Baseball.it’s Ivano Luberti spoke with John Genzale about his new project Milano United which is on the verge to become the real sports franchise in Europe. Baseball.it was so kind to share the interview with Mister-Baseball.
“Marketing is the key for the success of baseball”
John Genzale said while talking with Baseball.it in an exclusive interview: “”We need sensible business practices, an intelligent approach to quality entertainment, plus a strong link with the community”
John Genzale and his plan for revamping baseball in Milan. He presented it in an official press conference few days ago “in the shadow of Madunina”. But we asked him to go further, to go deeper about his vision as a majority shareholder in the Milano United, going into the plan announced and what is really needed in order to promote baseball. Genzale talked exclusively about all this with Baseball.it, in this long interview in which he shows all his enthusiasm for baseball, for Italy and for this new adventure. And he also anticipated us that he started several contacts overseas to affiliate United to some pro franchises…
Ivano Luberti: Why here and why now? The economy is bad generally and Italy doesn’t seem the promise land for baseball. The dealing with the MLB by FIBS has failed. This seems not the ideal environment for investments. What you see that we don’t.
John Genzale: This is a question of whether you view the glass as half full or half empty. If baseball was prosperous and commercially developed in Italy, chances are that a man of modest means like myself would never have a chance of making a mark on the game he loves in the country he loves.
The economy is bad everywhere. I think it’s worse in the states. But perhaps that does make this the promise land.
It’s ironic. I got an opportunity in Italian baseball because of two negative things: The economy was bad and baseball was expelled from the Olympic Movement. Common sense would have suggested that the situation was not right. But it was. Riccardo Fraccari needed magic to maintain or continue to develop baseball in Italy. He came to believe that baseball’s future in Italy depended on commercialization and hired me to write the plan. That plan is still viable.
I don’t believe the plan is dead. I believe the timing wasn’t right. I believe MLB has more pressure to fund the development of baseball around the world today that when Riccardo and I flew to New York to negotiate our plan. I wouldn’t be surprised if MLB – capitalizing on the potential of the World Baseball Classic and the need to develop international markets — found a way to invest on a grand scale in international baseball. When that happens, Italy, the most advanced European baseball country, could benefit greatly. So while others may be pessimistic about baseball in Italy, I think this is the perfect time to create a future for baseball here.
Another thing that is so clear to me: The best way to realize the potential of baseball is through its commercial development. That’s why the Milano United experiment is so exciting and may even be historic. United is Italy’s first fully commercial sports franchise. Perhaps some of the things we do will be innovative. So maybe equity partnership with MLB is not the only way to advance the sport we love.
Will a successful experience by Milano United revolutionize sport in Europe? Well, that is a grand goal and we are involved in a modest experiment. But we are creating something new and exciting.
Ivano Luberti: The second question is: What are the main needs of the franchise, what it lacks mostly. Fan base, field infrastructures….tell us what you have seen before acquiring United.
John Genzale: Ah, United needs everything … mostly good fortune. But besides luck, Milano United needs a place to play, fans to play for and sponsors who believe in our vision.
We are in a struggle to renovate the field, J.F. Kennedy Stadium in Milano. While much work has been done to bring it to IBL standards, much work still remains to be done. We have to find the financing to pay for costly reconstruction.
We have to rebuild a fan base. We have to take baseball to Milano, creating a bond between the club and its players and the community. We have to get people to come to the games and enjoy themselves when they do. We have to sell the concept of safe, clean, family entertainment at an affordable price. We have to create the fun events to not only get fans to the games, but to get them to come back. That means we have to provide excellent baseball at reasonable start times, quality food, comfort and an environment of fun, excitement and engagement.
This is a commercial enterprise, so we have to get sponsors and clients to believe not in the recent history of baseball in Milano, but in our vision for the future of baseball in Milano. We are not selling a track record; we are selling potential. That’s a tough sell. But we are so excited about the prospect that we are starting immediately.
Ivano Luberti: How you plan to work on these needs?
John Genzale: First, we see them as challenges and opportunities. And that’s exciting. And we have so many ideas we can barely contain ourselves. We think that creating the first commercial franchise is a career-changing opportunity. And we think that creating a commercial franchise in Italy’s No. 1 commercial city is a dream coming true. On our first day in the IBL, we will be the IBL’s largest market, the market with the most commercial opportunity. What can be better than that?
Also, it’s important to understand that United was created by four Milano-area clubs, Milano 1946, Novara, Rho and Senago. They maintain an affiliation with United and they are my partners. This gives us a network, history, contacts and resources over the entire Milano market. There are five clubs working toward a common goal.
We believe the key ingredient for commercial baseball success is marketing. My partners and I are committed to a huge marketing effort, which will produce ticket sales and real value for our sponsors. The marketing plan is the size of a book right now and growing every day.
We have so many ideas for events and promotions that we can’t wait to get started.
And we have a great business plan with intelligent forecasting and modest, obtainable goals. We know that our product is not baseball but rather baseball entertainment. And that entertainment is built on the quality of baseball, for sure, but also the quality of the experience for families.
