Here we are folks, it’s the end of another great IronPigs season! We can bemoan the squandering of a prime playoff position and the prospect of hosting playoff games at Coca Cola Park. But, in the end, we got to see winning baseball all season long. We got to see top prospects like Andrew Painter, Justin Crawford, and now Aidan Miller. We got to see guys play who have, and will, be integral to the Phillies playoff run. These are guys like Otto Kemp, Weston Wilson, Garrett Stubbs, Johan Rojas and others. We had some rehabs and tryouts, the likes of Brandon Marsh, Aaron Nola, and Walker Buehler. Good turnout and good crowds were present almost every single game, despite the weird six-game series schedule that still persists. The weather was…well…the weather. Too hot and too cold and too wet are always a thing.
So, it’s all great. But what if we told you it could be even better? And I do think the organization wants to keep moving forward, although their priorities might differ slightly from those here at this column. If you have anything to add, please use the comments below so that all readers can see it, rather than your own brand of social media, which might not get seen. Here we go:
IronPigs Suggestion Box. Kram Edition. 2025.
- Express Entry Line: I think the addition of security screening at entry has gone reasonably well. There haven’t been any major snafus like over at the arena. But there are a couple things: First, has no one ever seen the movie The Godfather? Keep that in mind when searching for contraband. Second, when I went to my car they let me back in without going through screening because, “They just saw me.” Yeah, but what did I get from my car? But the top recommendation is to have one or two security lines that are “express.” That means, no bags or searchable items. It’s minor league baseball and families need bags, we get that, but if you’re bringing a complete set of Samsonite you should have to wait in a different line from those of us with nothing more than a phone and keys.
- Food Special for Happy Hour: The Thursday Happy Hour has indeed become a thing that folks look forward to. We know many actual people who love to get Thursday tickets because they can get in early and beer is cheaper. But, this season, we lost our associated Dollar Dogs. Oh, we know, there’s Dollar Dogs to be had on another night–and we’re lucky to have it. But is there some other food item that could be featured? We don’t have this answer right now because Dollar Dogs still seem like the easiest and most profitable. Maybe BOGO (buy one get one) Dogs? Maybe pork sandwiches for $3 at the taco stand along with access upstairs via the club menu app (and while we’re at it, could tacos become a thing upstairs for the bar menu and the suite menus, on Wednesdays?)? Sausages? Bring back the hot dogs?!? Just, something to make it even more special and continue to capitalize on the happy hour brand–because it is working.
- Re-Do The Entire Food Menu: The variety is impressive and the “food finder” app is pretty good. But, maybe it’s time to streamline some things. Do fewer food items at each stand, but do them better. Have one or two really special things at each stand and then whatever is basic. When you bring out new food, something has to go. Sometimes it’s too much because the app doesn’t get updated, they run out of things, the stand workers don’t know all the items, and that sort of thing. While we’re at it, refreshing the club bar menu is something that needs to be done every off-season.
- Outfield Bathrooms and Seating: This was written prior to the knowledge of the new Cabanas which will be added in the lawn area for next season. They will be for groups of various sizes, and we’ll talk about that more as we go along, because most details are not yet available. Along with that construction, and in addition to the new center field entrance, should be some rest rooms. The cabanas themselves? Well, we don’t know a lot yet, but they should provide additional group areas (see below) and another unique way to watch a game. But, at the expense of general admission real estate, as has happened elsewhere around the stadium.
- Group Area Delineation, Communication, and Public Gathering Spaces: The demand for groups–and specifically groups with buffets–has been so high that the organization has taken to selling every spare square inch of real estate to a group, and stashed buffets in every closet and waiting area they can find. It’s great for sales, but how happy are those groups? How good is that food? Most seem confused about where their seats are and where their group area is. In the club level, it’s still “find any open seat” when the groups overflow their areas–much to the chagrin of season ticket holders. Groups have been known to take over the entire club bar as their eating area for the pig stop buffet. There’s no longer any public area upstairs because the drink rails outside the bar are sold off as group seating. Some of this has improved over the past three seasons, but communication with groups and assisting group leaders with notifying their members, would be a good start. Make sure these groups know where they can sit to eat their buffet and where they should sit to watch the game. Make sure staff knows what those tickets mean, so that folks can be directed if they ask. Having the new Cabanas should help alleviate some of this group pressure. And, perhaps some areas can be returned to being public gathering places for any fans and not just groups–in fact, that’s something many Major and Minor League stadiums are installing when doing remodeling projects.
