PART 2 of 3
By Patrick Lujan
Remember the days when there was not a single seat available at the Paseo Stadium for a championship game between the old UOG Tritons and AK Islanders? Or when fans were manning the barbecue pit outside the right field fence? Or when play was halted for fans to get down from sitting atop the outfield wall?
Those were the days when baseball was magical.
In Part 1 yesterday, the baseball community expressed its concerns regarding the current state of baseball on Guam. A whopping 70% of those who took the survey were players themselves.
Today’s Part 2 features some of the comments from our survey on how the sport can attract fans once again.
What can be done to attract fans back to baseball?
Better fields for players and village participation.
Better facilities.
Cleaner fields and lavatory and vending facilities. Also stop using the fields for concerts and get better umpires!
Everything needs improvement from advertising, to making the ballpark more attractive to fans add another shop, sale baseball stuff and souvenirs.
Fix broken lights, better field upkeep, bathrooms, entertainment during games.
Nothing it is still good.
Fair umpires ( not just people who wanna get paid), food stand ( without ridiculous prices) , announcer ( 2019 announcer was good), field conditions ( maintaining a field can go a long way), competition.
Keep the teams competitive. Too many times there are teams that don’t want to be there to compete. Change the board! we need change….
More exposure to the game. Try to duplicate what football, soccer, and basketball has been doing these past years. The sport needs to be more welcoming to the youth.
Better maintenance, better concessions. Better organization of the league and more certified umpires or (at least consistent training for umpires).
Upkeep of facilities, advertisement on social media, restructure the GNOC officers and select someone who actually cares about Guam baseball and more games!
Promote it more, get the sponsors involve and have raffles. Cleaner bathrooms, multiple drink and food stations in the stands for the fans so they don’t miss a play, more games. Unfortunately, our season was cut short this year. For what? I am not sure.
Let the amateur division be a stepping stone for teams to make it to the GML.
Wanna bring fans back to baseball? Have more leagues for the youth & adults. Even if it’s weekend tournaments like how softball does theirs. Their is more than enough fields on Guam to hold tournaments. Not everyone has a second sport they can play.
UNIFY. NO MORE KINGDOMS. LISTEN. LEARN. Ask why the soccer federation is so prosperous.
Good raffle and give away prizes, and better food and beer booth.
More advertisement, lower concession prices and better lights, cleaner bathrooms and a whole new paint job on the entire facility and including the outfield wall.
Better condition of field, more competition of game play, trained umpires, bringing trainers to help/develop players and coaches of the game of baseball.
Even up talent on all teams.
GML needs to stop accepting just any teams. Better marketing. Need more exposure via newspapers, news, radio stations and social media. Bring back promotional nights. More interactions with the fans.
More competitiveness, more promotion (media,sponsors etc.).
Better sponsorship, giveaways like the good ol’ days, and better competitive teams. Get rid of the lower teams. Limit to five or at most six teams.
Nicer facility. Better advertisement. Better upkeep of the facilities structure.
Baseball on Guam is very unorganized especially for our youth. We need more teams with better coaching. It’s really needs to start at a league level the heads for both Cal Ripken and Little League are ridiculously unorganized and there are too much politics involved in everything.
More publicity / better marketing.
Better advertisement. 7th Inning Stretch activities to get fans involved. Better F&B attractions. Coming to Paseo used to be a family event. Where everyone can enjoy their time there even if they didn’t understand the game. Mark Colby had it right by updating stats. It’s a social media generation. Tie that in with the game to garner more interest.
Better marketing strategies, reorganization of top officials (commissioner, board of directors).
Upgrade the stadium, repair restrooms, move concessions upstairs, upgrade lights and redo the field.
Baseball needs more media coverage, advertising, and less politics.
Better fields, better umps, better organization, more activities.
Part 1: What’s Wrong?
COMING UP
Part 3: What does the future hold?
(AP/Carlos Osorio)
