Steve Jbara, president of Grand Rapids Gold, is a motivated and cutting-edge entrepreneur.
As president of Grand Rapids Gold, the Denver Nuggets’ subsidiary in the NBA G-League, I am well aware of the contrasts between sports ownership and ownership in other sectors, for example, how in sports you have to worry about player contracts and sponsorships. . and sale and a plethora of other things that don’t come into play elsewhere.
But the biggest contrast I’ve discovered is this: in many ways, you share ownership with your fan base. Yes, you have a much higher monetary interest in your team. Yes, you’ve put in a lot more time and effort than John. Q. But the emotional involvement of enthusiasts in your good fortune is considerable. It cannot and will not have to be rejected.
Mark Cuban, who has been the majority owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks since 2000, once summed up the differences in an interview with Inc. Comparing how “When the Mavs win a championship, there’s a parade. No one launches a parade when a Fortune 500 company hits profits or achieves a record quarter, it’s absolutely different.
That being the case, a sports car owner would do well to engage with franchise enthusiasts. You will have to come with them. In a very genuine sense, you need to make them feel like they are part of the team. This is one of the reasons why automatic selling has skyrocketed in the industry.
In my case, this process began as soon as I bought a G-League franchise in 2014 and moved it from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Grand Rapids. The first thing he had to do was call the club, which then joined the Detroit Pistons. So we organized a contest where we asked our enthusiasts to submit ideas. We opted for 4 options: Drive, Horsepower, Chairmen and Blue Racers. La league office rejected the presidents and the Pistons ruled power, leaving us with two options. he opted for Drive, due to Michigan’s entrenched automotive past.
Our connection with Grand Rapids enthusiasts was such that we resisted the Pistons’ pleas, which began in 2018, to move the team to Detroit. Instead, we replaced our partnership in 2021, held on to the Nuggets, and changed the name to Gold.
This connection to the fan base is essential, regardless of the market, the league, or even the era. Consider Pat Williams, who was hired as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1974, a year after the Sixers finished with a 9-73 record, which remains the worst. season record in NBA history. Combining a voluntary sense of other people with marketing prowess, the result being that their 12-year tenure, the Sixers acquired Hall of Famers Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Charles Barkley. The team made 4 trips to the NBA Finals and won a championship in 1983.
But Williams was also aware that he needed to go the extra mile to differentiate the product, given that Philadelphia has 3 other wonderful professional teams, as well as a long school basketball culture. He organized demonstrations at halftime (bear fights, pig songs, etc. ) and gave the green light to an unfortunate advertising crusade after the highly favored Sixers lost to Portland in the 1977 final: “We owe you one. “
The team would not pay off the debt for six years and the interim Williams hit him with all kinds of criticism. But he said that if nothing else, this crusade was memorable, and no one can oppose it.
The efforts of a new Sixers executive, Pat Croce, are also remarkable. A martial arts enthusiast who built his fortune by opening a number of educational services in the Philadelphia area, he also served as the team’s strength and fitness coach from 1984 to 1993. Then, in 1996, he ran an organization that bought the equipment and, in his typical way, began raising the profile of the team through antics like climbing the Walt Whitman Bridge and rappelling on the rafters.
He also worked tirelessly to fix the barriers between Larry Brown, the team’s seriously injured coach, and Allen Iverson, his volatile superstar. The result was that the Sixers conquered the city center by reaching the finals in 2001. an interviewer years later, “It’s never about basketball. The genuine price proposal to move the city from “can’t be done” to “can’t be done”.
Different peoples bond with other groups in other ways. But the fact is that it is up to a sports executive to try. Yes, the concept is to make money, as is the case in all companies, but it is another. bring your enthusiasts to the store. It needs everyone to shoot in the same direction. This is how it becomes a meaningful (and profitable) situation.
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