'Build el Burrito' - Food-Themed Games Hit Ballparks

by Hanna Raskin, Posted Jun 25th 2009 @ 5:00PM

Photo: Gameops.com

Forget the concession stands: Minor league baseball teams down South are focusing on the food on the field.

While parks across the country compete to come up with the cheesiest, greasiest, most artery-clogging concoction (see the Gateway Grizzlies' donut burger and the Stockton Ports' deep-fried asparagus), Southern teams -- perhaps conceding that there's unhealthy food aplenty on the other side of their turnstiles -- have become early adopters of a new line of mid-inning promos featuring food.

The Rome Braves this summer joined fellow South Atlantic Leagues in offering its fans the chance to "Build el Burrito" by racing across the field to gather up rice, lettuce and tomato-colored pom-poms in a foil tortilla, all in pursuit of, say, a free oil change. Similar physical challenges featuring pizza and burgers are also catching on from Louisville to Laredo, says Jenny Oblock, who handles marketing for game maker GameOps.

"It's really widespread," Oblock says of the promotions' popularity. "We're now working on a variation of 'Build a Burger' called 'Build a Sub'." But hungry Southerners may have less interest in another food-themed promo now under development in the GameOps laboratories: According to Oblock, the 2010 baseball season could mark the debut of "Toss a Salad."

Donut burger, anyone?

Filed Under: Trends
Tags: summer