- Re-dedicate To Promoting The Club Level: The club level has always been more expensive and now seat prices are going up again. Why not put some effort into selling club seats as a premium option? Re-introduce the “Pig Stop” premium food option, or just put all the effort into the production and choices on the Club Bar Menu. Already, sections 201 and 212 are used for Party Porch overflow, start using 202 and 203 for group seating for other groups that book in the club level and consolidate season tickets in 205 to 210. Return the rails outside the bar to a public standing area which can be used for anyone to congregate and watch the game–even remove the chairs if you want to keep people from camping out. Have the bar tap system fixed and maintained at the club bar; some of those lines haven’t been cleaned properly in quite a while. The remodeling that has been done already on the club level, is really good, as are the new TV’s which came a couple years ago. It’s time to take the next step, and with it will come more sales of the more expensive tickets.
- (the next few items could be considered ‘wish list’ things, but they have the power to make some of these work) Lobby For A Better Schedule: I’m not sure how the organization feels about these 6-day weeks and 6/7 or 12/13 home stands. But they certainly could join with other owners to try to get us better schedules, such as a visitor doing 3 games in Allentown and 3 games in Scranton rather than just six game in one place. The most local divisional foes would still need the six-gamers to knock out the needed games, but others could make it more interesting. Could they also have the off-day some day other than Monday sometimes? (Very recently, an unsubstantiated rumor popped up on Social that some scheduling flexibility might indeed be on the way following the 2026 season.)
- Food Truck Bay: I’m not sure exactly how this would work with the finances, but if they opened up a spot in the plaza there somewhere, a food truck could pull in and provide additional concession variety in the leased space. Depending on the truck, they could provide service to the area outside the park before the games, and then inside during the game. New Truck every home stand! Hey, make them come up with the special for happy hour on Thursday. Give them Wednesday off so that tacos and tallboys can shine. No drinks, just food items. Yes, it cannibalizes some of the stadium concessions, but hopefully the rental fees make up for that, just like leasing space to the Gyro company or Philly Pretzel or the Nut Stand. Plus, on a per-week basis it will probably return way more than those stands pay for a season lease. This could be used as a ticket-selling promotion as well under the promotions tab. It could be “while supplies last” for the trucks to protect them from any bad feelings if they sell out. Surely, you could find 7-8 food trucks to fill out the season. Maybe even have one or two who would be willing to be on stand-by should another truck cancel out. It seems like there are a lot of food trucks around these days at the breweries and such. It would make sense for them to build their brand with exposure to Coca Cola Park.
- More Season Ticket Holder Perks: We’re still thinking that more could be done to support the season ticket members, provide more value, and in turn, act as a selling point in the off-season to sell and re-sell more plans. The first things from the top of our heads around here: (1) A season ticket entrance which opens 10 minutes early for access to the plaza–especially if there’s going to be better use made of the plaza for pre-game entertainment. There’s less ticket members than ever these days, and fewer giveaways too, so many of the reasons not to have that perk have been eliminated. It works quite well in Reading. And, (2) discounted access to Phillies tickets. Look, MLB owns the minors as well as a percentage of the IronPigs, and they get a cut of tickets and merchandise. They need to give something back. The Phillies are popular again and it’s sometimes cumbersome and expensive to make it to games in Philadelphia. For fans who have already purchased all the IronPigs tickets that there are, why not provide a certain number of games, when the Pigs are on the road, that season ticket members can purchase Phillies tickets–decent seats too–at a discount, including parking? It would be a nice perk, a selling point for IronPigs season tickets, and a kicker for the minor league team that already provides income to the big league team.
- Season Ticket Night at Illuminations: Perhaps the thought is that season ticket members will pay full price for Illuminations anyway, so why compete with yourself? But with a full season under their belts now, some kind of promotion for “season ticket night” at Illuminations might pump up an otherwise smaller-attended week night. It doesn’t have to be free, just some kind of discount code or giveaway or food and drink voucher or loaded credit or something like that.
In the coming weeks, IronPigs management and staff will head out on a post-season “retreat” where they review the season that was and start to lay the groundwork for the promotions, events, and projects in advance of the 2026 season. If you could give a presentation at that meeting, what would you say? What would you compliment and what would you criticize? Here at IronPigs Today we’d like to hear it in the comments if you’re up to it.
See you at the park,
@Kram207