Minor League Baseball announces 2019 Copa de la Diversión
By Tab Bamford
Minor League Baseball’s “Copa de la Diversión” initiative launched in 2018 and was overwhelmingly successful. Ticket sales and merchandise revenues blew away goals, but the engagement with local Latino communities and fans was the real win last year for the 33 teams that participated.
On La Vida Baseball Live we have talked to a number of executives from minor league organizations over the past couple weeks about the Copa in 2018 and this year’s edition of the program, which is announced today. In total, 72 organizations will roll out their new looks/logos for the program this year. All 33 return from last year, but some of those organizations will have a completely new look and approach to the Copa in their second year.
Over the course of the year, these 72 teams will change their on-field look, the game day experience for fans and the approach the organization has to its community to better reflect the fans in their markets. At the end of the year, the organization that is deemed to have done the best – on and off the field – will receive a gorgeous trophy as the Copa champion.
The organization that did it best in 2018 was the Albuquerque Isotopes, known in the Copa as the Mariachis de Nuevo México. We spoke with Mariachis general manager John Traub about their incredible success last year, what they learned and what they plan on doing better in 2019. John showed off the hardware from last year during our interview as well.
Kurt Hunzeker, MiLB’s Vice President of Marketing Strategy and Research, shared with us the macro perspective on the program from Minor League Baseball’s headquarters. Kurt will never tell you this but he has been one of the key driving forces behind the Copa revolution in MiLB and his leadership has been central to the program’s success.
One of the organizations that is recalibrating their efforts in 2019 is the Hillsboro Hops. K.L. Wombacher, Hillsboro’s president, joined us and shared what they learned in 2018 and how that is shaping their approach to the Copa in 2019.
We also spoke with an organization that has been one of the great marketing groups in MiLB for decades that is joining the Copa for the first time in 2019. Tyler Parsons, general manager of the Lansing Lugnuts, joined us to talk about some of the ways they have targeted Latino fans in the past and their excitement in joining the Copa this year.
On La Vida Baseball Live on March 18 we’ll have more guests talking about the 2019 edition of the “Copa de la Diversión.” We will also be rolling out all 72 of the new logos throughout the day, to keep an eye on our social channels for the amazing new caps, shirts and jerseys you’ll definitely want to spend money on this summer.