2012 Media and Partnership Guide
MISSION STATEMENT
The NCFD Farm Club baseball complex and the Bowie Baseball Academy are striving to provide affordable and professional style baseball venues for youth and adult baseball players throughout the Central Texas community.
INTRODUCTION
North Carolina Furniture Direct Farm Club
The creation of the NCFD Farm Club is to provide the Austin, San Antonio area communities with access to baseball practice and game fields at a professional level that does not exist in this region. The NCFD Farm Club currently has five pro-style practice infields with batting cages, six 12U age stadium baseball fields and a 6,000 sq ft indoor training facility operated by former major league baseball player Micah Bowie.
The facility is built on farm land in the Zorn area located just outside the city limits of San Marcos, Texas. Our location is centrally located just off Hwy 123 and only ten minutes from IH 10 in Seguin and IH 35 in San Marcos. The design of the NCFD Farm Club complex is based on years of research and experience by NCFDʼs
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president, Earl Studdard. Earl has interviewed designers of baseball complexes and grounds keepers throughout the country including Nolan Ryanʼs minor league Round Rock Express. Texas State University also played a big part in helping to shape the design of the complex. Earlʼs coaching experience and his coordination of the construction of five baseball fields for the New Braunfels Little League helped develop the knowledge of what it takes to build a player, coach and fan friendly baseball complex. The complex will enable a coach to use a practice infield and batting cage to warm up their team before a game. The dugouts and stands will have water mist cooling fans to help everyone battle the Texas summer heat. Safety for the players and fans has been designed into every area of the complex to provide a great safe visit to the complex for all. Teams currently playing in select baseball tournaments have to travel to Houston or Dallas to play in tournaments held on fields comparable to our complex. Parents of players on local teams are very excited about having a baseball complex of this magnitude in our community. The San Marcos area offers many tourist interests but also that small town draw that will lure teams from outside our community to come and play in our tournaments throughout the year.
“This is a dream come true. The rewards will be huge for the youth that will make lifelong memories here on the baseball fields.” ~ Earl Studdard
FIELDING A DREAM Businessman building baseball complex for all ages near San Marcos
By Betty Taylor The Herald-Zeitung ay Kinsella would be proud. The Iowa corn farmer, played by Kevin Costner in the movie“Field of Dreams,” heard voices urging him to build a baseball diamond in his corn field. If Kinsella heard whispers, Earl Studdard, president of North Carolina Furniture Direct and founder of the new North Carolina Furniture Direct Farm Club, must have heard shouts. On 88 acres along Old Zorn Road near San Marcos, Studdard is building a baseball complex that eventually will include 19 professional-grade stadium fields. “This is a dream come true,”said Studdard, who played high school baseball and whose son, Drew, plays baseball as a freshman at Texas Lutheran University.“The rewards will be huge for the youth that will make lifelong memories here on the baseball fields. “Baseball is a family game. It is a team sport. You win and lose as a team. You have fun as a team.” Studdard wants that fun to extend beyond the players. He wants the coaches and umpires to have fun, too. Knowing most of the professional-grade baseball complexes for youth were located in the Dallas and Houston areas, Studdard relied on his retail background to come up with a plan, and what a plan it was. In 2008, he bought the 88 acres of cow pastures. The Kevin Costner baseball movie reference is not lost on him. “We talked about planting some corn just to have corn by the stadium fields,”he said.
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Photo by David Short San Marcos Daily Record Farm Club/April 2012 • 3
Diamonds in the Rough Field View
Hanging the Sign
Marking the Field
The Stands
Concession
Dugout
Pressbox
Putting the Lights Up
Baseball As An Industry
Youth baseball continues to grow despite the current economic conditions. Currently over 2.6 million children play organized baseball or softball nationwide, according to Little League Baseball. Youth baseball tournaments hosted by select teams in our area now have to split their games between area high schools and limited city fields. This creates difficult logistic issues for players, coaches, game officials and families. The largest Little League complex in our area is the New Braunfels Little League, which does not allow select baseball to play at their facility. Our baseball complex will be the largest baseball only complex in the Gulf Coast region with room for ex-
pansion as demand requires it. Complex 1 was completed in 2010 and has 5 pro-style practice infields with batting cages, 8 prostyle bullpens, information center and a 6,000 square foot indoor training facility. Complex 3 which was completed in 2012 has six 12U stadium fields with 500 + seating at each field and a 6,300 sq ft concession and office building. Complex 4 will be our next to build which will feature two 18U/ 13U stadium fields and four 12U stadium fields. This should be completed by the middle of 2013. Complex 2 will feature two 18U/ College stadium fields with 2000 + seat capacity, two 18U/ 13U stadium fields and three 12U stadium fields. Complex 2 should be completed by the end of 2014.
