The Experience Begins With The Experienced.
To create the experience that exceeds fan expectations, you have to have a talented and experienced front office staff. Young is known in the business as one of the best recruiters of talent. In Norfolk, he has a staff of seventeen including his G.M., Dave Rosenfield, who has been in the game for over fifty years. Opening Albuquerque, Young brought talented veteran Mel Kowalchuk in to run the Isotopes organization. Ask his staff, either in Albuquerque or Norfolk, and they'll tell you the same story. Ken Young gets people, and keeps them, because he achieves the right blend of talent and trust. He lets them do their job, but he's no absentee owner.
"I was there every summer. I rarely missed a game," Young recalls of the early days in Norfolk.
His other secret for success? Listen to the fans. Whether it's the Isotopes or the Tides, you'll find Ken Young is not up in a remote box, surveying his empire. He is down on the concourse, as are most of his staff, moving around, talking to the fans, making corrections and adjustments.
Fan Input Brings Rewards
"Just listen to the fans," advises Young . "That's what I do. I talk to them. I listen to them. What would they like to see in the ballpark. Can we do it? That is what I really believe caused us to continue to be a success over the years."
The naming of the Isotopes was one such community outreach. Young asked fans in Albuquerque to vote on-line to either retain the traditional team name (Dukes), owned by the Portland Beavers organization, or to pick a new name. The fans rewarded Young's ownership group in ways that are still being measured in branding that will carry far beyond the limits of the Duke City.
Workers put finishing touches on the Reactor (Isotopes Park) hours before 11,000+ fans returned to see the first professional baseball played in Albuquerque in three years, after the Dukes were sold and moved to Portland. Young moved the Marlins' Calgary Cannons to what had been the home of AAA Dodgers baseball for over a quarter century. The modern stadium is built like modern shopping malls, with bright architecture and signage to attract casual fans.
"It wasn't easy because the tides had drawn 170,000 [annually] in previous years."
Young told his investors that he would bring in 350,000 visitors annually in his prospectus to the investors.
The Stadium for the Casual Fan Is Born
What sold the investors, and ultimately proved Young right, went beyond the park.
He promised them a clean and secure facility, with a new level of family-oriented entertainment that was inexpensive.
"We provided all facets of entertainment," Young recalls. "The baseball fan will come to the game because they like baseball. We needed to reach out to the spouse who doesn't like baseball, to the toddler who can't sit through two innings. "
The formula worked beyond Young's expectations. They blew the barn doors off of the attendance goals that they set. "We drew in 528,000 that year."
Corporate Evolution
Establishing a new level of corporate backing from the community has been part of the success of minor league sports.
Moving beyond the wall sponsors to corporate sky boxes was an evolution that began around the time that the Tides moved to Norfolk. Did the formula that Young and other new owners in baseball pioneered opened that door? "The corporate backing was there because we convinced them that it was going to be the best family entertainment in the area." Young and his management team stayed in contact with the corporate sponsors, listened to their input, and did not wait to implement changes that were possible to execute as a season progressed.
