As Pittsburgh Pirates management in Florida tries to assemble a team built for success, the baseball team's newly bulked-up sales force back home is already making its own bid for gain and glory.

It would be hard to say who faces tougher odds.

The baseball team has a limited budget and 16 consecutive years of discouraging results to overcome. The sales team is up against those same years of discouraging results on the field, combined with the worst economy in decades.

Lou DePaoli, Pirates new executive vice president and chief marketing officer, has his people on it. In fact, the team's sales staff has grown to include more than 60 employees, with about 25 of those positions newly added since Mr. DePaoli came on board in September.

"With the economy being as tough as it is, you've got to get a lot more bodies on the street," he said in an interview yesterday.

Those salespeople are needed to call consumers who may have bought tickets for a game last year to tell them about SkyBlast night or the concerts coming up. Fans who line up tomorrow to pick up individual tickets for games against the Cleveland Indians can expect a follow-up call in a week or two.

More salespeople make it possible to reach out to more businesses, too. The Pirates lost a sponsorship with Chevrolet last year that was worth $600,000. "It may take us 10 deals of $60,000 to close those dollars," Mr. DePaoli said.

If he doesn't exactly seem daunted by the assignment, well, the Pirates's new sales executive has a history of tackling difficult tasks.

He had the job of selling tickets to Florida Marlins games in 1998, when the team coming off a World Series win had gotten rid of most of its marquee players. More recently, he worked in Atlanta selling both the NBA's Hawks and the NHL's Thrashers. He started there in the spring of 2005, in the midst of the National Hockey League lockout.

"Pittsburgh -- it's not that big of a challenge," said Mr. DePaoli, with a laugh.

In making his case, he cited things that past Pirates marketing staffs have noted as well. The region's history as a passionate sports market and the Pirates' own lengthy history have cultivated deeply rooted fans who, while they may have cut back on tickets, still love the team.

After working with an expansion team like the Marlins, created in the 1990s, Mr. DePaoli doesn't underestimate the value of all that black and gold around town.

Pirates management may be frustrating fans with its decisions about who gets traded and who stays, but the team has been trying not to annoy them on the sales side. In November, officials announced a freeze on season-ticket prices and other offers meant to give customers a reason to keep buying.

Mr. DePaoli said the team is working with companies who need to cut back or take a little longer to pay on long-term deals, but people generally aren't jumping ship in droves.

He said the team is on track toward its 2009 season ticket goals. "Our season ticket holder retention rate is only a couple of points behind last year at this time, but our new sales are ahead year to date, so we are pacing well vs. 2008."

The home opener in April is still several weeks off.

In addition to hiring more sales staff, he's nurturing other prospects.

The Pirates have a history of putting together a strong promotional schedule, from hot dog nights to ethnic days, fireworks and lots of giveaways. Last year, a University of Detroit Mercy marketing professor rated Pittsburgh as one of the best in Major League Baseball at using promotions effectively.

Admittedly, Michael Bernacchi said, small-market teams and teams with less success on the field may take promotions more seriously.

But he argued it takes less money to put together a great schedule than it does to pick up some ballplayers' contracts and, in the current economy, teams should remember they're in the entertainment business. "Everybody can have a Class A promotional schedule," Dr. Bernacchi said.

Mr. DePaoli liked a lot of the promotions in place but decided they could be rearranged for a bigger pop.

Last year, SkyBlast fireworks extravaganzas were held three nights in a row. This year, there will still be three, but they will all be held on a different Saturday evening. That has already helped sales of Saturday ticket packages.

Other promos are also being shifted toward weekends, a move that Mr. DePaoli said comes down to a math problem.

If, for example, a $1 hot dog night boosts ticket sales by 10 percent, that bump would mean more on weekends because more people tend to come anyway. So what might mean 1,500 extra ticket sales on a Wednesday might mean 3,000 extra on Saturday.

He also wants to know -- really know -- who all those people in the stands are. That may mean getting them to sign up to play games for prizes or expanding on text message promotions the team began trying last year. Fans sent in more than 500,000 texts during the season.

This year, in addition to the in-park marketing, people watching on TV may be asked to text a vote for something and, incidentally, share their contact information with the Pirates.

If the sales staff can use direct marketing to get those people to add a game or two, it's not inconceivable that attendance, which hovered around 1.6 million last year, could rise above 2 million.

Mr. DePaoli believes his deeper sales staff and his system make that possible, although he conceded that outside factors can trip up even the best of plans.

Showing he has some experience with the intensity of sports fans, he made the case that sales executives, like general managers, shouldn't be judged on one season's performance alone.

The Pirates will stick with the tagline they used last year -- "Pride. Passion. Pittsburgh Pirates." -- but Mr. DePaoli does want to make some changes in the team's merchandise assortment.

His issue? Too many different Pirates hats with too many different logos and color assortments.

The Red Sox and the Yankees, even Coke, have pretty much stuck with the same iconic logo for years and years. He thinks the Pirates should do that, too.

The gold "P" on the black background will be seen much more often as the season progresses, although some exceptions will be made for things such as pink hats for young girls.

Like turning around the team's reputation for winning, it may take a while to push the classic logo back into prominence. After all, the fiscally responsible thing to do is to sell off the inventory already in the stockroom.