournaments, because they can say they played on the same

Spring Training fields as some of the great LA Dodger players that are in the Hall of Fame now.

Opportunities: Having a facility like this in the state of Texas especially near the Texas

Rangers is a huge opportunity to continue the growth and training of young baseball players.

Especially today since baseball is a sport that is having less participation in it compared to soccer.

Having a place that can provide these experiences will help keep the young kids interested in the

game of baseball. The complex will open up jobs in concessions, grounds crews and facility

maintenance as well as other part time and full time jobs. Internships for college students will be

offered that are interested in working in all areas of sports and entertainment, but the biggest

opportunity that it will do is help generate money for the economy in our location.

Product Extension

The product is “Diamond in Roughs” and what services it provides for baseball players from

the ages of eight to college level. The extensions of the product are the players, families and

friends, concession stands, merchandise stands, statistics, sponsors, training academy, recruiting


/scouting of players and the facility itself. All of these extensions enhance the game of baseball for

the athletes and for their families.

It gives the athletes a feel for what it is like to play in a bigger facility, experience

competition from all over the country and to help them grow their skill level. For the families, it

gives them a facility that is looking to do more than just generate revenue. It wants to expand the

skill level of players by giving them state of the art facilities to make the game safe for their

children. It also teaches the athletes that there is more to the game then just playing, it provides

sportsmanship, team work and how to be a good leader.

When it comes to the position matrix, these facilities are pretty much just a complex to play

games. Not many of them offer a baseball training academy when the summer is over. So we will

look at complexes in the state of Texas and around the country that just offer a place to play and we

will compare it to complexes that offer the training academy as well. This is a recreational sports

facility for kids that offer more than a place to play. We would also look at other sport complexes

(volleyball, basketball, football etc…).

Here is the price and level excitement matrix.

Unfavorable

Price

Sports Complex and

Training Academy

Level of Excitement

Favorable Unfavorable

Diamonds in the Rough, East Cobb, Vero

Beach Sports, Volleyball, Golf,

Basketball, Football

Unfavorable

Favorable


When talking about price it is hard to compare other complexes would rate prices against baseball

complexes and Diamonds in the Rough. They are all around the same for the complex and

tournament costs. Some tournament cost will be lower than others because the sport does not

require a lot like baseball does. Looking at training academies for any sport, the cost is right around

where we have priced our packages. We are less than others and a little more than others, all

because of what we offer and in training equipment and trainers.

Price is something that is a cut and dry matter, you can charge a little less than your

competitors, but we do not want to charge to little or we will not be able to cover our expensive. If

you are providing a good product or service like we are looking to do, people will pay for it because

they have seen how successful our product or service is.

Looking at the level of performance, this is a more interesting.

When comparing the performance level of what we are looking to do with similar venues

around the country, the East Cobb Complex is one that we look to compete with very much. ECC

brings in teams from all over the country, talented and competitive teams and they compete in one

of the summer’s largest and talented baseball tournaments at all ages. We are looking to bring this

style of competition from all over the country but making sure that their travel expenses and other

Price

Favorable Unfavorable

Favorable

Unfavorable

Diamonds in the Rough, East

Cobb

Sports Complex and

Training Academy

Vero Beach Sports, Football,

Basketball, Volleyball

Level of Performance


expenses are less than if they went to the ECC. Plus, we are providing an experience of strong

baseball and helping them build leadership, team work and sportsmanship skills as well.

Pricing, Concessions, Sponsorships Strategies and Inventory

Since we would have different styles of pricing at “Diamonds in the Rough” (DITR) such as

sponsorships, registration and the baseball academy lessons and rental fees, prices will vary on what

is being purchased.

Lessons in the academy will cover hitting, pitching, infield, catching and outfield, prices can

range by half hour or hour lessons. If you want to do a package of lessons, meaning the number of

times you come to work out that will be an option as well. Average price of lessons is $50 for a

half hour and $75 for an hour. Now if you want to do a package lesson deal you can, you can select

from packages that consist of five lessons or 10 lessons in a package. All lessons in package deals

are half hour lessons. The price for five lessons is $225 and for 10 lessons is $425; you will save

$25 on the five lesson package and $75 on the 10 lesson package.

½ hour lesson: $50

1 hour lesson: $100

5 lessons package: $225 (savings of $25)

10 lessons package: $425 (savings of $75)

Outside of lessons, people are able to rent batting cages for a half hour when the academy is

not running camps, private lessons or anything during the summer season. Cage rentals will be $5

to $10 dollars depending if you are renting youth (Little League) or advanced (high school and up)

cages, that will give you 25 minutes of cage time.

Other than private lessons and renting of batting cages, camps during the winter will be

offered on the weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Camps will be broken into the ages of 8U


to 13U and 14U and up. Camps run from November through February and from November to

March with weekends off for the holidays. Below is the pricing for all camps.