Strengths and Core Competencies The design of the NCFD Farm Club complex gives priority recognition to the needs of coaches, players and parents. The coaches have access to warm up practice infields with batting cages to get teams ready for their game. Each game field features pro-style dugouts, bullpens, warning track and big league style lighting. The parents will have covered seating to protect them from the hot summer sun and South Texas heat. Parking is centrally located for each complex. Concession stands and bathrooms offer many comfort features to provide a pleasant and enjoyable visit.
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Marketing Plan We will have various avenues of marketing including local media coverage on the web, television, radio and newspaper stories to promote our events and sponsors of the NCFD Farm Club. North Carolina Furniture Direct has developed a great relationship with local media in San Marcos, New Braunfels, Seguin, Kyle, Austin and San Antonio that will be very beneficial in promoting the Farm Club and itʼs activities. We will also be promoting our complex via our electronic billboards at our NC Furniture Direct retail store in San Marcos. The growth potential of youth baseball in our market is huge. With the right marketing plan and vision for the baseball complex we can become the center for all youth baseball in this area. We have no competition anywhere in our immediate area consequently enhancing our very unique business as a profitable endeavor for all involved.
Business Philosophy The NCFD Farm Clubʼs business philosophy is to provide affordable and professional style baseball facilities to the Central Texas area. We will uphold a facility that offers the finest select baseball fields in Texas.
Market The NCFD Farm Club direct market includes the New Braunfels, Seguin, San Marcos, Kyle, Austin and San Antonio areas. Teams from all over Texas including South Texas, Dallas and Houston have told us of their interest in playing at our new facility. Currently we have nearly every weekend scheduled from April to November to host a baseball tournament with the top four select youth Baseball organizations in the country. These organizations include the Super Series, USSSA, Triple Crown and Travelers. Each tournament will have at least 42 teams and will have several thousand visitors for the 2 to 3 day events. The San Marcos, Seguin and New Braunfels area combined have over 180 youth baseball teams active in league play. Area high schools, colleges and select baseball teams have over 100 teams which are active year round. As more families move to our communities the demand for baseball fields will far exceed the capacities of the local leagues.
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FENWAY REPLICA FIELDS
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Aerial View o Completion of NC
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Dugout Bullpen Covered Stands Dining Area Covered Stands
w of Projected f NCFD Farm Club
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WRIGLEY REPLICA FIELDS
Pressbox Big Green Monster Scoreboard Lights
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Demographic info for NCFD Farm Club *Demographics pulled from a 100 mile radius of NCDF Farm Club
Total Population: 4,223,270 Median Resident Age: 31.3 years old Average Household Size: 2.68 people Median Household Income: $63,210 Average 25 + year olds with a Highschool Diploma: 85.4% Average 25 + year olds with a Bachelors Degree: 35.64% # of Kids 5 and under: 314,305 > 7.5% of total population # of Kids 18 and under: 1,072,711 > 25.4% of total population
*Direct demographics of our complex make up a combined total of over 33% of the total population in a 100 mile radius.
