Butch Hollowell is the managing partner at the Miller Law Firm and is on the finance committee and the board of the Downtown Development Authority in Detroit.
Hollowell and the DDA partnered with the Detroit Tigers for the Play Ball Detroit event on Sept. 9. The event provided an opportunity for community members to learn about the impact of Play Ball Detroit, and for approximately 60 youth participants from neighborhoods across Detroit the chance to interact with current Tigers outfielder Akil Baddoo.
Hollowell spoke with rolling out about the DDA’s ticket donation program for Play Ball Detroit.
Tell us about the ticket donation program and how people can learn more about it.
We wanted to make sure that we made baseball as accessible to kids in the community in Detroit and Wayne County as possible, and part of that was the ticket donation program. Other teams in the major leagues have something similar, but over the past year or so our negotiations with the Tigers have really been a terrific thing. They’ve doubled down on their commitment. We’ve looked at ways in which we can get kids, particularly in the public school system, more exposed to the game, exposed to the players and team sports, and what it means and how it prepares you for life.
In the organizing documents, the commitment was for 50,000 tickets per year. So, in order to do that and to do it well, it takes a lot of work. That means coordinating with public school systems and youth leagues. The Tigers do all of that, as far as trying to figure out not just getting those chaperones to the game and back to the game, but [also] explaining the game and its very involved process. Now, we’re really confident that there’s commitment up and down the organization.
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