"Baseball" run
 

First a disclaimer so I don't get relocated: this is a United-related topic for reasons that shall become clear.

Inspired in part by the current Mastercard campaign where the guys drive around in a bus to various ball parks, I am planning (next summer) to see at least one game in every major league park. A lot of people collect parks, but I am going to do every one in a single summer.

I am based in Chicago and use United for 90% of my flying. What I would like to do is turn this into a story that UA Marketing might latch onto and maybe sponsor: "Baseball fan travels to 30 major league ball parks in a single summer--uses UA as his exclusive carrier."

Anyone have any suggestions on how to present this idea?

Mike

you might start we/ the Chi paper or with a Chi team itself....rather than United....as they may be more likely to be interested than United..and have them pitch it to United. Is United a sponsor for one of the CHi teams??.

I've been doing "ballpark runs" all summer. Just got home from Wrigley, watching the Braves beat the Cubs http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif for ballpark #13 this year. Wrigley is walking distance; for Comiskey I took the El; everything else I've flown to, but not always on UA. I'm intentionally leaving some parks for future years.

I think Priceline might be a better candidate than United, considering how you'll probably need hotel rooms and rental cars too. Also, dotcoms may be bigger suckers for this kind of thing, even given the current state of the economy.

A couple of East Coast friends and I do a ballpark run or two every summer (BOS last year, SFO and Comiskey this year, CLE and/or DEN next year) and, I can tell you: we use one airline or another -- we're very price-sensitive -- but Priceline consistently yields a heck of a deal on multi hotel rooms, in nice properties, in whatever city we end up in. I think it's a natural tie-in for them.

Pluswhich, UA's big problem right now isn't attracting leisure flyers headed for the left-field bleachers on weekends... it's the business travelers who're deserting 'em in droves. Would your campaign line up with their business goals?

Mikey,

Great idea, I'm right there with you. Ballpark runs are the way to go. I've done 19 current stadiums (24 in total including expired stadiums) and have seen eight different parks this year. And it's lame that the Mastercard guys are turning this accomplishment into a trite cliche!

But anyway, to answer your question, I don't think UA would be a good sponsor of this trip--with the way teams travel and the scheduling issues, you would have to do a LOT of flying to catch all the parks, including a very criss-crossed route in the east and midwest. You may want to think about a car sponsorship instead.

The other thing to try is, as someone else suggested, to use United on specific weekend leisure trips where you can knock off a couple of stadiums in a weekend. This year I took a Friday to fly to Cleveland for a game @ Jacobs, drove to Detroit for Comerica on Saturday, and then humped it over to Milwaukee for a Sunday afternoon game. This was great, but it shows you how tough it is to schedule the itinerary--we drove right through your hometown in Chicago but since I'd already seen Comiskey we kept going north to Milwaukee. Ideally, the Cubbies would have been in town, but the schedule didn't work out.

Maybe Hertz or Avis will sponsor you instead! In any event, good luck...

ps. and always remember to check the time zones!

P.S. I did fly United out to Cleveland, and out of Milwaukee, though (both times legging through ORD).

mlb.com (along with Avis, Subway, and Days Inn) are sponsoring a two-person, 50 day road trip all over the country to all 30 stadiums. Right now, they're on day 37 or 38 - anyone who is remotely interested in such a trip is drooling when they read about it, I'm sure.

As for whether UA would sponsor something like that - I don't know. Worst they can do is say "no," right? ;-)

Mike

Observation: Delta's weekly email newsletter has sporting event fares, where they spotlight teams which are playing each other and offer the visiting team's fans a chance to go see the game. They catch my attention although I've never flown one before they do appear to be pretty good fares, at least on the routes which I have paid some attention to fares in the past. (Most other airlines' e-fares, including United's, but excepting Alaska's, aren't very interesting to me any more, although I haven't chosen to unsubscribe, either.)