As the off-season commences, the entire Phillies organization will begin to plan for the 2016 baseball season.  
The operations end of the organization will focus on revitalizing a program that has become a bit antiquated.  
Sabermetrics will become part of the plan, and Andy McPhail and Matt Klentak will begin the arduous process 
of restructuring the organization to meet the complex needs of today's big-league way of doing things.

     While all this is happening, the Phillies will need to focus their efforts, once again, on bringing the fans back 
to the ballpark.  2015 was a down year in attendance, and the gap between organization and fans, as it does 
when teams lose, has widened. This is not to suggest that there are any ill feelings.  It simply means that fans 
have temporarily moved in different directions until the organization fields a team that can win again.  So, the 
Phillies must, once again, begin the process of bringing the fans closer to the organization.  The Phillies, like 
any other professional sports enterprise, reap the benefits in the winning years, but at the same time, their 
stock falls when the team doesn't compete.  These then, are leaner times for the Phillies.

     The fans will eventually return to the ballpark.  That usually occurs when a team wins, and it went it begins 
to sign and develop a more star-studded cast.  The question which the Phillies are currently facing is do they 
want to keep themselves on this fan-in, fan-out roller coaster?  The Phillies will win again, and somewhere 
beyond that point, they will begin to lose again.  Welcome to professional sports. It's the roller coaster of ups 
and downs in fan interest that is so commensurate with winning and losing, and this is where a new strategy 
needs to be developed.  The key to keeping fans interested in your organization, as we continue to steess,
is to keep them knowledgeable and educated with regard to how your organization operates. This challenges
fans intellectually, and fans like that.  In addition, it's important to keep the fans interested on a daily basis.  
We live in the age of information processing, and that means connectivity.  Out of sight, means out of mind.  
Interest has to be maintained at high levels throughout the year.  That means every day of the year.  The 
connectivity with the fan never slows down, ever.  Here at Phillies Fan Central, we know that.  We have been
preaching that for over two decades. There is no such thing as a baseball off-season. Organizations have 
to begin to understand that. Fans already do.  A break in the connection, even temporarily, means distance.  
That distance has to be shortened, permanently.  The time spent navagating on the fan roller-coaster is time 
wasted.  That time could be used more efficiently enhancing a connection that never wavers.  If anything, more
effort needs to be applied to the fans in the off-season that at any other time.  What occurs during the season
should be an outgrowth of the off-season program; not the reverse.  

     Through a combination of education and connective consistency, the Phillies can move from a marketing 
concept to a connected concept. This is not unlike the organization's movement to the inclusion of sabermetrics 
to assist in baseball operations. Sabermetrics are being used to infuse the system with more information that 
keeps the operations end of the business more efficiently connected on all levels. Likewise, if the Phillies really 
want to move forward and establish the best relationship with the best fans in all of baseball, they will have to 
begin to incorporate the new way of thinking into their marketing strategy.  They will have to remain connected 
at all times, with that level of connectivity, never wavering, and that level has to operate at a premium at all 
times.  There can be no difference in the connection between organization and fans during the off-season.  
The connection never changes; none of it.  As this type of relationship begins to develop, fans will come to see 
themselves as part of the organization.  When that time comes, the connection between the fan and the 
organization becomes one.  It is the movement beyond marketing and into family.  Connection at that level, 
never wavers.  It becomes reciprocal, intelligent, and loyal.

     So, we are challenging the Phillies with yet one more move forward.  Embracing sabermetrics was absolutely 
essential. It will allow the organization to connect with operational methodologies whose benefits have never 
before been realized in Philadelphia. The other move forward which the Phillies will have to consider is whether 
they want to step into the light of fan connectivity or remain in the darkness of yesterday's Major League marketing 
programs.  As far as the comparison to other organizations is concerned, the Phillies stack up well.  They are 
as fan friendly an organization as any other; maybe better.  The point, however, is do you want to stay on the 
fan roller coaster with the rest of those organizations using yesterday's marketing plans, or do they want to rise 
above the crowd and establish a level of connectivity with the fans that will change the way they do business 
forever?  Keep this in mind: the more connected the fans are to the organization, the more willing they are to
work with and support the organization.  Isn't that what we all want?

     As we begin to move forward during the off-season, we will be discussing the changes we all need to be
making as fans.  We will be defining what we need from the organization.  We will discuss the difference 
between real, usable information, and information designed to divert attention away from the important
issues.  We will also be working to raise the level of understanding with regard to the Phillies' organizational
plan.  It's important to understand what questions to ask, and how to understand if the decisions being
made are addressing the organization's needs, as well as the needs of the fans.  It's time to make the
move from marketing targets to an enlightened, informed, and intelligent part of the organization.  We will
be looking at the necessary components of this transition each week.  In the upcoming months, we are going
to be presenting a program to the fans to assist everyone in the transition from informed to aware.  Our goals
are to become more dicserning fans and to gain a more comprehensove understanding of the business end
of Major League Baseball.  Things are changing on every level in Philadelphia.  The fans need to change too.

     So, marketing targets, or connected family.  How do you fan?