I play the lottery when it reaches $100 Million because I
love to dream about the opportunity to run a minor league baseball team and do
it my way. I have spent all of my professional career managing relationships,
so most of my time plotting is spent on people – how to treat corporate
partners, consumers, employees and players.
Corporate
Partners
I think that most teams already do a very good job of
making their corporate partners happy – they are a lifeline of the business.
What the Cleveland Browns did last fall with Bud Light to unlock a refrigerator
full of free beer after their first win of the season was brilliant. The Browns
took advantage of this opportunity as an improving team to partner with Bud
Light and created likely the best sports promotion of the year following a
season of ineptitude in which the Browns were 0-16 and had their fans in
upheaval. This promotion involved the Browns, Bud Light and a variety of agency
partners to fulfill the idea, but that is the combination for success. Fans
loved it because they had free beer to be excited for in addition to winning a
game. These types of relationships should exist on the minor league level too.
It’s just unlikely that the promotions will receive national attention. Several
promotions each year should draw local interest and if good enough, may catch a
national audience.
Having teams that are very much involved in the process
and come to the table with ideas about how to showcase their relationships are
going to be the most successful. Sponsorship cannot be just about taking
someone’s money in return for slapping a logo on a wall, it needs to develop a
voice so that the fan can hear and understand it and be reminded the next time
they make a purchase decision.
Consumers
The other lifeline of the business are fans. What is very
different about minor league baseball is that the parent club is responsible
for fielding the team, so there is very little that the team can do to affect
wins and losses. Coming to a game is about the experience of being at a
ballpark more than about the outcome. As such, it is very important to provide
fans with unique experiences that they can only get in the ballpark such as:
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Premium
Seating, in other spaces around the ballpark, it is important to have some
niche areas with purpose. A few luxury boxes would be useful for corporate
clients and large groups, but the number of suites would not need to be too
many. In other underutilized areas of the park (many do this in the outfield),
it would be part of the experience to build out a bar viewing space so that
fans can mingle and still have views of the game.
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Sitting
close to the action, for baseball fans – minor league baseball is an
inexpensive opportunity to buy the best seat in the house for a reasonable
amount of money. I just checked that seats behind home plate at my closest AAA
team are $30; for my closest High-A team, they are $12. Either way, very
affordable. Commit to making sure that the best seats in the house offer a
premium experience to keep them coming back.
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Family
friendly activities, I have seen some ballparks that offer bounce houses
and inflatable castles so that parents can keep their kids entertained for the
duration of a baseball game. I am not sure my team would have inflatables, but
you get the point. There would need to be other activities that engage a
younger audience. I think a video game lounge and baseball skills tests
(running 90 feet, speed pitch, whiffle ball field) would be what you could find
at my stadium.
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Unique
food, it seems like it has become an arms race amongst minor league
baseball teams to come up with the craziest food option and that can catch
national attention. I recently saw that the Rochester Red Wings offered a
waffle cone with buffalo chicken and ranch dressing. Yum! Being able to offer
unique food that can only be purchased at the ballpark helps bring people back
for future visits or the occasional tourist.
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Commitment
to Craft Beer, baseball and beer go together, it is part of baseball
culture for fans of age to have a beer while watching a game. It would be a
priority to have multiple local craft breweries with a presence inside the stadium
or with a few concessions that pour a variety of beer so that there is
something for everyone.
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Shade,
for day games, it is important for most ballparks to have cover. What the Red
Sox did with their Spring Training facility in Fort Myers by installing
sail-like fabric awnings seems like a great way to provide shade should that be
an issue.
The most important thing about pleasing the consumer is
making sure that their opinions can be heard. Make sure that there are
opportunities for consumers to provide feedback and constructive criticisms to
improve for future seasons.
Employees
I have probably spent the greatest amount of time
thinking about the employee experience of my lotto jackpot ballclub. I have
heard so many horror stories across all minor league sports about the low wages
and ridiculous hours. The popular belief of the culture of most MiLB teams is
to burn and churn its employees and my theory is that it is because of the
financial model and maximizing the bottom line.
My theory is that if you pay salaries that are
competitive to similar industries such as marketing, you will attract and
retain better talent. At the baseball winter meetings in 2008, I walked through
a hallway with job postings from MLB and MiLB teams. For entry level positions,
it was a stipend amount of anywhere from $200 - $1,000 per month during the
baseball season. Sometimes housing was provided, sometimes not. Imagine how a
$35,000 salary would jump out to a recent college grad versus a $500 stipend.
My posting would invite all job seekers to apply and I would essentially have
my choice of who I feel is the top talent. Apply this same tenant to managers,
directors and the leadership team. My belief is that top talent will lead to
best-in-class execution which will grow revenue and support the higher dollar
salaries over time.
For tenured employees in sports, it is not uncommon for
someone to sit in the same job for many years without change. The growing
millennial workforce does not like this – no growth is considered a sign to
move on. I have seen many companies develop organization charts that are 20+
levels to allow for frequent promotions. I don’t think that a MiLB team needs
20 levels, but there does need to be the opportunity for growth. I think it is
also important to encourage employees to take on roles in different departments
within the team to get a more holistic understanding of running a team.
I also see an issue in the MiLB that some teams have
their employee’s work 80+ hour weeks when the team is home. That is seemingly a
function of being understaffed. It would be important to me to make sure that
there is a staffing plan where this was not the norm. Whether that is hiring
more event staff and/or creating a rotation between full-time employees, 80+
hour weeks for 2-3 months will burn most people out quickly.
Players
While the team has no impact into who the players on the
field are, they can impact their experience and put them in the best scenarios
to develop. Look at the Instagram of @MinorLeagueGrinders and you can see all
you need to. It’s full of stories of the real life experiences of MiLB players
living in poor conditions. It’s meant to be funny (and it is), but it is also a
very real problem that most minor league players are paid poverty level wages.
I see this as an opportunity to differentiate to MLB
teams and retain a long-term affiliation. MiLB organizations that take good
care of their players through living conditions and practice facilities will
have staying power with their parent club. In terms of living quarters, I would
provide housing to all players and coaches on the team in either buying a small
local hotel or apartment complex and provide a cleaning staff to upkeep the
rooms. Depending on the building, it could also serve as a marketing tool to
help market the team in the community. As for practice facilities, there would
need to be batting cages and a gym that the players and coaches have 24/7
access to so that they can practice at the stadium and near the
clubhouse.
There is a reason why most teams don’t already go to
these lengths and it comes down to money and that is why I wait for the jackpot
to exceed $100 Million because it would take a lot of money upfront to
accomplish all of this and I can’t even forecast what types of ballpark
improvements would be needed. I would expect to take a loss of capital up front.
My belief is that once these principles are established, the team would be an
annual candidate for MiLB’s top franchise and eventually make up for the
initial expense by being best in class.
It’s fun to dream!
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