[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/bluerocksgreen.mp3|titles= Delaware Public Media's Tom Byrne interviews Blue Rocks General Manager Chris Kemple.]
The Blue Rocks’ 2014 season is underway, but for the club’s front office it doesn’t really start until Tuesday night’s home opener at Frawley Stadium.
This is the Rocks’ 22nd season in Wilmington. During that over two decade run, the Rocks have averaged more than 4,000 fans per game every year.
General Manger Chris Kemple, who’s been with the team since its arrival in 1993, says the key to that consistency is making sure the ballpark experience does not become stale.
“The bottom line thing we do is sell tickets. That’s the biggest challenge we face each and every day is how do we continue to sell tickets, how do we sell more tickets," said Kemple. "With that in mind, it’s almost incumbent upon us to keep refreshing ourselves and be creative.”
Kemple says that means introducing new promotions, giveaways and concessions, and taking some risks on ideas that might seem a bit outlandish.
He says the unexpected success of ideas like Mr. Celery and Cowboy Monkey Rodeo taught him it’s worth trying anything.
“That’s kind of the approach, the philosophy we take is that you just never know. And trust me there have been plenty of giveaways and promotions that we’ve done that we had to scrap because they didn’t do well at all," Kemple said. "We’ve had many, many failures, but every now and then you hit it right and one of these things work. We continue to keep trying and to a certain extent re-inventing ourselves.”
In addition to bringing Cowboy Monkey Rodeo back again this season, the Rocks are adding Philly’s well-known Chickie’s and Pete’s to their concession line-up this year.
"Everything just kind of fell into place [with that deal]. They were looking for a site to expand into Delaware and they already work with a number of baseball teams, the Phillies' area minor league teams," said Kemple. "So it was just a great fit."
They also will give away a bobblehead of former University of Delaware women's basketball player Kayla Miller, who's become very popular at the ballpark with her unique style selling souvenirs in the stands.
"Next to Rocky Bluewinkle [the Blue Rocks mascot], she's probably the most popular person we have out here," said Kemple. "Anytime you do a bobblehead of a non-player, it's pretty unique."
Kemple also hopes to get a boost from hosting the Carolina-California All-Star game this June.
Tuesday’s home opener with Myrtle Beach is a 6:35pm start at Frawley Stadium.