"For us, baseball season, summer driving season and the convenience business ties very nicely and that's really where it started from," Andrew Baird, BP's vice president of marketing [image-nocss] for convenience retail, told the publication.
Ampm has separate marketing deals with eight teams, dating to 2004 when it became the Dodgers' official c-store sponsor.
Three years later, team officials approached the retailer about putting its name on a new all-you-can-eat pavilion in the right-field bleachers at Dodger Stadium. "From there, other ballparks jumped on board, and we reached out to some parks, too, to explore those opportunities," Baird said.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based ampm has stores in 11 states. Its two most recent all-you-can-eat deals, at Progressive Field in Cleveland and PNC Park in Pittsburgh, reflect the firm's expansion to the Northeast, said the report.
Officials with ampm declined to say how much they pay for the all-you-can-eat agreements, but in Pittsburgh, the value is below six figures annually for a two-year contract, Lou DePaoli, the Pirates' executive vice president and chief marketing officer, told the publication.
The firm activates its deals beyond the typical ballpark signs with coupon distribution, gate giveaways, scoreboard contests, TV and radio advertisements and season-long brand exposure on team websites.
Ampm recently began handing coupons to all spectators at ballgames, not just those sitting in all-you-can-eat seats. It's too early to provide hard data, but redemption has "exploded" in the campaign's first few weeks, Baird said.
Building the ampm brand overall in sports is a longer-term platform, he said, and the retailer is in talks to extend the Dodgers' deal that expires after the 2009 season.
Outside of MLB, the retailer also has a long-term deal with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, the report said.
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