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ECU baseball promotions are on the 'Money'
By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
GREENVILLE -- Day-o! Day-o!
When fans attend an East Carolina baseball game these days, they basically get to see a show within a show.
Besides being able to enjoy a baseball game, fans are entertained by sumo wrestlers, race cars, dancing girls and trivia games, to name a few. The ECU marketing department, led by the efforts of Mike Money, Assistant Director of Marketing, tries to offer something for everyone at every home game.
"The game is entertaining enough by itself, but we hope just to add to that and make the experience coming to Clark-LeClair Stadium enjoyable for everybody," Money said. "We want that minor league type of atmosphere here. It just makes sure that everybody gets more involved and makes sure everybody has a good time."
Money and his staff, consisting of Robin Taylor, Michael Weller, Mark Davie, Brenden Dwyer, Regina Twine and Omar Hankton, spend countless hours inside the press box and roaming the stadium to make sure everybody has a little fun.
"I have a great staff working under me," Money said. "That just makes everything run so smoothly."
Money is in charge of all the game-day promotions, which involves anything that happens between innings and attendance-driven promotions. He's in charge of the music and the video board atop the scoreboard at the stadium.
"We basically control the game from here (in the pressbox)," said Money, who has been involved with marketing at ECU for three years.
Money and Craig Curtis, the Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing, brainstorm for promotional ideas.
"We'll go over the promotions we did last year -- what we liked about them, what we didn't like about them," Money said. "We'll even sit down with Coach (Randy) Mazey and go over those with him, too.
"We've done a lot of stuff that's different with the new stadium. We wanted to switch a lot of things up. I like to bring in new, fresh ideas each year. I think some things can get old if you do it way too much."
Money attempts to alternate on-field and off-field promotions which tie in with the game's sponsors.
"We try to have something going on between every inning," Money said. "I think we have something for everybody."
For instance, fans have a chance to win tickets to Kinston Indians' games during a drawing, while another will get a free car wash if his or her car is deemed the dirtiest in the parking lot.
Young fans have a chance to race Pee Dee, the Pirates' mascot, around the bases for a chance to win prizes. Also, young fans are often allowed to stand on top of the dugout and race remote control cars.
"That's new this year," Money said. "The kids seem to have a blast doing that."
Fans must use their memory for certain promotions, as contestants play movie trivia or a name-that-theme-song contest.
"The crowd seems to get really involved in that one," Money said. "If the person doesn't know the song, it seems somebody in the crowd does, so that goes over pretty well."
Also new this year, ECU's cheerleaders have been used as bat and ball girls, while the Pure Gold Dance Team performs three times a game on top of the dugouts.
"Both of those are brand new this year," Money said. "From everything I've heard, they've been positively received."
Also new this year is a performance by Les Gardner, a former mayor of Greenville's, who sings "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh inning stretch.
"He does it every game," Money said. "He's very, very entertaining."
The fans seem to get a kick out of every promotion, which takes plenty of time and planning by Money and his staff.
"There's a lot that goes into it behind the scenes that the fans don't see," Money said. "Normally, myself and Robin get here anywhere between three to four hours before the game. We load into the video board all the individual players from the other team and we put in their stats and then we load up all the stats from our team.
"We'll put the different logos on the board for the different sponsors. We'll select the different theme songs that we'll play for our promotions."
Fans can follow how each player is doing throughout the game thanks to the new video board.
"With the addition of the video board, I like some of the stuff we're doing just because it's new," Money said. "I like being able to add updated stats throughout the game. Robin does a tremendous job with that.
"I'm a baseball purist and I love being around the game. If I'm at a game, I want to see what the stats are and, being able to do that this year, I think that's really cool."
Last year, Money and his crew were forced to work from a trailer behind the outfield fence as they waited for the new pressbox to be built. Now, seated in a plush room at Clark-LeClair Stadium, Money is having a blast.
"It doesn't get any better than this," Money said. "This has been absolutely tremendous. This is state-of-the-art and I know from other people that I've spoken with that they're jealous of the atmosphere we have to work in and the atmosphere that we can actually create."
One of Money's favorite routines for trying to get the crowd involved is blaring, "Day-o!" throughout the stadium. The better and louder the reaction, the bigger the smile Money flashes.
"The most enjoyable part is having the crowd react favorably to what I'm doing," Money said. "I can tell the crowd is having a good time if they're clapping along to what I'm playing.
