By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The number of seats may be about the same, but Great American Ball Park has more than twice the square footage as Cinergy Field.
But that's only part of the reason why the Cincinnati Reds are noticeably increasing game-day staff for the upcoming inaugural season in their new stadium.
As the ball club plans a major hiring push beginning Thursday to fill all the jobs for its new park, the plan calls for more than just more people. Reds officials say the public paid for their new digs, so the team better make ticket holders feel at home.
"This community feels that the Reds is a part of them and they made a commitment to this new facility, so they created a partnership with us," said Jennifer Green, the Reds' director of guest relations, who has been in the newly created position for less than a year.
"And for our side of the partnership, we've got to deliver entertainment, whether they spend $5 or $10 or $150," she said.
In addition, the team officials acknowledge that the new park will be a draw for a short while, and hospitality will be the key to keep fans coming back - especially if the product on the field fails to live up to expectations.
"We understand that there are a lot of different places now where they can spend their money and that we're not just a ball park, we're an entertainment venue," Ms. Green said.
In short, think theme park when you visualize what the Reds are trying to do.
The team will be holding the first of two job fairs Thursday at their downtown offices in an attempt to fill about 400 game-day positions that range from the standard ticket takers and ushers to newly created positions such as suite "ambassadors," concierges and tour guides.
The Reds will be hiring 12 game-day elevator operators, for example, up from the single person in that position at Cinergy.
All told, the game-day staff for the Reds and their contracted concessionaires, volunteers and cleaning crews will be almost 1,200 workers, up from almost 800 at Cinergy. The Reds offer hourly wages that start at $7.50 for nonconcession positions, and the team is doubling its yearly labor budget (for nonplayers of course).
The bigger game-day staff is in addition to expansion of the Reds' permanent staff..
Because the Reds will soon take over full-time management of the stadium from Hamilton County, the team has hired a carpenter, a new engineering staff, a larger grounds keeping staff, and even a low-voltage technician to make sure the scoreboard is always working.
Former game-day security guard Bill Summe has joined the permanent staff as a member of the Reds' security team, for example, going from working 40 days a year to a full-time job.
"The first opportunity was a very intriguing offer, to work for the Reds and with baseball, and to do it full-time, has been a great opportunity," said Mr. Summe, 36, a former police officer in Colerain Township. "This was just a perfect fit."
Sportservice, the food service company the Reds contract with for concessions is also planning a major expansion, going from about 300 game-day workers to 700 workers. These will include paid employees and volunteers from groups using the concession stands as fund-raising opportunities.
Sportservice also has a smaller division that will handle high-end catering for the Reds (outside caterers will no longer be accepted as they were at Cinergy Field's luxury boxes). The stadium will offer year-round event hosting and even a year-round restaurant that could be open as soon as March, meaning still more staff.
The company in charge of cleaning up after every game is boosting its crew from 110 to about 160 and maybe even more for big crowds or after a long home stand.
The expanded staffing means that there will be more employees at "points of sale," or where a fan would buy a hot dog or a pennant, for example. The ratio at Cinergy was one such worker at a sale point for every 280 fans; the new ratio will mean a worker for 160 fans, which the Reds hope means shorter lines that could generate more money.
And all new Reds workers will be required to undergo customer service training .
"It's a challenge, but it's also our responsibility to make sure that this is a place where people want to come back to, whether or not the team is competitive," said Reds assistant director of operations Mike Maddox, another relative newcomer to a newly created position"Our job does not stop at the gates with the ticket taker.
"We still have to make sure that the fans have a good time, and part of that is to make sure we have the right amount of people in the right places."
E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com
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