World Class Excitement Comes to Segra Park By John Kocsis Jr.
If you’ve gone to a number of Fireflies games, you’ve probably wondered how some of the acts and major promotions make their way to Columbia, South Carolina. Just look at the last few weeks, The Human Cannon Ball was shot out of his cannon across the infield last Saturday, and this weekend, the Fireflies are giving away a jersey lunch box Friday and are having Nickelodeon’s PAW Patrol night
Saturday with appearances from Chase and Marshall. That doesn’t just pop up overnight. In fact, the process is part of months of planning that culminates on any given night at Segra Park. The 2022 season’s finale is right around the corner. Sunday September 11 is less than 50 days away. Almost immediately after the end of the season, when the 2023 schedule gets passed down from the Carolina League to the Columbia Fireflies, the marketing team gets to work. First things first, the team examines where their home games are and what any potential conflicts with local area events may look like. The next step is to scour the dates for any important promotions that can be tied in. Certain nights are easier to plan than others, for example, on Independence Day, the Fireflies typically wear specialty jerseys, have a military tribute and, of course, will have fireworks following the game. How did this weekend’s promotions come into play though? It’s not National PAW Patrol Day Saturday, but, the planning process starts with a few questions, says Director of Marketing Ashlie DeCarlo. The rights for Nickelodeon characters and branding belongs to OT Sports when it comes to the specialty jersey design, so the company begins by sending a couple blanketed generic jersey concepts over before you begin to transition the ideas to being your own. “It’s at that point that you can begin to make tweaks. You can ask to feature word marks or logos, or what color you want to make the jersey and what characters you would like to feature on the jersey,” Marketing Director Ashlie DeCarlo says. “Once you finalize the concept with OT (the jersey company), you send the artwork to Nickelodeon for their approval. After Nickelodeon approves the artwork, it goes to Major League Baseball for their approval.” Major League Baseball inspects the jerseys for the right markings and logos. Once they give the jersey the go-ahead, the team can order the jersey and have it shipped to Columbia so the players can wear it.
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