• Dream (Continued from page 3)
Studdard wants that fun to extend beyond the players. He wants the coaches and umpires to have fun, too. Knowing most of the professionalgrade baseball complexes for youth were located in the Dallas and Houston areas, Studdard relied on his retail background to come up with a plan, and what a plan it was. In 2008, he bought the 88 acres of cow pastures. The Kevin Costner baseball movie reference is not lost on him.“We talked about planting some corn just to have corn by the stadium fields,”he said. The first thing Studdard did is build Complex 1 — the portion that includes five practice infields, each with a covered batting cage. There also are eight bullpens, which like the infields, are designed to accommodate players from the very young to adults. It all blended into the NCFD Farm Club’s overall mission — to provide affordable, professionalstyle baseball venues for baseball players throughout the Central Texas community. The practice infields were designed to mirror major league practice fields, allowing players and coaches to get the maximum benefits of practice time. “This is where the scouts will stand to watch,”Studdard said, pointing to a spot behind the bullpen fence. Complex 1 also is the sight of the 6,000 squarefoot Bowie Baseball Academy. The training building is owned and operated by former major league baseball player Micah Bowie. The academy offers private instruction as well as special events, such as last summer’s Legends for Youth Clinic that featured former major league players. Five youth select teams from New Braunfels already practice at the Farm Club, which has hosted practice for Texas Lutheran players and in the near future will also host practices for Texas State University club baseballers. Complex 2 will include four high school-college level stadium (profession10 • Farm Club/April 2012
algrade) fields. Complex 3 will include nine 12U (12- and-under division) fields. Complex 4 will include two high school fields and four 12U fields. “When it is finished, it will include 19 stadium fields,”Studdard said. The projected completion date for the entire complex is 2014. Studdard expects construction on Complex 3 to be completed by late April. Offering stadium-style seating, professional dugouts, a 6,300 squarefoot concession building and a bullpen at every field, Complex 3 offers the complete baseball experience. “This field will be our replica of Fenway Field,”Studdard said, pointing to a field on the other side of the concession stand he hopes mirrors the home of the Boston Red Sox. “We will have a replica of the Green Monster that will be 16 feet high. This will be our home run park. York Creek is right on the other side. If they hit a home run, they will hit it into York Creek.” The design of the complex pays attention to every aspect of the game. Part of the concession building will include a locker room for umpires. Grandparents will be able to enjoy limousine golf cart rides to and from the stadium fields. “We got that idea in Phoenix, because the fields are so far away from the parking lot there,”Studdard said. That won’t be the case at the Farm Club. But just the same, Studdard wants to make sure everyone who comes out to the complex enjoys the day ... a day at the old ball game. For information about North Carolina Furniture Direct Farm Club, 605 Old Zorn Road, visit the Farm Club website at www.ncfdfarmclub.com. Teams will be able to rent the practice fields, which will also be available for events and birthday parties.
2012 NCFD Farm Club Media Guide Sponsorship Packages
RBI Package $750 Field Sign 4 x 8 Sign on one of 6 fields along the outfield fence. NCFD Farm Club Website Listing Your business listing and link back to your website to make driving traffic back to your front door easier. Program Listing Business categorized listing in our free-take home program that will be delivered to all participants and fans. Promotional Giveaway Give away your company branded marketing pieces at the games and tournaments. This allows you to reach our fans and your new prospective customers in a fun and memorable way. Additional Options will be available to you for purchase as one of our Top Tier Sponsors. These options will include:
• Concession Sign • Common Area Sign • Website Banner Ad • Program Advertising • Sponsorship of Childrenʼs Activity Book • Sponsorship of Tournament Score Books • Batters Eye Sign (8 x 8)
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Double Play Package $1,500 Field Sign 4 x 8 Sign on one of 6 fields along outfield fence. NCFD Farm Club Website Listing Your business listing and link back to your website to make driving traffic back to your front door easier. NCFD Farm Club Website Banner Ad Advertise your brand and your business to our players, coaches, parents and all other spectators and fans. ¼ page Full Color Ad in NCFD Farm Club Program Showcase your business and gain new customers in this magazine style glossy publication with a full color ad in our free official program. The program will be passed out to all spectators and participants at no charge to take home with them as a souvenir. Program Listing Business categorized listing in our free take-home program that will be delivered to all participants and fans. Promotional Giveaway Give away your company branded marketing pieces at the games and tournaments. This allows you to reach our fans and your new prospective customers in a fun and memorable way. Sponsorship of Children’s Activity Guide This activity guide will serve as hours of fun for kids at the park and at home. This is a take home publication for little ones and their parents to stay entertained.
