“It’s about the JOY, the FAN and the FUN.”
The Saints get FUN. In facts it just who they are. And sometimes you just need to tell the world about your inside joke, which is what the Saints are doing with this autobiographical movie “For the FUN of the Game”.
The inside joke is that the Saints are less about baseball and more about fun. Creating a fan experience around laughs and joy and letting business and baseball success follow. The movie takes you on the fun-filled ride that has been the Saint Paul Saints.
The Saints obituary was written while the team was still setting up for their first game. No minor league franchise had ever set-up shop 7 miles down the road from a major league team and survived. While Minor League teams were known to be occasionally playful, none had the focus on creating FUN first and foremost.
Then along came Mike Veeck, the Goldklang Group and Bill Murray to show the value of FUN.
Veeck explains that “35% of fans come for baseball. The rest is up to you.” It’s really that simple, if you create a baseball experience you will drew from a small pool of fans who love baseball. If you create a FUN experience you are tapping into a huge audience of people who just want to have a good time. And you are probably going to have a great time along the way. The Saints were among the first to understand that and have become one of the most successful minor league baseball teams of all time by that understanding.
This movie is full of delightful stories of the people around the game who laughed along with the Saints, created the fun or whose lives were changed by the world the Saints created. Baseball stars like Darryl Strawberry and Leon Durham got their second chance with the Saints, Ila Borders became the first woman to get a win in a men’s professional baseball game and Kevin Millar launched his MLB career with the Saints.
Off the field the Saints have set the bar for sports marketing playfulness. Their FUN is GOOD mentality has launched a thousand outrageous promotions and an entire industry of fans and followers.
Fun for any fan of sports, the movie is also a blast of creative energy for anyone working in sports.
You can see the movie on several streaming services or purchase on the site below.
- For the Fun of the Game website (and online purchase)
- Amazon Link the movie
- Imdb: For the Fun of the Game
- Fun is Good: The Book Review – Fun is good is ideal reading for anyone who wants to get more than a paycheck out of their life’s work, and is even more for anyone working specifically in sports marketing and promotions.
If you are interest in more from the Saints, check out our interview with Saints VP of Marketing Sierra Bailey on the June 2022 Party in the Back Podcast.
