BY DAVID CARAVIELLO
Of The Post and Courier staff
The professional sports presence in Charleston 10 years ago consisted solely of one struggling Class A baseball franchise, which played in an antiquated stadium and routinely drew fewer people in one season than South Carolina or Clemson football drew for one game.
A decade later, the baseball team still struggles on the field. But that's the only constant in a city that has evolved into a minor league boom town.
On Saturday, Charleston's two-year-old arena football team, the Swamp Foxes, played their third home game of the season at the North Charleston Coliseum. On the same night a few miles away, the Charleston Battery soccer club played its first home match of the season at Blackbaud Stadium.
Today, the Charleston RiverDogs open a homestand at Joseph P. Riley Park, widely viewed as one of the best minor league baseball facilities in the country. On Tuesday, the South Carolina Stingrays return to the coliseum for Game 5 of their East Coast Hockey League playoff series against Mobile.
In 1991, the Charleston Rainbows were fortunate to attract 1,500 people a night to crumbling College Park. Between April of 2000 and April of 2001, over 561,000 people - a number greater than the combined populations of Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties - saw one of the area's four professional teams play. Sparkling facilities and an air of cooperation have helped each team find its niche in a minor league sports market more crowded than anyone could have imagined 10 years ago.
"It totally amazes me, because at one time you'd almost have to beg people to go to something," said Danny Causey, who owns Causey's Barber Shop in Mount Pleasant and regularly buys group tickets to area sporting events. "You'd offer them a ticket and they'd say, 'I might go, I might not.' You hate to buy a ticket to a special event if somebody's not going, but you don't mind buying it if they're going to go and enjoy it. I'm totally amazed at the interest in it now."
Competition for the entertainment dollar is stiff in Charleston, but all four area minor league teams seem to be holding their own. The RiverDogs averaged 3,152 fans through each of their first 12 home games. They rank fourth in the South Atlantic League in attendance, behind a pair of expansion teams in Lexington, Ky., and Lakewood, N.J., and the defending league champions.
The Stingrays ranked fifth in the 25-team ECHL in attendance in 2000-01, averaging 6,003 fans at each of their 36 regular-season home games. Boosted by a big opening night, the Swamp Foxes averaged 5,854 over their first two home games, and pulled in 3,578 for their game Saturday night. The Battery averaged 3,485 fans at each of their 18 home matches last season, and drew 3,431 for Saturday's home opener.
Each team survives because each has cultivated a strong core fan base. They compete not for the fans who attend the events already, but for the fans who aren't attending any events at all.
"There is a different niche, which is your fan base. I don't think we're competing even among ourselves," said RiverDogs President Mike Veeck, one of the top promoters in all of minor league sports. "I think our competition is the guy who gets six sodas, calls in a Domino's order, and watches videos. Those are the guys we're all trying to reach. We want to startle them enough to get them out of their cocoon and into our arenas."
In reality, the crowded minor league market in Charleston actually helps each team succeed. When one team draws well, executives of the Charleston franchises believe, it creates an atmosphere conducive to other teams drawing well. More teams mean more coverage of minor league sports in the local media, more people attending events, and a larger presence in the market.
"I think the success of the hockey and baseball teams in the past is what's helped us draw 4,000 or 5,000 a game," said Bobby Pearce, owner and president of the Swamp Foxes. "They've seen the facilities, they've seen that it can be fan-friendly and affordable. I think they get off the couch to go see hockey and baseball, and once they're off the couch, they come see us."
Veeck points to a recent evening when the RiverDogs and Swamp Foxes played on the same night. "They opened with 7,000, and we opened with 3,500 or 4,000. Everybody was happy," he said. "Now, do I lose 100 (people) to somebody? I'm sure I do. Do I care? No. Because in the long run, a sports fan will try all of them."
