ROCKIES HAVE CULTIVATED LOYAL LEGION OF FANS : FOCUS ON CUSTOMERS STANDS OUT.

Byline: Richard Alm Dallas Morning News

Denver wanted baseball long before baseball wanted Denver.

For decades, fans and potential owners watched as major-league baseball bypassed the city for the likes of Dallas-Fort Worth, San Diego, Montreal, Toronto and other new territories. In baseball terms, the Rocky Mountain region became the Great American desert; there were no major-league teams between Arlington, Texas, and the West Coast.

Baseball always seemed to have plenty of excuses for why Denver wasn't big-league. The weather was too cold and snowy for early and late-season games. The population was too small. The city's slavish devotion to the NFL Broncos left little room in fans' hearts for a sport with little local tradition. Mile High Stadium wasn't up to big-league standards. Some skeptics even feared the thin air would allow routine fly balls to sail out into the foothills.

Denver finally made it to the majors in 1993, landing the National League's expansion Rockies. Those who doubted the city's love of baseball have been proven spectacularly wrong.

The franchise, owned by trucking magnate Jerry McMorris, has led all of baseball in home attendance since joining the majors. The Rockies are more than 2 million fans ahead of their nearest competitor, the Baltimore Orioles, in attendance since '93.

For their first game, the Rockies drew a major league-record 80,227 to Mile High, and the team finished with an all-time high of 4.5 million for the season. Since moving across I-25 to 50,249-seat Coors Field in 1995, tickets have been hard to come by. According to the team's reckoning, there have been 76 straight sellouts dating to June 13 of last year.

Baseball has entered 11 new markets since 1961. The next-best attendance mark for a new market's first three seasons to Denver's 11.1 million is Miami at 6.7 million.

In truth, no one in the Rockies organization expected this much success. What's even more impressive is that it came at a time when the business of baseball plunged into disarray. Two of the Rockies' first three seasons were shortened by a players strike.

The fans' backlash against baseball stung many teams, but not the Rockies.

In their first year at Coors, they drew an average of 47,084 fans a game, including 55 sellouts in the 72-game, strike-shortened season. So far this year, the team's attendance is up 8 percent. The Dodgers, the next-best draw, average 38,000 a game.

The new stadium was only part of the reason for the good showing. The Rockies stayed in the pennant race all season, reaching the NL playoffs as the wild-card team. During the labor stalemate, McMorris urged a compromise settlement, steering clear of the hard-line owners who sought to crush the players' union.

Although baseball didn't know it had a gold mine in Denver, the NL says it has no regrets about not entering the market sooner. There hadn't been any teams available since the American League expanded in 1977. The National League grabbed Denver in its first expansion since 1969.

``Sometimes, it's just a matter of timing,'' NL spokeswoman Katy Feeney said. ``There are many cities out there that made bids, and we chose Denver and Miami.''

Keli McGregor, the Rockies' senior vice president for business operations, said the Rockies' success isn't merely a matter of stumbling into a market ripe for baseball. Community support has been phenomenal from the start, he acknowledged, but the team works hard to maintain fan loyalty. ``We're never going to take our success for granted,'' he said.

The first principle of Rockies management: Make sure the customer enjoys the trip to the park. The team brought in advisers from entertainment giant Disney to establish a cult of courtesy. Ushers, ticket sellers, concession attendants and all other stadium workers take courses in customer relations. Traffic flow, cleanliness and safety get attention, too.

``We spend a lot of money on training and retraining,'' McGregor said. ``We want to control the baseball experience so our fans will enjoy it from the time they get in their cars to the time they arrive home again.''

Denver, a metropolitan area of 2.1 million people, is one of baseball's smaller markets. The Rockies, however, set major-league attendance records largely because they've positioned themselves as the home team of a vast region. During the offseason, the team sends its road show into Idaho, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska and Utah. Many fans travel hundreds of miles to attend games.

The Rockies' second principle follows their first. The best way to keep the fans happy is to invest in the team. Attendance brought a surge of money, and McMorris very quickly gave general manager Bob Gebhard the go-ahead to increase spending on players.

Before last season, the Rockies spent a collective $8.7 million in the free-agent market to sign outfielder Larry Walker and pitcher Bill Swift. Last July, they traded for right-hander Bret Saberhagen of the New York Mets, though he carried a $5.4 million salary. For this year, the team re-signed shortstop Walt Weiss and outfielder Dante Bichette, both of whom were free agents.

Overall, the Rockies' payroll jumped from $23.7 million in 1994 to $38 million in 1995. This year's team will pay its players a total of $37 million, fifth highest in the majors.

``Ultimately, the product has to be there,'' McGregor said. ``Jerry McMorris made a commitment that he would do everything that he could to bring a winner to this city.''

Coors Field is the third pillar of the Rockies' success. Like new stadiums in Baltimore, Arlington and Cleveland, the Denver facility captures the ambience of the old-fashioned stadiums while giving fans up-to-date amenities, such as bars, restaurants and premium seating. Coors Field triggered a revival of the once-moribund lower downtown area.

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Photo

Photo: Players such as Eric Young, shown here trying to ste al home against St. Louis catcher Danny Sheaffer, have helped make the Rockies a hit in Denver.

Associated Press