New RailCats president Spudic brings home feel, valuable experience

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Kevin Spudic is photographed Thursday January 12, 2012 at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary, Ind. Spudic is the new RailCats president/general manager. | Stephanie Dowell~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 23, 2012 8:24AM

When the RailCats were looking for a new president after last season, they could have gotten a local guy, a baseball person or a pro sports guy.

In Kevin Spudic, who took over as president and general manager after last season, they got all three.

“I really enjoy the area,” said Spudic, who grew up in Highland and played baseball there and at Valparaiso University. “Through and through, I have been a Northwest Indiana guy.”

He also has been involved in Chicago area pro sports in a variety of roles. One of the the RailCats’ first hires a decade ago, he worked here through 2005 before holding management positions at a couple of suburban Chicago venues (Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates and Toyota Park in Bridgeview).

At both of those stops, Spudic was tasked with putting bodies in seats at buildings that hosted both pro and high school events. That experience should serve him well as the RailCats head into their 10th season at U.S. Steel Yard facing similar challenges to those Spudic dealt with during his earlier stint here.

Then, the franchise was doing whatever it could to get fans to its new downtown ballpark. The idea was people would return once they saw the Steel Yard’s bells and whistles and sampled the minor league baseball experience with its giveaways, mascot races and budget-friendly prices.

To that end, the RailCats welcomed high school, college and semi-pro teams from miles around to the Steel Yard.

“We had to really regionalize ourselves to get fans there,” Spudic said.

The strategy worked, as the team’s average attendance steadily grew from 3,189 in 2003 to 3,616 in 2007. But the turnstiles haven’t been spinning as fast lately; attendance has fallen each of the past two years and was down to 3,218 in 2011.

The general state of the economy probably isn’t helping, but Spudic believes there are other reasons for attendance leveling off. One is the continuing struggle to revive downtown Gary.

“My goal is not just to see the RailCats succeed, but to see development around the stadium,” he said. “Except for the (Steel Yard), there’s not really much reason to come down to the stadium. You’ve got to give reasons for people to come down here.”

Spudic hopes Gary’s new mayor, Karen Freeman-Wilson, will do just that. “She’s a baseball fan, which is great,” said Spudic, who served on Freeman-Wilson’s inauguration committee. “I think she realizes we have this gem of a stadium. We need to build around it and add to it.”

Or in the case of the long-shuttered Sheraton Hotel just west of the park, tear it down — something Freeman-Wilson has promised to do.

The area around the park isn’t the only one in town on Spudic’s radar. “It’s been a tough go to get people from Gary to go to games,” he said. “We still have to consider our region base, and figure out how to get Gary people (attending) as well.”

Toward that end, Spudic and his staff have put together a list of promotions for every day of the week, ranging from food and drink specials (50-cent wings on Wednesday, dollar beers on Thursday) to Friday night fireworks and souvenir giveaways each Saturday.

“We have to keep the brand of the RailCats strong,” Spudic said.

Even in the dead of winter, he’s been staying busy trying to do just that: “The thing about this job, believe it or not, my offseason is almost as busy as the summer.”

But that’s OK.

“I like challenges,” Spudic said. “I’m re-energized. I enjoyed what I was doing the last five years. (But) I’m a baseball guy.”

Among other things.