valueBULL

The Durham Bulls are well positioned for current market conditions, as an economist might say. The annual Fan Cost Index has been released. To us, it’s a key economic indicator. 

Lifting a few lines from our news release…

A fun night at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in 2009 will cost a family of four only $43.50, $11 less than the Minor League Baseball average and $18 less than the Triple-A average. Incredibly, the Bulls are almost $6.00 less expensive than the league average for Short Season/Rookie League Baseball. (The survey is based on the price of two adult tickets; two children’s tickets; four hot dogs; two sodas; two beers; a program and parking.)

An evening at the ballpark is the epitome of value investing. Maybe that explains why Warren Buffett is part owner of the Omaha Royals. (The Royals are giving away a Warren Buffet bobble-head in May!)

Despite that valueBull news, I have to admit that preseason ticket sales have been a little sluggish. However, we were greatly encouraged by the turnout for our annual Fanfest on March 6th. It was a beautiful day and a record-setting 2300 people showed up. I would like to think that’s another key economic indicator.

I apologize for the ticket and concession lines, but we weren’t expecting the big crowd. It spilled onto the diamond where fans could take BP and play catch. The field was covered with people.

It’s a good thing that our head groundskeeper, Scott Strickland, was out of town. He would have been pretty stressed with all those folks working out on his freshly cut, perfectly manicured, thick green grass. The upside: Scott was in Puerto Rico. He was invited to work on the grounds crew for the World Baseball Classic. An honor for Scott. A good forecast for the Bulls. Opening Day is April 9th.

Enjoy the View

A picture is worth a thousand words, and this one speaks volumes about our downtown Durham neighborhood.

Skanska, the company that built the new Durham Performing Arts Center, comissioned this aerial shot. To me, it's as grand as any Monet or Picasso. The Durham Bulls Athletic Park is surrounded by the Diamond View I and II office buildings. To the north is the new parking deck, theater and park. And the American Tobacco campus is on the left. As the late Fred Rogers said:

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

Baseball tickets, a Broadway show, office space, restuarants or just hangin' out in the park...

"Won't you be my neighbor?"

Bulls' Global Reach

5400 hundred miles from downtown Durham, on the west coast of Africa, we find the Bulls well represented in the deep bush of Ghana.

That’s the Chief of Yagaba with a Durham Bulls backpack.

No, he didn’t order it online. It was a gift from our good friend Winkie La Force. She was in Ghana over the holidays - lived in a mud hut for two weeks - on a mission trip with Chapel Hill Bible Church. Winkie has been to Africa six times; three of those trips have been to Ghana.

Winkie usually takes a box of Bulls caps, but she discovered a higher purpose for our backpacks: “They loved them…the Bible fits in them perfectly…and they all ride bikes, no cars...they were a hit!

Stateside, Winkie is Executive Director of Leadership Triangle. Her mission: train leaders in our community with a regional perspective. Winkie walks the talk…with a global perspective!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The famous Durham Bulls logo can show up just about anywhere in the world, typically on a cap. And often on a famous head. From Presidents...to rappers...to NPR hosts, check out our celebrity photos!

Baseball Hibernates

A blanket of snow covers the field at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on January 20th...the best snow we've had in five years. I was inspired to poetry:

Beneath the snow baseball waits.

The base paths and home plate, 

they hibernate.

...but the snow quickly melted and I lost my muse. Still, the mind wanders to sunny Florida, Spring Training and the Grapefruit League.

 

Our Tampa Bay Rays will be in a new venue at Port Charlotte. 

ROAD TRIP!

The field at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, FL. 

The ballpark seats six thousand.

Click here for Rays' Spring Training Info.

The Grapefruit League. Check out this interactive map.

In North Carolina, spring officially arrives on April 9th when the Durham Bulls open their season against the Norfolk Tides. The Bull City beckons. You are cordially invited to join us at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

ROAD TRIP!

Coach Yow's Legacy and Light

When I checked gopack.com Saturday morning alongside the story about Coach Kay Yow's death was an advertisement for her Hoops for Hope game on February 15th. At first it seemed inappropriate…wish someone would pull the ad…but no…Coach’s courageous battle with cancer and that basketball game stand together.

That was reinforced a couple of hours later when the mail arrived. There was a flyer for the game in our Time Warner bill. Hoops for Hope was everywhere I turned, and I’m confident Coach Yow wants it that way.

Brian Asbill, General Manager of Wolfpack Sports Marketing, remembers the inaugural Hoops for Hope:

When we first proposed the idea for the game, we didn't know if Coach Yow would want to put herself out there as the face of this disease when she had so many battles to fight on her own. Most people want to quietly fight these battles far from the limelight but Coach Yow never hesitated. I'll always remember Coach Yow telling me that she had been searching for some way to "give back" and she felt this game would be a way she could give hope to others who were fighting their own battles. She felt the name of the event said it all..."Hoops for Hope." Its purpose was to share hope for a better tomorrow, for more research, more education and hope for a cure.

