Mariners indoor football team working to build a fan base
LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer

John Morris grew up cheering on the old Baltimore Colts. He’s a “football guy” in every sense of the word. But he’s also the first to say a love for the game doesn’t qualify just anyone to run a football team.

“You’ve got to have a passion for the sport but you also have to have a good business sense,” said Morris, owner of the Mariners, Baltimore’s new minor league indoor football team. Morris, raised in the Westport neighborhood of Baltimore, also owns an ad agency, John Morris Enterprises and three other marketing or product services businesses and he is also the co-owner of the Baltimore-based American Indoor Football Association.

“You have to know that you run it just like you would your McDonald’s, your advertising company, your steel company or whatever,” he added. “I think some people can get off track with that and from a business standpoint, it’s not about the game — it’s about laying down the track to make sure the team stays here.”

And although a winning record would be helpful (the Mariners are 1-6), Morris and others noted wins aren’t the only measures of financial success.

Bob Leffler, a sports marketing expert who has worked with the Blast, Baltimore’s indoor soccer team, and minor league hockey teams on the East Coast, said the key to survival is running an aggressive branding campaign.

“You have to advertise your brains out,” he said. “You’ve got to spend serious money in this market — you can’t spend $50,000 and think you’re going to make headway. [The teams that don’t survive], it’s because they didn’t want to spend the money.”

Leffler added that advertising needed to target casual sports fans or the “leisure audience” looking for a day of entertainment in the city.

“If you just get the hardcore sports fan, you’re not going to make it,” he said. “You have to sell that venue and let people know what the experience is all about.”

The Mariners hired Alan Taylor as marketing manager last month. Taylor said the team is gaining exposure through fundraising events and advertising and hopes to create a buzz with contests and giveaways at games.

“Obviously the idea is to fill the seats, but the way to do that is through grass roots marketing and word of mouth,” he said.

Ticket prices start at $20, but the Mariners also offer discounts or packages for home games and regularly issue complimentary tickets to community youths.

At the team’s three home games, attendance at the 1st Mariner Arena has averaged 3,000 — a little over a third capacity — which Morris said is lower than what they hoped but will keep the team alive for its first season. Morris did not know offhand how many of those per-game attendees were paying ticket holders.

By comparison, the smaller-market Huntington, W.Va., Heroes draw between 1,100 and 1,600 fans in attendance, according to David Walsh, a Herald-Dispatch reporter who covers the team. He added that, despite the team’s four-year presence in Huntington, nearby Charleston’s minor league baseball team is still the more popular sports outing by far.

“This is the best team they’ve had talent-wise, but nobody knows about it,” Walsh said, commenting on what he saw as a lack of advertising for the 5-2 Heroes, under new ownership this year.

On the other hand, the Reading, Pa., Express played to a sold-out crowd of 6,800 on its opening night, according to Morris, while the Baltimore Blast averages about 4,300 in attendance, according to 1st Mariner Arena General Manager Frank Remesch.

A typical budget for one of the 14 teams in the American Indoor Football Association — comprised of a division in the Mountain West and three divisions in the Midwest and East — hovers around $450,000, although the Mariners “run a little leaner than that,” Morris said.

He indicated that if the team can get a total of 4,000 paying fans through the next four home games, it will be in good shape at the end of the season.

The Mariners’ player payroll and equipment costs run under $100,000 per year, according to data supplied by Morris. Travel to seven road games — the Mariners road schedule runs from Erie, Pa., to Augusta, Ga. — totals $24,500, or $3,500 per game, Morris said. By comparison, Forbes.com estimated that in 2006, the Baltimore Ravens spent $142 million just on player expenses.

The rest of the Mariners’ paid staff is “minimal” but Morris would not elaborate further. The twice-weekly practices are at night, and most players have part- or full-time jobs during the day.

Taylor noted that sponsors such as Baltimore-based Royal Farms, which bought the naming rights to the field, help offset the team’s budget. Morris would not disclose the purchase price but said the Express of Reading, Pa., sold its field-naming rights for $80,000. Other sponsors provide services like weekly team dinners at Pizzeria Uno Chicago Grill or the trainer and physician from Baltimore’s Union Memorial Hospital.

The goal, Morris said, is to spend the next few years building a product that can consistently make money, then sell the team to a Baltimore bidder. But he said the real test for the Mariners — as with any business — is getting through the first five years.

“You don’t just wake up and have a successful business,” he said. “You have to do the leg work.”

only twice weekly practices!! Yikes I gotta be honest I don't know The Lions Practice schedule but twice weekly I would question for anyone trying to put on a good showing and win none the less!

i know they have other jobs and stuff going on but couldn't they go with atleast 2 practices and open schedule practices for the remainder of the week! So if any coaches and players could be available to better prepare for an upcoming game they can do so. Not to exclude those that couldn't be there but it's like that sometimes. Maybe teams already practice this philosophy and maybe not but that raises another question!!!!

How do organization's conduct their practices for an upcoming game? And does it coincide with how the rest of the league operates? (in relative terms) I wouldn't expect each team to be practicing the same time but I would expect that each team is putting in the same amount of work/hours together(scheduled practices) as other teams are. You will always have individuals putting in the extra time to better prepare themselves for a game but team preperation could be key with successful franchises and one's that don't perform very well when game time rolls around! Maybe if all teams practiced in close to the same manner (as far as hours clocked) with each other we would see more competative play on the field on a consistant basis.

I would like to see them practice more, but after tonights game agains the Carolina Speed... WHO CARES! MARINERS WIN, BABY! 48-23!

I digress. I still agree that an additional practice day would be beneficial.