By Nicole Fernandes
Sept 18 (Reuters) - It is a typical summer scene at the home of the Toronto Blue Jays. The sun is out, the retractable roof is open and a sea of blue-jersey-clad fans are cheering on the home team as they take on the Baltimore Orioles.
But take a closer look, and you will see her everywhere.
Hello Kitty has taken over the ballpark and brought her fans with her. The concourse is bustling with people hours before the first pitch, many of them clutching limited-edition Hello Kitty bobbleheads
given to the first 15,000 fans through the turnstiles.
Girls and women of all ages are sporting Hello Kitty T-shirts and bag charms as they take part in a host of activities, from face painting to crafting friendship bracelets. A young boy even takes a trip to the Hello Kitty salon to get a strip of aquamarine blue tinsel in his mop of black hair.
Promotional theme days are not new to sports, but leagues like MLB are leaning into pop culture franchises to engage new demographics – and, hopefully, generate fans of their on-field product in the process.
“We’re always looking to grow our fan base,” said Uzma Rawn Dowler, MLB’s chief marketing officer and senior vice president of global corporate partnerships. “How can we appeal to a female demographic? How can we appeal to children? What can we do to sort of engage other audiences?
“Theme nights is definitely one way to do that.”
CAN THEME DAYS TRANSFER AFFINITY TO SPORTS?
Theme days are a useful way to bridge the worlds of pop culture and sports. Immersive experiences and enticing merchandise giveaways targeted toward fanatics of various properties can boost ticket sales for teams.
The Blue Jays experienced a 40% increase in ticket sales for last season’s Barbie theme day due to the promotion, while the Boston Red Sox’s “Heated Rivalry” night last month was the most successful theme night in club history with 12,000 promotional tickets sold.
“We’ve really challenged ourselves to think of ways that we can get people into the ballpark that maybe traditionally wouldn’t be coming to a baseball game,” said Jess Wood, the Blue Jays’ senior director of promotions.
“And then once they’re here and they have such a great time, the goal is to hopefully then have them come back for a future game. Maybe not for a theme game, (but) just because they had such a great experience.”
According to MLB, 56% of theme night attendees last year were new buyers, with 45% being female. The league was unable to provide data to suggest first-time theme night attendees are return customers.
“I don’t think we have any good evidence that it generates long-run affinity,” Victor Matheson, a specialist in sports economics who teaches at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, said of promotional theme days.
He added that while “love at first sight” is unlikely to be the case, teams “don’t necessarily have to generate a real fan if (a theme night) generates a full house once a year, every year, year after year.”
Bob Dorfman, a San Francisco-based sports marketing analyst, believes theme days can help clubs and leagues build loyal fan bases in the long term but noted it is not something that happens overnight.
“It’s a gradual process, especially when you’re starting with somebody younger, but you do all those things that you can to get them in and keep them coming back for more,” Dorfman said.
SPOTLIGHT ON POP CULTURE
Teams across other major North American leagues, including the WNBA, NBA and NHL, have also hosted theme nights centred on long-adored pop culture franchises like Hello Kitty and Star Wars in recent years.
According to MLB, pop-culture-centric programming led to 38% growth across the league last season, with tickets sold for those types of specialty packages up 13% year-over-year from 2024.
Its teams have been tapping into trending properties such as Rebecca Yarros’ bestselling fantasy novel “Fourth Wing”, Japanese manga series “One Piece” and various reality TV series – all of which bring their own unique set of audiences, from younger generations to women and different ethnic groups.
“Part of the strategy is, yes, bringing in new audiences, but also aligning with other entertainment properties that happen to be passion points of our fan bases or the fans that we’re looking to attract,” said Rawn Dowler.
It is a trend that Dorfman believes is important for generating interest in sports, especially in today’s saturated entertainment market. He does not see pop culture theme days going away any time soon.
“This is a trend that’s going to continue to grow and grow and grow,” said Dorfman. “The more entertainment options there are out there, the more ways you’re going to have to come up with to get people into the seats to watch your team play. So, I think pop culture is huge.”
(Reporting by Nicole Fernandes in Toronto)