8U to 13U $250 for 11 weeks

14U and UP $400 for 14 weeks

Registration for teams is based on the player; this would be classified as “Player

Registration” instead of Team Registration. The cost per player would be $175 for the advanced

age players and $110 for the youth players. Say a team of 20 in the advanced age group registers

for one of our tournaments it will cost them $3,500 and with the cost they are paying to play, we

would have contracts setup with local hotels and transportation for them to receive discounts. The

registration cost gives them access to the fields and all of the training facilities within the complex.

Coaching staff will be on hand to give pointers and examples on how to help them improve their

skills. Also, it will pay for grounds and umpires for games and all players and coaches will receive

shirts and hats for taking part in our tournaments.

Sponsorships packages will be able to be custom fitted to what the client wants to spend and

what will give them the best return on investment (ROI). All fields will be able to offer fence

sponsorships on the outfield fence. Printing cost will be built into the sponsorship package, so

clients will not be charged extra for printing cost. Company website will provide advertising space

and customers can click on sponsors name or company logo and it will redirect them to their

website. Since HOCS will have a video scoreboard we will be able to create scoreboard ads with

video graphics.

Pricing for sponsorships within the complex will be priced depending on the size of the

advertisement the client is looking for. The only field that will be different in price will be the

“Hall of Champions Stadium” (HOCS). Signage sizes for the advanced fields will be 7’10” in


height and can be one 6’, 8’ or 10’ in width. Pricing for these signs will be $3,500 for 6’, $4,000 for

8’ and $4,500 for 10’. Now for the same three sizes in HCS will be $4,000, $4,500 and $5,000,

reason for this is if a team just wants to rent a field for one game or major college or high school

championship more spectators that come to watch will see these advertisements just at one time.

All contracts are one year and begin the day the sign is installed at DITR.

On the youth fields will be more to keep the game fun and enjoyable for young kids. There

will be very little signage and right now know packages have been designed yet because we want

to make sure we follow all of the Little League International rules on what can be done for signage

on the fields, if any. Because we will be trying to put a bid in to host a part of the Southwest

Regional Championship Series at our complex and we want to make sure that we are there to make

it a fun experience.

Video board ads will be 10 and 30 seconds in length and will happen two three times a game

at HOCS. The number of times being shown is still being ironed out with umpire associations to

make sure we do not hold up the games. Pricing for 10 seconds will be set at $500 and 30 seconds

will be set at $800, limited inventor will be available.

Potential clients will also be able to have a website sponsorship on the company website.

Right now the two styles of sponsorships for the web we will have is the main banner sponsorship

that is at the top of the web page. The other location right now will be the scrolling marquee at the

bottom of the web page. Both of these sponsorships appear on each web page not just the main page

of DITR.

Below is a list of inventory that is open sponsorships:

Outfield Signage (1 year contracts):

7’10 H x 6’W = $3,000


7’10 H x 8’W = $3,500

7’10 H x 10’W = $3,750

Outfield Signage in Hall of Champions Stadium (1 year contracts):

7’10 H x 6’W = $4,000

7’10 H x 6’W = $4,500

7’10 H x 6’W = $5,000

Video Broad Ad Space (1 year contracts):

10 second ad: $500

30 second ad: $800

Website Sponsorships (1 year contracts):

Main Banner Ad (Only 1 Ad is available): $1,600

Scrolling Marquee Banner Ad: $1,200

We may decide to create tournament programs as an online media guide that will consist of

team photos and sponsors for each team that comes into play. To access them to save money we

will on the website to download and we will setup a QR square as well so people can access them

from their smartphones.

We will have one main concession stand that is located in the center of the complexes and

its fields. This will make it easy access for everyone to purchase food and drinks. Also, in the same

area will be a merchandise stand as well. The merchandise stand will open be open during

tournaments to sell tournament gear. All food and tournament gear will be purchased from local

companies in the Fort Worth/Arlington area and the Dallas area


All games are free for families to come into and the community. Since this is still youth

sports and amateur we do not want to lose the experience of baseball and what it can teach through

it, so we feel to enhance the experience all games are free to attend.

Promotions

Since we are not promoting a team itself like a college team, minor league or major league

team, our promotional output will be different. First thing is we will contact all youth league, high

schools, summer leagues and college teams in our location. We will send out printable materials to

all of them, we will go to informational meetings for all the leagues and the heads of the school

districts. Even though we are contacting all of these organizations and teams, we have to promote

the complex and the tournaments that we are looking to host and we have to promote our training

academy as well.

