"Pray Ball:" "Faith nights" come to minor league baseball

[villager]

PRAY BALL

With rock concerts and bobblehead dolls, 'Faith Nights' at the park help minor league clubs fill seats, religious groups spread the word

C.W. Nevius

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

(08-23) 04:00 PDT Stockton -- Minor league baseball clubs are the carnival sideshow of professional sports. Because they are farm teams for the major league clubs, they have virtually no say over which players are put on their rosters. And even if they get a budding star, he's likely to be called up to the next level. So minor league executives bring in fans by concentrating on ballpark high jinks -- giveaways, wacky stunts and nights such as "Thirsty Thursday,'' when beer is only $1 a cup.

But a new promotion is spinning the turnstiles at ballparks across America. "Faith Nights,'' combining religious revival meeting, rock concert and baseball game, have turned into one of the biggest draws in the minor leagues. Fans who attend can expect to hear a hot Christian musical group, listen to testimonials from players and -- here's the kicker -- get a bobblehead figure representing one of their favorite biblical characters, from Moses to Samson to Noah.

Third Coast Sports, a church marketing and event planning company from Nashville, has turned Faith Nights into a full-time business. The idea was a hit in the South, where the concept began at the Nashville Sounds minor league team, but now Faith Nights is going national.

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Even Major League Baseball has jumped on the Bible-wagon. This year the Atlanta Braves have held two Faith Days (afternoon games only), and one more is scheduled for Saturday. Derek Schiller, the team's vice president for sales and marketing, said the first two games bumped attendance by "10 to 15 percent, which works out to somewhere between 3,000 and 4,500 fans.''

Could the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and the National Hockey League be far behind?

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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/23/MNGJCKNHU91.DTL

[sui generis]

1. hoowweeeee

I can't wait for Wicca night.

And Ba'al night - I'm ready to sacrifice my firstborn republican child and pass out little bobble headed goats.

[warrens]

2. Note: The Braves also kicked out Donnie Wildmon

For trying to turn it into a political event. Why shouldn't the religious have a night at the park, just like gays have a day at Disney or Busch Gardens?

[villager]

4. Maybe they should -- but why is it limited to fundamentalists?

n/t

[Skidmore]

3. Cubs fans are the most religious people I know. Heck,

my husband prays fervently for them to score something and then curses them to damnation when they don't.