This is a two-part series examining baseball at spring training coping with uncertainty. Part one analyzed the core business issues. Part two focuses on marketing challenges.

Baseball's business, labor, and economic problems are indeed formidable. One illustration is striking -- since 1995, only five of 224 playoff games were won by teams in the bottom half of league payroll. While revenue sharing and salary "control" will be key phrases emerging in negotiations over the next few months, baseball focuses on five major marketing challenges: fan support, television viewership, corporate stability, new revenue, and fan diversity.

Fan support

Attendance at Major League Baseball games has risen 153 percent since 1970, growing from 28.7 million that year to 72.7 million fans in 2000. Ticket prices remain relatively inexpensive as compared to other sports, even though the average ticket price has risen by 104 percent (to $18.99) since 1992. In 2001, seven of the 23 teams that increased their ticket prices did so by more than 20 percent -- averaging a 13.9 percent increase. While the increase appears high, the average ticket price for all professional sporting events has increased 62 percent since 1995. The $18.99 average baseball ticket price remains relatively low compared to the $50 average for regular-season NFL, NBA, and NHL games.

Predictably, baseball has become a sport of the relatively well-to-do. Over the past seven years, those attending games whose household incomes ranged from $30,000 to $49,999 decreased 10.1 percent; those attendees whose income ranged from $100,000 to $149,999 correspondingly rose 67.9 percent, and those spectators earning $150,000 or more rose 53.9 percent.

Since the season-ending work stoppage in 1994, baseball has attempted to aggressively promote its product. Last season, teams attempted more than 200 categories of giveaways and themed events (though only nine categories delivered a 10 percent increase in attendance over similar games during the previous year). Early indications for this season seem to be positive -- advance ticket sales for spring training games in Florida and Arizona ran 10-30 percent ahead of last year's figures for many teams, and regular-season ticket sales seem brisk as well.

Television viewership

Buttressed by the six-year, $2.5 billion deal with Fox, Major League Baseball has focused on the delivery of respectable ratings. Last year's regular-season ratings showed a .3 reduction from the year before, though local broadcast ratings increased from an average of 5.7 in 2000, to 6.1 last year. The All-Star Game in Seattle was viewed by 12 percent more men (though five percent less women) in the prized 18-49 demographic, as compared to the NBC telecast in 2000 in Atlanta.

Most agree that last year's Yankees-Diamondbacks World Series provided a new level of positive business momentum. The 15.5 cumulative rating produced a 35 percent increase over the Mets-Yankees Subway Series of 2000. Game 7 drew a 23.5/34 national Nielsen rating, producing Fox's highest rated, most watched non-NFL program in their broadcast history. About 71.9 million viewers watched at least part of the game, coupled with a 24 percent increase in the key 25-54 male demographic as well.

Corporate stability

Most marketing experts predict that the rate of 2002 corporate sports spending will grow slower than any time in the past 15 years. Though the $9.57 billion in expected worldwide corporate spending will be 2.9 percent greater than last year, the slower growth rate worries sports executives (regardless of the positive baseball television ratings earned last October and November).

Major League Baseball still counts on its "bedrock sponsors" such as Gillette (a baseball partner since 1939), Anheuser-Busch, and Cracker Jack. The core group of additional sponsors also remains strong -- MBNA, Nextel, Pepsi Cola, Radio Shack, John Hancock, Gatorade, and others.

Baseball has pieced together a series of exclusive marketing benefits for its sponsors. John Hancock sponsors the "All-Star Fan Fest" and Robert Clemente Award, Pepsi has become more involved in the All-Star balloting, Century 21 sponsors the Home Run Derby, and ConAgra underwrites baseball's traveling road exhibit. In fact, sponsor fees have more than tripled over the past five years -- corporations spent more than $125 million on baseball in 2001, a 26 percent increase over the previous year.

New sponsorship arrangements were created with Fleet Bank, RealNetworks, and Claritin, and new sponsorship categories in home improvement, overnight delivery, and technology are being pitched. Viagra agreed to a three-year sponsorship deal worth more than $30 million in February -- also signing Rangers first baseman Rafael Palmiero to a multiyear deal as well.

New revenue

Major League Baseball remains committed to maximizing new revenue, even though the pressure of "quickly mining Internet gold" has essentially evaporated. From the Internet perspective, MLB.com is expected to be profitable this season, and could produce over $100 million in profits over the next five years. The site should sell five million game tickets this year, earning $10 million in royalty revenue. The Internet program could generate millions in online merchandise sales as well. During the offseason, MLB signed a three-year, $20 million deal that made RealNetworks the exclusive technology and online distribution partner for baseball. Look for streaming video game subscriptions as part of the overall delivery of Internet services.

Baseball still looks to the minor leagues as an important fan draw. During 2001, 34.5 million fans attended minor league baseball games, as compared to less than 10 million 15 years earlier. Over 65 new minor league ballparks have been completed in the last decade. Plans to design minor league entertainment complexes are underway in communities like Frisco, Texas. A venture by Southwest Sports Group -- including a 9,000-seat minor league baseball park, Dallas Stars practice facility, a $20 million ice hockey center, and a future design for office space, hotels, and restaurants -- should generate at least $100 million a year of economic impact for the Dallas suburb.

Fan diversity

Baseball continues to promote with an eye toward expanding and diversifying its fan base. A new 30-second Nike ad debuting during last year's World Series showcased 10 major league baseball players singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame in seven different languages, and baseball boasts a 361.3 percent increase in Hispanic attendance since 1994.

In 2000, Major League Baseball began its "Initiative on Women in Baseball." Polls indicate that the number of females 12 and older who consider themselves Major League Baseball fans has grown from 63.2 million in 1996, to 64.6 million last year.

As for Major League Baseball's future, the most intense battleground may be for the "hearts and minds" of the next generation. Overall, over 122 million fans attended all types of baseball games last year, a 27.1 percent increase over the year before. However, a study commissioned by the Amateur Athletic Foundation revealed that 62 percent of 8-17 year-old "sports fans" were interested in baseball -- less than basketball, football, and the Olympics. As baseball works through its problems of salaries, revenue disparities, and franchise stability, it must also focus on attracting, promoting, and captivating the next generation of potential baseball fans.