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Marketing professionals who work for sport organizations must realize that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to trying to entice a mom and dad to bring the kids to the ballpark is no longer an effective method to reach those potential customers in a time of increasingly diverse family structures decades removed from “Leave it to Beaver.”

That’s among the findings of a recent study of Major League Baseball marketing strategies conducted by Heidi Grappendorf, professor of sport management in the College of Business at �����Ƶapp, and colleagues from two other institutions.

“Family cannot and should not be viewed as a single homogenous market,” Grappendorf said. “How we conceptualize and define family has evolved beyond a husband, wife and two and a half kids. Families are so diverse, and how we define families has evolved. Sport must recognize the diversity in families.”

For the study, titled “Segmenting the Family Market: Assessing Need Based on Family Life Cycle,” Grappendorf and co-authors Jason Simmons of the University of Cincinnati and Danielle Kushner-Smith of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill worked with two professional baseball organizations to conduct focus group studies with fans.

The researchers sent questionnaires to the teams’ season ticket-holders who had at least one child in the household. Nearly 3,000 respondents completed the questionnaire, and 452 of them were considered for inclusion in the study. The researchers then conducted a total of seven focus group sessions via Zoom.

Focus group questions covered the participants’ motivations for attending with their family; participants’ favorite or best part of attending; greatest challenges or obstacles, and least-favorite part of attending; suggestions or recommendations for improvements to the game day experience or what teams could do to entice families to attend; and participants’ ideal or perfect family outing to the ballpark.

Confidentiality agreements with the two baseball clubs require that the researchers do not release the specific teams involved in the study, but both are in MLB’s American League, one in the West Division and one in the Central Division.

The purpose of the study was to develop a better understanding of how sport organizations can successfully market to families. “Rather than treating families as a homogenous subset of the market, this study considered the unique wants and needs of families when attending sporting events based on stages in the family life cycle,” Grappendorf said.

A common marketing strategy used by sport organizations is the “family four-pack,” which is aimed at the traditional nuclear family of a mother, father and two children. The promotion typically includes four tickets, four beverages and four food items (such as hot dogs or popcorn) at a single price point, Grappendorf said.

The researchers found that the “family four-pack” is not the best model to use based on today's families and the fact that people taking children to sporting events have different needs depending upon the age of their kids.

“Family life cycle stage must be considered in family marketing practice,” Grappendorf said. “The multifaceted needs, challenges, barriers and overall constraints based on the family life cycle stage are varied. What is needed for a single parent with a 3-year-old and what a husband and wife and their three adult children need are very different.”

In addition, families typically face a larger impact from the barriers and obstacles that exist for all fans when attending a live sporting event, including the amount of time it takes to travel to a game, the cost of admission and concessions, and the length of the sporting event, she said.

“There are additional constraints, however, relevant to families at varying stages of their life cycle. For example, breast-feeding rooms, seats at the end of an aisle that are easily accessible, kid-sized food portions at a lower cost and parking space locations are all very important considerations to families with younger children, yet they are not explicitly addressed in sport,” she said.

Other factors affecting families at sporting events are family-focused spaces that allow children to play outside of the confines of the seating bowl and seating options free from unruly fan behavior and alcohol consumption. In addition, policies such as restrictions on what can be brought into the venue – such as baby strollers, diaper bags and snacks – can make it difficult for parents to navigate the venue and meet children’s needs for the duration of the game, Grappendorf said.

The cost of admission and other game day expenses are also factors affecting families when they are trying to decide whether to go to a sporting event. For example, the average cost for a family of four to attend an MLB game in 2022 was $204.76, the study reports.

“With costs for attendance, parking and concessions soaring in professional sports, the value proposition for families should be of concern,” Grappendorf said. “For parents with younger children in this study, that price often did not meet what they got out of their experience. If parents did not feel like they were getting a meaningful experience compared to the amount of money they spent, they would leave with a negative value perception and may not be inclined to return to a future game.”

The researchers developed a series of recommendations for sporting event promotions professionals based on their findings, including identifying ways to keep children engaged and entertained at the stadium. Those strategies will vary depending upon the age of the children.

“Parents are regularly on the move trying to find something for their children to do in the stadium,” Grappendorf said. “Out-of-seat spaces in the venue that provide age-appropriate entertainment add value to the game day experience for parents with younger children. This can include play places, carnival-style games or even skills contests for younger children. For teenagers, it could potentially include utilizing social media or an app that would target that age group to further engage them.”

Another recommendation arising from the focus groups is the need to improve communication about the family-related policies, amenities, promotions and themes at the venue, she said.

The most important recommendation, the researchers said, is increased flexibility when marketing to families across the complete game day experience – and not just pertaining to seat selection and price point.

“For practitioners, segmenting the market and not assuming all families are the same and need the same amenities, seats, concessions and activities is antiquated,” Grappendorf said. “Based upon what stage of life they are in, families attend games for different reasons, face different constraints inhibiting attendance decisions and desire better engagement, flexibility and communication from sport organizations in their marketing efforts to families.”

The researchers believe that their findings also could be useful for marketing professionals beyond the type of sport organizations examined in the study.

“This certainly could be applied to other industries – tourism, entertainment such as movies and theater, restaurants, theme parks and discounts at stores,” Grappendorf said. “Other industries also need to view how they are ‘packaging’ what they are offering. Families are diverse, and the stage of life that families are in is varied. This demands that we start looking at marketing efforts differently.”