When it comes to promoting the academy the coaches or trainers will be a huge promoting

tool. We would want trainers that have experience playing at the professional level and if not that at

the college level. We would look for retired or former coaches as well with the same level of

experience and they have to be good with working with kids from eight-years old and up. Knowing

that what their experience level is will help sell our product, but this does not mean we only use

them. We would want to make sure that all youth leagues and high school programs have

information to give to their teams and players about our academy.

We would also have a contract agreement with the Frisco Roughriders minor league

baseball team and the Texas Rangers. Since we would sponsor them and they would sponsor us,

because they are the two professional baseball teams in our area.

When it comes to advertising for tournaments, we will contact all national leagues around

the country. For example, we will contact American Legion and Babe Ruth and to talk to them


about their travel teams around the country and speak with the coaches about our tournaments and

what you receive from playing in one of them. Benefits would be statistics, scout packets,

evaluations and college recruiters on site and national scouting agencies. Finally, we will have

someone speak to potential college athletes about the edibility process.

Our selling strategies are going to be a lot of word or mouth and as time goes on track all of

the teams that have come through our tournaments, academies and lessons and show their success.

By doing this it will allow us to use them as promotional tools to attract new prospects, we will

show them that you are not just learning the skills to play baseball or you’re not just playing top

competition around the country, you are learning sportsmanship, leadership and more.

When it comes to selling advertisements face-to-face meetings with new prospects or having

them come done throughout the year when events are taking place to see what custom packages can

be done. Cold calling and prospecting will be involved and everything, just like any sales

department in sports or any sales industry. Showing them that how many people they can touch

either through an advertisement at the facility or on our website and that it will give show the

community that you support youth sports and are there to help better kids.

We will not have the normal in-game promotions on the field that take place during the

innings that you may see at a minor league baseball game. Even though we will have sponsors we

do not want to make our facility one giant commercialized product, because we feel it will take

away from the kids. To enhance our promotional side we will make sure we are using social media

since we can touch many people with that and it will cost us nothing to use expect our time. We

will advertise with all baseball product companies and distributors, we will look to promote through

leagues, schools and colleges as well. Since we have two professional baseball teams we would

look to put something together with them as well when they do Pitch, Hit and Run competitions or


anything in youth baseball. This area will be one that will keep expanding as time goes on, because

there are always new ways to advertise these days.

Place Distribution

This type of design and layout was selected because it allows a fun atmosphere among

families and teams to interact with one and other before, during and after games. It also puts the

restrooms, press box and concession stands at the center of all four fields on the full size baseball

fields and the Little League fields. By doing this it allows people to watch all the games and it

centralize everything they would be looking for in one spot. Both sets of fields will have the same

central design, we feel having people walk all over for restrooms or concession stands would be a

bad experience and leave them making comments about things they didn’t like about the design

structure.

Below you will be able to see layout of the complex and where things would be located.

Each of the little league fields and three of the full size baseball fields will have the standard

baseball scoreboards. Little League (LL) fields will have seating but the number of seats that will

be needed to host a Regional Championship has yet to be determine, but three of the LL fields will

hold up to 500 people. The three full size baseball fields will hold from 500-800 people at each

field, seating located on the baselines. HOCS will hold up to 2,000 seating from behind home plate

and down the first and third base lines.


Complex – HOCS is the only full size field that has no trees or parking lots beyond the outfield fence.

Hall of Champion Stadium Seating Diagram

The blue seating in the HOCS is stadium style seats and we listed them as “Reserve Seating” and

the red section are all metal bleachers and we have titled that “General Admission”. The black box

is the press box that will be in the HOCS. Even though there is the press box in the center that


overlooks all the fields, this field will have a Single-A stadium press box built into it as stated

earlier.

When it comes to advertising on the full size baseball fields we will have outfield wall

signage and on the HOCS field we will have a video board built into the scoreboard for advertising

as well. You can see examples of these below.

Outfield Fence Advertising

Little League Field Scoreboards


Hall of Champions Stadium Video Board/Scoreboard

Public Relations

When it comes to handling public relations for “Diamonds in the Rough” we want our staff

to update our website, oversee all social media and work to help promote our complex, product and

services. Throughout events at the fields or in the academy we want to have photos to use in

marketing pieces as well as our Facebook page and to send out through Twitter. During

tournaments we want to have statistics to be compiled to keep tournament records and to send out

to recruiters for the high school age athletes. Press releases would be written on games and those

will be sent out to the newspaper of the area the team is from, outside of being posted on our

website and social media outlets. They will also keep track of news on our company in the local

area so we can keep a record of and use this in our marketing and sales strategies.

Even though we are not a team or college athletics department does not mean our public

relations department cannot function like one. When kids that come through the academy or

tournaments go on to major college baseball programs or onto professional careers we would like to

make sure we highlight that.


Finally, with the social media aspect we want to have athletes, community members,

families of the athletes, friends of workers and anyone who likes the game of baseball to follow us

on Facebook and Twitter.