"I just want to make sure everybody is having a good time. That's what they're here for. They're here to have a good time and support the Pirates."
When fans attend an East Carolina baseball game these days, they basically get to see a show within a show.
Besides being able to enjoy a baseball game, fans are entertained by sumo wrestlers, race cars, dancing girls and trivia games, to name a few. The ECU marketing department, led by the efforts of Mike Money, Assistant Director of Marketing, tries to offer something for everyone at every home game.
"The game is entertaining enough by itself, but we hope just to add to that and make the experience coming to Clark-LeClair Stadium enjoyable for everybody," Money said. "We want that minor league type of atmosphere here. It just makes sure that everybody gets more involved and makes sure everybody has a good time."
Money and his staff, consisting of Robin Taylor, Michael Weller, Mark Davie, Brenden Dwyer, Regina Twine and Omar Hankton, spend countless hours inside the press box and roaming the stadium to make sure everybody has a little fun.
"I have a great staff working under me," Money said. "That just makes everything run so smoothly."
Money is in charge of all the game-day promotions, which involves anything that happens between innings and attendance-driven promotions. He's in charge of the music and the video board atop the scoreboard at the stadium.
"We basically control the game from here (in the pressbox)," said Money, who has been involved with marketing at ECU for three years.
Money and Craig Curtis, the Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing, brainstorm for promotional ideas.
"We'll go over the promotions we did last year -- what we liked about them, what we didn't like about them," Money said. "We'll even sit down with Coach (Randy) Mazey and go over those with him, too.
"We've done a lot of stuff that's different with the new stadium. We wanted to switch a lot of things up. I like to bring in new, fresh ideas each year. I think some things can get old if you do it way too much."
Money attempts to alternate on-field and off-field promotions which tie in with the game's sponsors.
"We try to have something going on between every inning," Money said. "I think we have something for everybody."
For instance, fans have a chance to win tickets to Kinston Indians' games during a drawing, while another will get a free car wash if his or her car is deemed the dirtiest in the parking lot.
Young fans have a chance to race Pee Dee, the Pirates' mascot, around the bases for a chance to win prizes. Also, young fans are often allowed to stand on top of the dugout and race remote control cars.
"That's new this year," Money said. "The kids seem to have a blast doing that."
Fans must use their memory for certain promotions, as contestants play movie trivia or a name-that-theme-song contest.
"The crowd seems to get really involved in that one," Money said. "If the person doesn't know the song, it seems somebody in the crowd does, so that goes over pretty well."
Also new this year, ECU's cheerleaders have been used as bat and ball girls, while the Pure Gold Dance Team performs three times a game on top of the dugouts.
"Both of those are brand new this year," Money said. "From everything I've heard, they've been positively received."
Also new this year is a performance by Les Gardner, a former mayor of Greenville's, who sings "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh inning stretch.
"He does it every game," Money said. "He's very, very entertaining."
The fans seem to get a kick out of every promotion, which takes plenty of time and planning by Money and his staff.
"There's a lot that goes into it behind the scenes that the fans don't see," Money said. "Normally, myself and Robin get here anywhere between three to four hours before the game. We load into the video board all the individual players from the other team and we put in their stats and then we load up all the stats from our team.
"We'll put the different logos on the board for the different sponsors. We'll select the different theme songs that we'll play for our promotions."
Fans can follow how each player is doing throughout the game thanks to the new video board.
"With the addition of the video board, I like some of the stuff we're doing just because it's new," Money said. "I like being able to add updated stats throughout the game. Robin does a tremendous job with that.
"I'm a baseball purist and I love being around the game. If I'm at a game, I want to see what the stats are and, being able to do that this year, I think that's really cool."
Last year, Money and his crew were forced to work from a trailer behind the outfield fence as they waited for the new pressbox to be built. Now, seated in a plush room at Clark-LeClair Stadium, Money is having a blast.
"It doesn't get any better than this," Money said. "This has been absolutely tremendous. This is state-of-the-art and I know from other people that I've spoken with that they're jealous of the atmosphere we have to work in and the atmosphere that we can actually create."
One of Money's favorite routines for trying to get the crowd involved is blaring, "Day-o!" throughout the stadium. The better and louder the reaction, the bigger the smile Money flashes.
"The most enjoyable part is having the crowd react favorably to what I'm doing," Money said. "I can tell the crowd is having a good time if they're clapping along to what I'm playing.
"I just want to make sure everybody is having a good time. That's what they're here for. They're here to have a good time and support the Pirates."
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