Additional Options will be available to you for purchase as one of our Double Play Sponsors. These options will include: • Press Box Sign • Concession Sign • Common Area Sign • Batters Eye Sign • Sponsorship of Tournament Score Book
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Home Run Package $4,000 Your business listing and link back to your website to make driving traffic back to your front door easier.
NCFD Farm Club Website Listing
Advertise your brand and your business to our players, coaches, parents and all other spectators and fans.
NCFD Farm Club Website Banner Ad
Showcase your business and gain new customers in this magazine style glossy publication with a full color ad in our free official program. The program will be passed out to all spectators and participants at no charge to take home with them as a souvenir.
½ page Full Color Ad in NCFD Farm Club Program
Business categorized listing in our free take-home program that will be delivered to all participants and fans.
Program Listing
Give away your company branded marketing pieces at the games and tournaments. This allows you to reach our fans and your new prospective customers in a fun and memorable way.
Promotional Giveaway
Your Business Logo in Full Color on the front cover of our Score Books used by tournament teams and coaches.
Sponsorship of Tournament Score Book
Our largest sponsor sign strategically placed on the green metal batters eye fence in Center Field
Batters Eye Sign (8 x 8)
Additional Options will be available to you for purchase as one of our Home Run Sponsors. These options will include: • Press Box Sign • Concession Sign • Common Area Sign • Scoreboard Sign/ Field Naming Rights • Sponsorship of Childrenʼs Activity Guide
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Grand Slam Package $7,500 Field Naming Rights Press Box Signs (2 x 8) 4 signs listing your business to every angle of the field and its spectators. Scoreboard Sign & Field Naming Rights Naming rights to one of our game fields while showcasing your business front and center on its scoreboard. NCFD Farm Club Website Listing Your business listing and link back to your website to make driving traffic back to your front door easier. NCFD Farm Club Website Banner Ad Advertise your brand and your business to our players, coaches, parents and all other spectators and fans. Full Page Full Color Ad in NCFD Farm Club Program Showcase your business and gain new customers in this magazine style glossy publication with a full color ad in our free official program. The program will be passed out to all spectators and participants at no charge to take home with them as a souvenir. Program Listing Business categorized listing in our free take-home program that will be delivered to all participants and fans Promotional Giveaway Give away your company branded marketing pieces at the games and tournaments. This allows you to reach our fans and your new prospective customers in a fun and memorable way. Choice Sponsorship of either Children’s Activity Guide or Tournament Score Book Additional Options will be available to you for purchase as one of our Grand Slam Sponsors. These options will include: • Concession Sign • Common Area Sign
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Diamond Food Sponsorship $5,000 Press Box Sign (4 x 4)
4 signs promoting your Food and your Business
**** Designated/ sponsored eating areas at one of the Fields
Concession Signs (4 x 4)
Signs placed either inside or out advertising your business and your food. Your business listing and link back to your website to make driving traffic back to your front door easier.
NCFD Farm Club Website Listing
Advertise your brand and your business to our players, coaches, parents and all other spectators and fans.
NCFD Farm Club Website Banner Ad
Showcase your business and gain new customers in this Magazine style glossy publication with a full color ad in our Free official program. The Program will be passed out to all spectators and participants at no charge to take home with them as a souvenir.
½ page Full Color Ad in NCFD Farm Club Program
Business categorized listing in our free take home program that will be delivered to all participants and fans
Program Listing
Give away your company branded marketing pieces at the games and tournaments. This allows you to reach our fans and your new prospective customers in a fun and memorable way.
Promotional Giveaways
**** Arrangements made to sell Sponsors food product at concession stand by NCFD Farm Club (all set up and take down will be provided by NCFD) **** Designated/ sponsored eating areas at Field
Additional Options will be available to you for purchase as one of our Diamond Sponsors. These options will include: Press Box Sign Common Area Sign Scoreboard Sign/ Field Naming Rights Sponsorship of Childrenʼs Activity Guide
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Grand Complex 3 Opening
Earl Studdard President Kayla Royal Business Development 512-667-4642 cell 512-353-2200 office