The venues are a huge plus. In minor league sports, a good facility can lure fans more easily than a winning record. If there's plenty of parking, no long waits for restrooms or concession stands, and a safe environment, fans are more likely to come back. Each of Charleston's teams compete in a relatively new facility better than most others in their league.
"That's probably the most important ingredient, that the facilities are so good," Pearce said. "In a lot of towns, older facilities will keep people from going. At least here, it's not a negative. It doesn't keep people away. They know they're going to have a good, clean place to park and sit when they go to these facilities, and that's very important."
"Our attendance doubled when we moved from Stoney Field to Blackbaud Stadium, and it's stayed that way," said Battery President Nigel Cooper. ". . . Without a shadow of a doubt, Charleston is doing things right from the standpoint of venues."
"People are much more demanding at the minor league level than they were even five years ago, because they know what amenities are," added Veeck, who is also involved in a highly-successful baseball club in St. Paul, Minn., that sells out virtually every game. "It used to be in St. Paul, we'd shut down a men's bathroom and turn it into a women's restroom in the third inning or whenever the line got too long. They don't settle for that anymore."
It helps that all of Charleston's professional teams not only get along, but support one another. Some markets are filled with petty jealousies over stadiums or attendance figures. In Charleston, the RiverDogs have helped the Swamp Foxes with their marketing. The Swamp Foxes have promoted the Stingrays at arena football games. The Stingrays introduced Battery players before a recent home game.
If the RiverDogs want to take a potential client to a soccer match, the Battery will leave tickets. The RiverDogs will do the same for the Battery. All the teams try to avoid scheduling conflicts whenever possible. In other markets, that kind of cooperation does not exist.
"The (Minnesota) Twins wish I would drop dead. They would welcome that," said Veeck, whose St. Paul club competes in the same market. ". . . This is a unique market, because there is so much. I guess we all compete on the field, and yet because we've seen it grow from its infancy, I just think there's more cooperation in Charleston than I've ever seen in any other market. I started out with the White Sox, and I've never been to a game at Wrigley Field. That's how much I hate the Cubs. So I think it's unique, and that being said, I also think it's very wise."
"I think down the road, you'll only see the local teams working more hand in hand," added Stingrays President Matt Klidjian. "In order for us all to survive, we all have to work together."
Yet the cooperative atmosphere in which Charleston's minor league teams operate could be severely tested in November, when a new player on the scene is introduced: a franchise in the NBA's fledgling National Basketball Developmental League, which will play at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Swamp Foxes don't like that North Charleston is paying $300,000 over five years to get the NBDL team. And the Stingrays don't like what they perceive to be the NBDL's better deal with the coliseum.
A worst-case scenario involves the Stingrays leaving the coliseum, the Swamp Foxes leaving town, and the decimation of what had been a textbook example of how multiple minor league teams can co-exist.
"I think only the future will tell what's in store for the Stingrays, especially with what's going on with the city right now," Klidjian said. "Our future is a bit cloudy right now, unless we're able to negotiate a more favorable deal with the city of North Charleston."
"It's system overload," Pearce added. "The NBA, I think, is pushing the limit. . . . Will we be around because of the NBA? Would I leave Charleston because of the NBA? That could well be the case."
Take me out to the ballgame
The crowds (home attendance)
TEAM TOTAL GAMES AVERAGE
RiverDogs (2000) 240,069 71 3,381
Stingrays (2000-01) 216,126 36 6,003
Battery (2000) 62,727 18 3,485
Swamp Foxes (2000) 42,904 8 5,363
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TOTALS 561,826 133 4,224
The costs
RIVERDOGS BATTERY STINGRAYS SWAMP FOXES
Ticket $4.00 $6.00 $6.75 $7.50
Parking 3.00 3.00 4.00 4.00
Hot dog 1.50 1.50 2.00 2.00
Soft drink 1.50 1.50 1.00 1.00
Popcorn 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50
TOTAL
(Per person) $11.50 $13.50 $15.25 $16.00
(Family of four) $46.00 $54.00 $61.00 $64.00
