Selling Tickets to Dogs: The Secrets Behind the Nationals’ “Pups in the Park” Series

The Challenge

The Washington Nationals’ long-running Pups in the Park initiative has become a staple for local dog lovers, with approximately one event running per month throughout the season. For the unacquainted, this event is exactly what it sounds like: fans bring their canine companions along for a day at the ballpark. But with space limited and plenty of other dog-related logistics to figure out, the event is a bit tricky from an operational perspective.

The Solution

The Nationals streamlined their "Pup in the Park" initiative using FEVO's Ticket Inventory features, which enabled them to create primary (adult) and secondary (dog) ticket inventories at different price points within the same section. The team used this function to establish a necessary 1:1 ratio between adult and dog tickets, ensuring each dog in attendance had to also have a human chaperone in attendance. This system not only facilitated easy tracking of all participants, but also helped prevent fraud, given the lower price of dog tickets. For those wishing to bring an additional dog, information was provided on how to contact the sales team for extra seating arrangements.

The Sweetener

Thanks to FEVO’s fundraising abilities, the Nationals are also able to allot a portion of the proceeds from dog ticket sales to the Human Rescue Alliance, a pet-adoption nonprofit in DC. With a fully operationalized donation process already in place, FEVO handles collection, payout and every step in between.

The Marketing Campaign

The Nationals rely on a cross-organizational system (Marketing, Sales, Ticketing, Box Office) that grades all events on a tiered system to determine which ones will receive paid promotion and backing and how much. Pups in the Park qualified as a Tier 1 event, meaning that significant support was allocated to the promotion of the event across television, radio, social-media campaigns, email promotions, in-stadium ads and more.