So many things eventually developed from those early days of "Hoops for Hope". Kay's former players embraced it and took it to another level by suggesting to the WBCA that this should be a nationwide cause supported by schools all across the USA. That led to ESPN's involvement and more than 900 schools conducting events at games to raise funds for breast cancer programs. From that nationwide initiative came the Kay Yow WBCA Cancer Fund, which will ultimately be Coach Yow's lasting legacy.

Some times we can easily forget that just one simple action can make such a difference. Fortunately for us and many others, Kay Yow knew that all along....  

Indeed, Coach Yow is a legendary basketball coach, but her charisma was a captivating combination of her gifts and values. She was a competitor and motivator. A caring, loyal person. A truly gracious human being. A woman of great faith. A hoops luminary whose legacy even eclipses the game she so loved. And everyone loves Coach Yow!

More on Coach Yow at www.wralsportsfan.com

and www.gopack.com

Go for the Gold!

Olympic contenders have much to teach us about navigating the recession. 

It’s an ATTITUDE + INTELLECT = SUCCESS sort of equation.

Our company recently held its annual sales awards luncheon that featured a panel of local Olympians. We were inspired by:

Jim Murray
Luge - '68 @ Grenoble, '72 @ Sapporo, '76 @ Innsbruck
Chairs NC Society of Olympians
Pinehurst realtor

Nadine Faustin-Parker
Hurdles (competing for Haiti) '00 @ Sydney, '04 @ Athens, '08 @ Beijing
UNC's director of track and field operations/admin

Karen Shelton
Field Hockey - '84 @ LA
UNC's head women’s field hockey coach

                                               (from left: Murray, Faustin-Parker, Shelton)

PASSION
Karen says successful people have a passion for what they do.

Quoting Confucius: “Choose a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.”

“Train your attitude…view challenges as opportunities...push yourself…Bring it on!”


PERSEVERANCE
Nadine suffered a stress fracture training for the Beijing games.

“I had to sit out and not train…watch my competitors get better…but I kept pushing and fighting…whatever I could do to stay in shape.”

“Be in the moment…don’t let other people discourage you…never give up.”


Still, it takes more than emotion and force of will. You must be resourceful:

STRATEGY
Jim says you have to find a way around your challenges. Look for a new approach.

Regarding the economy: “There’s a big barrier out there, but everybody else has that problem, too. Find a different way to do things. Don’t think this is the way we’ve always done it."

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Thanks to my co-worker Andrea Osborne for sharing the photo and her notes.

Durham Renaissance

Downtown Durham’s revival is a thing to behold.

When I began working at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park nine years ago it was a lonely place in the off-season. Our neighbors were the abandoned, seedy Lucky Strike factory and the City’s bus depot, an urban eyesore. Thousands of pigeons resided in the abandoned mill, and they routinely "bombed" the ballpark (if you get my drift.) Homeless folks would knock on my Blackwell St. window soliciting support, and I usually drove a couple of miles to Subway for lunch.

What a transformation in under a decade! The old tobacco factory is now the American Tobacco Historic District, a campus of about fifty companies with three thousand employees, five restaurants and loft apartments. The bus lot is the brand spankin’ new Durham Performing Arts Center.

The City of Durham placed a controversial bet in the early 1990’s when it decided to build our $16 million ballpark. (The DBAP opened in 1995.) Over time, however, the Bulls’ success emboldened City leaders to make an even greater public investment in downtown that helped to engender this remarkable revival.

Downtown Durham Inc. keeps a running total on the public investment that’s currently pegged at $315 million, and those taxpayer dollars have been leveraged to produce $820 million in private investment - over a billion dollars!

The new

Durham Performing

Arts Center...or DPAC

DDI has gathered some data on the center city from 1992-93 (when the ballpark was being hotly debated) and compared it to 2008:

• Tax base: $124 million to $500 million
• Employment: 3,800 to 14,500
• Commercial space: 1 million sq feet to 2.8 million
• Visitors: 1 million to 1.7 million
• Residential units: 100 to 900
• City dwellers: 160 to 1400

And there are accolades to go with the DDI stats:

Durham’s Downtown named one of the Top 15 Up and Coming Neighborhoods by Business Week

#1 Foodiest Small Town in America by Bon Appetit

#1 Best Place to Retire by Black Enterprise

#3 Best Green City by Lifestyle

...and finally, another Business Week recognition that I’m really counting on:

#3 Best City to Ride Out a Recession

You are cordially invited to visit us at the American Tobacco Historic District and Downtown Durham!

The courtyard

at the American Tobacco Campus

& the Old Bull River...or ATC