Ivano Luberti: There have been other tries like this in the past and they failed. What is the difference between what you are trying to do and what has been already done?
John Genzale: Every situation is different. I’d be wasting lots of time to find and analyze other experiments with various models of club operations.
Obviously, I’m staking my future on this model … a commercial organization for Milano United. So I believe it will be very successful. And so do my partners.
Why? Because it’s the first, fully commercial sports organization with a profit motive and a clear path to producing results. We are operating in Italy’s commercial capital, Milano.
We have partners who are dedicated to quality baseball and exceptional business performance. Our goals are modest, well within the scope and range of historical performance for baseball in Milano. And because we have passion for what we are doing.
Beyond that, the answer is much the same as above: We will employ sound business practices, an intelligent approach to quality entertainment, a rational concept of profit and franchise value, a deep bond and connection with the community and a marketing discipline that can’t help but produce positive results.
That gives me the confidence I need to bank my future on Milano United success.
Ivano Luberti: I understand your view of baseball as entertainment and I guess that you have already convinced who sold their shares of the United. But now you should try to convince our readers. For examples can you give USA some examples of the ideas you want to put into practice.
John Genzale: Why do I want to convince your readers? It’s baseball! … The game I love as much as anyone. You can call it sport; you can call it entertainment, hell, in American they call it the “national pastime.” It doesn’t matter. We are not changing the nature of the game in Milano.
I watch 162 MLB games a year. I watch every game my favorite team plays and I watch them from here because modern technology allows me to do that. My kids think that I’m a bit strange. Friends think that’s a bit obsessive. But I think it’s fun and I call it entertainment. And it’s a great entertainment value. I get more than 500 hours of annual entertainment for a very reasonable price.
In Milano, we wouldn’t presume to change the game. We only want to make it fun to go to the games. We want families to enjoy themselves in a clean, safe environment. We want them to enjoy food and drink, a bit of music, a fanciful diversion as well as baseball. I call that entertainment because the entire experience is a bit larger than just the game.
There are baseball poems in English that talk about the smell of the cut grass, the conversation between pitches, the color, the sounds and the tastes of the game, the beer and peanuts and Crackerjacks. A night at the ballpark is more than just the game. It should be more than the game and it should be more without diminishing the game one bit. In fact, the experience glorifies the game.
We want our fans to feel a sense of community in supporting United – a United Nation – and we want them to come back, to develop an interest in the fortunes of the team, and to remember their night at the ballpark as something memorable, special and something of value.
I shouldn’t have to justify that vision of the experience to baseball purists. And if they would rather just come for the game, than that’s great too. But I guarantee they will enjoy it more when a happy and comfortable crowd of hundreds of fans gets up together to cheer when a Milano United player stretches a double into a triple.
There’s nothing more entertaining than that.
Ivano Luberti: You say you have to fund your idea. Have you already some dealing in place or have you decided to acquire the United simply based on the potential of the market area?
John Genzale: The process of acquisition has been a bit labored. It’s hard to represent the club before I had official status. But I did put in place an affiliation with a major-league club and we have an outside marketing agreement with an agency. That agency will represent us in Italy and New York. There are a couple of existing sponsorships with Milano baseball, negotiated before my time. Other than that, there are no agreements at this time, but we will hit the streets within weeks for the all-important fall selling season.
Obviously, I believe in the market, both the business and marketing plans and in baseball as a commercial enterprise.
Ivano Luberti: Italian baseball fans passed trough a lot of delusions with new characters appearing on the stage with promises and wishes regularly followed by fails. And even though I believe you when you say that the business plan is still viable I certain as well that Italians see this try by Fraccari as the last fail in baseball history. So what you believe to bring to the table that is really different from the past and what you want to say to the readers to make them turn their heads and starting looking at the United as a new real possibility of success for Italian baseball.
John Genzale: If you want magic, a secret ingredient, the trick answer or the formula that no one has thought of before, I’m sorry, I don’t have that for you.
There was a little magic in the IBL biz plan in that I had to create revenue for the IBL and value for the owners … formulas for participation fees, replacement Euros for FIBS and compensation for owners who were giving up some control. That was tricky and a bit ingenious.
But there’s no such thing in Milano. It’s a good plan that will be backed up by hard work. That what I had to tell the four teams … no magic, just someone willing to do the hard work. To get out in the community and ask for business.
They all understand that.
By the way, when I told that to Clive Russell, he thought that was wonderful. He said he had high hopes for a plan backed by my hard work rather that some disinterested owner. He has been supportive because of that.
I know that may be disappointing to you, but in a way, it should be a bit of a relief. This is not snake-oil sales … flim-flam, or a bag of tricks. It’s good, old-fashioned work, and there is an ethic in that not unlike a farmer planting seeds and having an expectation that fruit will grow. There is something earthy and strong about a plan based on hard work.
But perhaps it’s not sexy for a baseball publication or for readers who want to experience a tent-show revival meeting and instead are getting the gospel of John.
