Working Promotions for the Saint Paul Saints

Note: I wrote this fun story in the spring of 2014. It was published by ThreeSixty Journalism. This was my final published article that ThreeSixty published before I graduated from high school.

For Sierra Bailey, promotions manager of the St. Paul Saints baseball team, nothing is more satisfying than making several thousand fans laugh at a silly promotional event.

“I love hanging out with the fans,” said Bailey, 26, originally from Maple Grove. “I love hearing (them) laugh at our promotions, or even at something we didn’t plan. Hearing them laugh meant that it was a success, and I don’t care about anything else in that moment.”

As an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, Bailey knew she wanted to have a career based in sports. However, she thought that being a therapist or trainer was the only way to work in the sports industry.

At a promotional TwinsFest, she quickly “fell in love with the business side of sports” and switched over to sports management. Since then, she has interned with several major Minnesota sports organizations, including the Lynx, Timberwolves and Twins.

Bailey runs promotions for the Saints, a minor league professional team that plays in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball — which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. They have played at Midway Stadium in St. Paul since 1993, but are moving into a new stadium starting with the 2015 season.

Since the Saints are a smaller team with unfamiliar players rotating in and out of the lineup, they rely on unique promotions to draw fans to the ballpark. ThreeSixty Journalism reporter Amolak Singh chatted with Bailey about how those ideas come together.

When did you get interested in sports as a career?

I started off at the U(niversity of Minnesota) for physical therapy, because I grew up playing volleyball and basketball and all sorts of sports. But as a sophomore I went to my first TwinsFest and I fell in love with the business side of sports. I thought that the only way to be in sports was to be a trainer, so I thought this was cool. So, I switched over to sports management and I’ve always loved the baseball atmosphere the most. I’ve interned with the Saints, the Twins, the Wolves and the Lynx, and every internship I’ve had has been with promotions. But the Saints promotions are so much more than every other team I’ve worked for, which is what they are known for. If we see a line, we just don’t get close to it. We cross it. It’s awesome to work at a place like this.

Was it eye opening for you to realize all the behind the scenes action that make games work?

Yeah, it is amazing. I mean, we work a lot, sometimes over 10 or 11 hours-a-day. It can be tiring. But it is amazing how once the gates open, we all change from being zombies to being super excited. It really is a lot of fun.

How do you know when it’s OK to “cross the line” with a promotion?

There have been some instances where we have to make sure we aren’t doing anything wrong, and we usually check it with our GM (general manager) and owner to make sure. I’d love to say we can do whatever we want, but that’s not always the case. But 90 percent of the time we can cross the line, and that’s what is fun. The Saints motto is “Fun is Good.”

What about the baseball environment has attracted you?

A lot of people come to baseball games, not because it’s super exciting to watch, but because it’s a nice way to be outside, be at a sporting event and also hang out with friends. I like the Saints because you can do it for so much cheaper here. You could have a fun night out for under ten bucks if you wanted to.

How has working for the Saints been different than working with other organizations such as the Twins and Timberwolves?

I’d say its a different demographic (that) we are marketing towards. The crowds are different. People who go to a Wolves game are the type to go downtown after the game, while people who go to a Saints game come with their families, or because its cheap to … have fun. They don’t even need to be baseball fans. 75 percent of our fans come to have fun, and baseball is just the added bonus. It’s hard to keep up with the team since players are moving really fast. There are probably only five players that stay here for the year. Others get picked up by other teams, or traded, and so on. I guarantee that 90 percent of our fans can’t name a player on the team.

What keeps the Saints important in the St. Paul community?

There’s always something going on. Between innings, there is always a promotion going on. People love free stuff. For example, if a section won something and didn’t get their prize coupon, they would flip out and demand it. We always try to pick two or three promotions that get national attention.

Can you pick one promotion that received national attention which you were proud of?

I had nothing to do with it, but it was pretty funny. A few years ago, a senator (Larry Craig of Idaho) got busted for the bathroom foot tapping incident (in the Minneapolis airport). So, instead of doing a bobblehead we did a “bobblefoot” as a giveaway.

What do your promotions look like?

We might have a theme of the day, which means our promotions and giveaway are based on that. Sometimes, we don’t have a giveaway at all. One promotion we do every year is St. Patrick’s Day in July, where people dress up in green and get super excited like it’s actually St. Patrick’s Day. Anything is on the table. There will be times when something looks really funny on paper, but when we get to it we have no idea how to execute it.

What would a typical day as promotions manager look like?

During the offseason, since we are small staffed, everybody does everything from selling corporate sales to selling group tickets. During the season on a game day, we always get here at 9 a.m. I put together scripts for our public announcement guys, help plan what promotions we are going to have each inning and get all our crazy promotion stuff ready before the game. I have about 25 game day interns that I meet with and tell them what’s going on. They go off and we get everything set up. Then, it’s game time. We could be here (until) anytime between 10:30 p.m. and midnight. And then we get up and do the same thing the next day, especially on homestands where there’s at least three games.

How long is the Saints season?

We have 50 home games, stretching from mid-May to mid-August. We start the season on May 15.

Do you interact more with Saints fans compared to a bigger organization?

We seat 5,000 to 6,000 fans at our ballpark, so there’s a strong community feeling here. I’m always involved with the fans because I’m busy picking out contestants and hanging out with them and getting to know them. There’s drunk people, there’s old people, there’s young kids who get super shy when they’re on the field. My voice gets super hoarse at the end of the summer because I talk to everybody and I can’t shut up.

What skills do you need for someone on your career path?

You have to have a certain drive, but you can’t take anything too seriously. You have to be able to market yourself, and networking is your main tool to getting jobs and internships. You will get leaps and bounds ahead of others if you know people rather than just using your resume. I didn’t apply for this job. Our assistant GM, who also worked when I was an intern, called me up awhile back and asked me what I was doing. Then he asked me if I wanted to be the promotions manager.