"We didn't want to clutter the place with signage and ruin the aesthetic nature of the ballpark, and yet we had a need to seriously drive more revenue in that area," said Kris Rone, executive vice president of marketing. "It worked and we've done very well, competitively speaking.
"If you look at the other clubs, we're right among the top teams as far as sponsorship revenue. But we did have to make a change. We had to add that signage, otherwise it wouldn't have been possible for us to extract the revenue we have."
Since implementing the signage program four years ago, the club's sponsorship revenue has increased from about $10 million to more than $20 million. The Dodgers could reap even bigger rewards but don't accept advertising for hard liquor and other products they don't deem "family friendly."
The club has shied away from other many money-making opportunities because of concerns about fan reaction. The Dodgers have not entered the naming-rights market and have maintained comparatively low ticket prices--including 10,000 seats at $6.
"The Dodgers could sell the naming rights for this ballpark for one hell of a lot of money," Magowan said. "There's no question about that."
But the benefits of a naming-rights deal for the Dodgers, even with a lucrative payout, are outweighed by the disadvantages, Graziano said.
"The fans have grown up with it being Dodger Stadium, and that doesn't change by putting a corporate name on it, so the value for a company to do that is low and the benefit to us is not great," he said. "It's a different story in new buildings where the stadium is always known by the corporate name."
So the Dodgers will remain at Dodger Stadium for the foreseeable future. That's just the economic reality of the present.
"The Dodgers do a lot of things right, and there's no reason why 15 years from now [Dodger Stadium] won't still be just as good as it is today," Magowan said. "But the Dodgers have seen their competitors begin to catch up with them because of their new stadiums. That's what has changed."
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Dodger Stadium History
* April 10, 1962--Dodger Stadium opens with seating for 56,000, parking for 16,000 automobiles on 21 terraced lots, more than 3,400 trees covering the 300 acres of landscape.
* 1978--Dodger Stadium becomes the first ballpark to play host to more than 3 million fans in a season when the Dodgers draw 3,347,845 in attendance. After another 3-million attendance mark in 1980, the Dodgers set the all-time major league season attendance record in 1982, drawing 3,608,881 fans. (Toronto, Colorado and Atlanta have since topped that mark.)
* 1996--The Dodgers install a state-of-the-art grass field for first time since stadium opened in 1962. Prescription Athletic Turf (PAT) used the latest agronomic and engineering technology to manage field moisture through controlled drainage and irrigation.
* January 1999--The Dodgers announce a program of limited renovation of Dodger Stadium to help make it more economically competitive with other ballparks across the nation. By the start of the 2000 season, the Dodgers add field-level seats down the foul lines beyond the dugouts and an expanded dugout section with an adjacent club area. In addition, suites are added on the Club Level to provide amenities that are now available at every other major league ballpark.
* Dodger fans have witnessed 3,208 regular-season games at Dodger Stadium, including a 1,833-1,375 (.571) record posted by the Dodgers.
* Stadium played host to All-Star game in 1980 and the Olympic Games' baseball competition in 1984.
* Although only baseball is played at Dodger Stadium, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 16, 1987. Entertainers such as KISS, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Elton John, Simon and Garfunkel, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Eric Clapton and U2 have performed at the stadium.
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Dodger Stadium Yearly Attendance
1962...2,755,184
1963...2,538,602
1964...2,228,751
1965...2,553,577
1966...2,617,029
1967...1,664,362
1968...1,581,093
1969...1,784,527
1970...1,697,142
1971...2,064,594
1972...1,860,858
1973...2,136,192
1974...2,632,474
1975...2,539,349
1976...2,386,301
1977...2,955,087
1978...3,347,845
1979...2,860,954
1980...3,249,287
1981...2,381,292
1982...3,608,881
1983...3,510,313
1984...3,134,824
1985...3,264,593
1986...3,023,208
1987...2,797,409
1988...2,980,262
1989...2,944,653
1990...3,002,396
1991...3,348,170
1992...2,473,266
1993...3,170,393
1994...2,279,355
1995...2,766,251
1996...3,188,454
1997...3,319,504
1998...3,089,201
1999...3,095,346
2000...3,010,819
2001...3,017,502
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2001 Total Operating Revenue
in millions
1. New York Yankees...$242
2. Seattle...$202
3. New York Mets...$182
4. Boston...$176
5. San Francisco...$172
6. Cleveland...$162
7. Atlanta...$146
8. Dodgers...$143
9. Texas...$134
10. St. Louis...$132
11. Colorado...$131
12. Chicago Cubs...$129
13. Baltimore...$128
14. Arizona...$125
15. Houston...$124
16. Milwaukee...$113
17. Chicago White Sox...$111
18. Pittsburgh...$108
19. Detroit...$106
20. Angels...$91
